The Deadly Night of October 8, 1871: The Great Chicago Fire and the Peshtigo Fir

Description: The Deadly Night of October 8, 1871 by Charles River Estimated delivery 3-12 business days Format Paperback Condition Brand New Description *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fires by witnesses and survivors *Includes bibliographies for further reading It had taken about 40 years for Chicago to grow from a small settlement of about 300 people into a thriving metropolis with a population of 300,000, but in just two days in 1871, much of that progress was burned to the ground. In arguably the most famous fire in American history, a blaze in the southwestern section of Chicago began to burn out of control on the night of October 8, 1871. Thanks to The Chicago Tribune, the fire has been apocryphally credited to a cow kicking over a lantern in Mrs. Catherine OLearys barn, and though that was not true, the rumor dogged Mrs. OLeary to the grave. Of course, the cause of the fire didnt matter terribly much to the people who lost their lives or their property in the blaze. Thanks to dry conditions, wind, and wooden buildings, firefighters were never actually able to stop the fire, which burned itself out only after it spent nearly two whole days incinerating several square miles of Chicago. By the time rain mercifully helped to put the fire out, the Great Chicago Fire had already killed an estimated 300 people, destroyed an estimated 17,500 buildings, and left nearly 100,000 people (1/3 of the population) homeless. Mrs. OLeary and her barn remain a part of lore, but it also speaks to Chicagos ability to rebuild that its almost impossible to envision a farm in downtown Chicago today. Chicago suffered a wide swath of destruction, but it had rebuilt itself within 20 years in order to host the Worlds Fair, evidence that it was back and bigger and better than ever. Along with that, Chicago has maintained its status as the regions biggest city and one of the most important in America. Due to the publicity generated by a fire that reduced most of a major American city to ash, the Peshtigo Fire of 1871 might fairly be called Americas forgotten disaster. Overshadowed by the much better covered and publicized Great Chicago Fire that occurred on the same evening, the fire that started in the Wisconsin logging town of Peshtigo generated a firestorm unlike anything in American history. In addition to destroying a wide swath of land, it killed at least 1,500 people and possibly as many as 2,500, several times more than the number of casualties in Chicago. While people marveled at the fact that the Great Chicago Fire managed to jump a river, the Peshtigo fire was so intense that it was able to jump several miles across Green Bay. While wondering aloud about the way in which the Peshtigo fire has been overlooked, Bill Lutz noted, "Fires are normally very fascinating to people, but people seem resistant to Peshtigo. Maybe Peshtigo is on such a large scale that people cant comprehend it." Ironically, while Peshtigo is widely forgotten, the fire there is often cited as proof that the Great Chicago Fire was caused by natural phenomena, such as a comet or meteor shower. Those advocating such a theory think its too coincidental that such disastrous fires were sparked in the same region on the same night, and they point to other fires across the Midwest. Of course, as with the Great Chicago Fire, contemporaries of the Peshtigo fire faulted human error and didnt necessarily link the two fires, if only because fires were a common problem in both Peshtigo and Chicago during the 19th century. The Deadly Night of October 8, 1871 chronicles the story of two of Americas deadliest fires. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Great Chicago Fire and the Peshtigo fire like never before, in no time at all. Details ISBN 1500897132 ISBN-13 9781500897130 Title The Deadly Night of October 8, 1871 Author Charles River Format Paperback Year 2014 Pages 74 Publisher Createspace Independent Publishing Platform GE_Item_ID:93311982; About Us Grand Eagle Retail is the ideal place for all your shopping needs! With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and over 1,000,000 in stock items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! Shipping & Delivery Times Shipping is FREE to any address in USA. Please view eBay estimated delivery times at the top of the listing. Deliveries are made by either USPS or Courier. We are unable to deliver faster than stated. International deliveries will take 1-6 weeks. NOTE: We are unable to offer combined shipping for multiple items purchased. 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Price: 16.72 USD

Location: Fairfield, Ohio

End Time: 2025-01-22T09:51:57.000Z

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