1881 — Sep 1-6, Wildfire, “The Thumb Fire,” Lower Peninsula, Michigan –>220->300

>220->300 Blanchard.*

— 500 Ludlum. The American Weather Book, 1982, p. 189.
— 322 Death toll from locality breakouts below.**
— >300 (nearly 300) American Nat. Red Cross Museum. “Responding to America’s Wildfires.”
— >300 Childs. A History of the United States In Chronological Order. 1886, p. 249.
— >300 Moreland, Doug. “The Heavens Rained Fire.” Detroit Free Press. 9-27-1981.
— 300 Saginaw News, MI. “1881 – That’s how Thumb residents recall great fire.” 3-4-1951.
— 282 Mitchell, J. M. & D. Robson. Forest Fires and Forest Fire Control in Michigan. 1950.
— >220 Sodders, Betty. Michigan on Fire. Thunder Bay Press, 1997, p. 1.
— 170+ National Fire Protec. Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).
— >169 Detroit News, MI. “Crucible of Fire Puts Red Cross to the Test…” 5-21-1981.
— 169 National Interagency Fire Center. Fire Information – Wildland Fire Statistics. 2007.
— 169 Smalley, James C. (Ed.). Protecting Life and Property from Wildfire, 2005. p. 21.
— 138 Simonds, W. E. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 87.
— 138 Willsey and Lewis. “Michigan,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, p. 511.
— >130 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 130.
— >125 Michigan Historical Markers. Great Fire of 1881.

*While a death toll outside the range we use is possible, we choose to rely on Sodder, in her book on this fire for the low end of our estimated range (over 220). For the high end we use the American Red Cross Museum (and three other sources), which note 300 or more deaths.

**We do not use 322 as the high end of our estimated death toll for two reasons: (1) there may be locality overlaps, and (2) it is too exact a number given the uncertainty in the death toll estimates.

Locality Breakouts, primarily from Sodder:
— 1 Arbela Township, Tuscola County. Newspaper report in Sodders 1997, p. 123.
— 9 Cass City area, Tuscola County. Newspaper report in Sodders 1997, p. 123.
— 16 Deckerville area, Sanilac Co. Detroit Free Press correspondent; in Sodders 1997, p. 120.
— 6 Delaware Twp., Sanilac Co. Tuscola County Advertiser, Caro; in Sodders 1997, p. 121.
— 1 Five Lakes~ (Christina Elliott). Detroit Post and Tribune, 9-7-1881 in Sodders 1997, 116
— 9 Forester. Tuscaloosa County Advertiser, Caro. The Flaming Forest, in Sodders, p. 113.
— 1 Lapeer, Sep 6 (Mrs. Elliott). Evening News, Detroit, 9-3-1871 in Sodders 1997, p. 79.
— 13 Marion Twp., Livingston Co. Detroit Evening News, 9-8-1881, in Sodders 1997, p. 119.
— 35 Paris Twp., Huron County. Moreland. “The Heavens…” Detroit Free Press. 9-27-1981.
— 22 Parisville, Paris Twp. Huron Co. Detroit News. “1881 Fire Still…Memory.” 9-22-1981.
— 1 Port Hope, Huron County. Linda (Finkel) Siewert family history; in Sodders 1997, p. 95.
— 3 Port Sanilac (Thornton family). Detroit Evening News, 9-8-1881, in Sodders 1997, p119.
— 1 “ (near, man named Cole). Detroit Evening News, 9-8-1881, in Sodders 1997, 119.
— 7 Richmondville, Sanilac Co. Tuscaloosa Co. Advertiser, Caro, MI. The Flaming Forest.
— 7 Ridge schoolhouse. Sodders, Betty. Michigan on Fire. Thunder Bay Press, 1997, p. 120.
— 20 Rubicon, Huron Co. Sodders, Betty. Michigan on Fire. Thunder Bay Press, 1997, p. 122.
— 3 Sand Beach, Huron Co. Newspaper report in Sodders. Michigan on Fire. 1997, p. 122.
— 53 Sand Beach area, Huron Co. Newspaper report in Sodders 1997, p. 122.
— 5 Sandusky~, Tuscaloosa County Advertiser, Caro. The Flaming Forest, in Sodders, p.113.
–>100 Sanilac County. Evening News, Detroit, “September 7, 4:00 p.m., in Sodders 1997, p. 80.
— 1 Stark, Wayne Co. Sep 3. Evening News, Detroit, Sep 6, 1871, in Sodders 1997, p. 79.
— 1 Tyre area, Sanilac Co. Detroit Free Press correspondent; in Sodders 1997, p. 120.
— 2 Verona Mills, Bad Axe, Huron Co. Newspaper report in Sodders 1997, p. 122.
— 5 Watertown Twp., Tuscola County. Tuscaloosa County Advertiser, in Sodders, p. 114.

American Red Cross Museum, “Responding to America’s Wildfires.”

