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Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA
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JUST OUT!
A new edition of Hunts' Mapguide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Over 300 entries, all conveniently located on maps and chosen because we think they are the coolest things to do in the U.P. (No ad tie-ins!) Great choices for restaurants, hikes, shops, adventures, museums, boat trips, waterfalls, vistas, road trips, and much more!
To learn more click UP MAP GUIDE
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PESHTIGO, WI
POINTS
OF
INTEREST
Peshtigo Fire Museum and Fire Cemetery. The same wave of fires that leveled much of Chicago in 1871 killed over half of Peshtigo's 1,700 citizens – the largest loss of life in any North American fire. This museum documents the disaster, pointing out how logging debris caused the inferno ...
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Peshtigo Fire Museum and Fire Cemetery
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Seven miles south of Marinette on U.S. 41, a small local museum commemorates the greatest loss of life associated with the widespread forest fires that broke out in the north woods during the logging era. From 800 to a thousand people died. On the same day Chicago's much more famous fire killed some three hundred.
The Peshtigo Fire was a man-made environmental catastrophe on a grand scale. Logging practices of the day left lots of combustible debris or "slash" in the woods. Tree tops, with their many branches and twigs, were left. When dried, this logging debris proved ideal for starting fires. Twigs and leaves provided tinder, with plenty of fuel for long-lasting combustion. When the weather was dry and the wind strong, fires could create devastation on a massive scale.
It had been a dry summer in 1871, and people near cutover land throughout the region worried about fire. Peshtigo was a busy sawmill town of 1,700 near the mouth of the Peshtigo River. Its woodenware factory was said to be the largest in the world.
On October 8, fires broke out in many other places. Chicago burned, prompting even more northwoods logging to rebuild it. Much of Holland and Manistee, Michigan, were destroyed. Flames threatened Menominee and Marinette, but the wind changed before doing much damage to residential areas.
In Peshtigo, however, winds spread the fire so fast that many people weren't able to reach safe haven in the river. Some who did drowned. At least 800 people perished – more than in any other forest fire in U.S. history. Virtually the entire town was destroyed.
The dead are buried in the Peshtigo Fire Cemetery next to the museum. Many are in a mass grave; the exact number of victims isn't known. If you get out to look around, you won't soon forget this place. Here are the river where the people of Peshtigo sought safety, the cemetery where nearly half of them were buried, and the museum that commemorates the tragedy.
Inside this museum, run by volunteers, there are large murals depicting the fire, some photographs of the devastation, and fire-damaged objects like melted coins. The museum also displays artifacts common in local museums such as tools and period clothing.
Peshtigo was rebuilt promptly after the fire. The former Congregational Church that houses the museum dates from that rebuilding. Today it's a town of over 3,000.
Recent books on the Peshtigo Fire received attention in national publications like the Boston Globe and The New Yorker. Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People, and the Deadliest Fire in American History by novelist William Lutz and English professor Denise Gess is a compelling story dealing more with the social history of townspeople and lumbermen, especially Isaac Stephenson of Marinette. Peter Leschak's Ghosts of the Fireground : Echoes of the Great Peshtigo Fire and the Calling of a Wildland Firefighter deals more with the spiritual side of firefighting than with the fire itself. These books precipitated far more comments on Amazon.com than many better-selling titles. Fully focused on the fire itself is The Great Peshtigo Fire: An Eyewitness Account by Father Peter Perrin, the Catholic priest in Peshtigo in 1871. The Oconto County web site devoted to local genealogy with special attention to Peshtigo at the time of the fire is www.rootsweb.com/~wiconto/
From U.S. 41 and Marinette, pass through downtown and turn right (north) onto Oconto before you reach the Dairy Queen. The church/museum is a block away, at Oconto and Green. (715) 582-3244. Open from Mem. Day to October 8, the day of the fire. During that time, the museum is open daily from 10 to 4:30 Central Time. Free; donation appreciated. Not handicap-accessible: no. 10 steps.
Return to Peshtigo, WI
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