“…in mid-September of 1881, the 5-month-old American Red Cross had its first opportunity to test its abilities in one of the nation’s worst wildfires. In the Lower Peninsula of…[MI], a widespread drought had begun to dry out pastures, crops, wells and, eventually, forests. The area was rich in timber, and a great deal of it had been cleared for the homesteads of new settlers to the region. By mid-September, the small land-clearing fires of the settlers combined with high winds and dried-up refuse left by the local timber industry to form a wildfire that burned through more than a million acres in 24 hours. What became known as the Michigan “Thumb Fire” (named after the shape of the Lower Peninsula) killed nearly 300 people (sources vary on this number) and caused $2.5 million in damages. The fire left thousands of rural survivors homeless and without crops, livestock or jobs.

“Enter Clara Barton… Barton saw this catastrophe as a chance to prove to the public and the government what an active Red Cross society in America could contribute. Although the Red Cross was initially conceived in Switzerland as an aid group for wounded and sick soldiers on the battlefield, Barton saw the society’s peacetime potential as a major player in times of disaster. “Nothing could give our association more standing and popularity,” she wrote to a colleague, “than to issue a call upon its local societies to aid the present emergency.”… As soon as news of the Michigan fire reached Barton in New York, she had broadsides made and distributed asking for donations of clothing, food, household items and cash. The Dansville auxiliary was to be the Red Cross coordinator of relief donations for the survivors of the fire. The first shipment to Michigan was eight large crates from the newly-formed auxiliary in Dansville….

“In all, the fire burned 70 townships, destroyed 1,521 houses, and left 14,000 people in desperate need of help. The scale of the disaster was clearly beyond the fledgling organization’s ability to assist the survivors alone. On the advice of Julian Hubbell, who would later serve as the organization’s disaster field representative for more than 20 years, the American Red Cross channeled much of its contributions to the Port Huron Relief Committee. In fact, the local relief committees that had entered the field along with the Red Cross were soon in competition with one another for control of the relief program, to the point that the governor of Michigan was forced to appoint a special committee to administer the large amounts of relief coming in from across the country. The Red Cross contribution totaled approximately $80,000 in cash and supplies.

“Despite some confusion and jealousies among the local relief groups, this first demonstration of Red Cross disaster relief proved its worth and helped convince President Chester Arthur and the U.S. Senate to officially recognize the American Red Cross by signing the Treaty of Geneva on March 16, 1882.” (American Red Cross Museum, “Responding to America’s Wildfires.”)

Childs: “Early in September, forest fires began in Eastern Michigan, spreading over large portions of Huron, Sanilac, and Tuscola counties. Three hundred persons were burned to death…” (Childs 1886, 249)

Detroit News: “Good sometimes does come from evil though it certainly didn’t look that way in the fall of 1881 when forest fires were burning the entire Thumb area of Michigan to the ground….the fires in the Thumb area were a testing ground for a newly formed organization called the American Red Cross, which celebrates its 100th birthday today.

“The fires of 1881 originated in the Sanilac Valley in Lapeer County, where new immigrants from Europe were using fire to turn what had been lumber land into farmland. It hadn’t rained for two months. Everything east of Lapeer was as dry as tinder on the last day of August. High winds began to fan the smoldering fields and swept flames up the valley into Sanilac County.

“By early September, the entire Thumb area was aflame. The toll of dead probably never will be known. But at least 169 names of victims were recorded. By the time the fires died out, a million acres of farm and forest land, 44 townships and numerous villages had been devastated….” (Detroit News, MI. “Crucible of Fire Puts Red Cross to the Test…” 5-21-1981. In Souder 1997, 149-150.)

Ludlum: Sep 6, 1881. “Famous Yellow Day in Northeast…caused by Michigan forest fires…20 villages burned; 500 people were killed; $2.3 million loss near Lake Huron.” (Ludlum 1982, 189)

Michigan Historical Markers: “Small fires were burning in the forests of the Thumb, tinder-dry after a long, hot summer, when a gale swept in from the southwest on Sept. 5, 1881. Fanned into an inferno, the fires raged for three days. A million acres were devastated in Sanilac and Huron counties alone. At least 125 persons died, and thousands more were left destitute. The new American Red Cross won support for its prompt aid to the fire victims. This was the first disaster relief furnished by this great organization.” (Michigan Historical Markers. “Great Fire of 1881.” Roadside Park, Bay Port, MI. Erected 1957.)

National Interagency Fire Center. 2007: 3,000 structures destroyed.

Smalley: “…on September 1 to 5, 1881, the Michigan Fire in northeast Michigan burned 988,000 acres and killed 169 people. This fire also followed an extremely hot and dry summer. No rain fell for months. Very hot weather with moderate winds characterized the day of the fire. There were many uncontrolled settler and logging fires burning at the time, in addition to some lightning fires resulting from a dry lightning storm that occurred on August 31.” (Smalley, James C. (Ed.). Protecting Life and Property from Wildfire, 2005. p. 21.)

Sodders: “In my estimation, the Thumb Fire of 1881 proved to be the worst of these disastrous conflagrations [1853, 1861, 1862, 1864, 1871]…70 townships burned, 1,521 homes destroyed, over 220 people dead and some 13,000 victims left in need of assistance.” (Sodders 1997, i.)

“True, the Great Fires of 1871 were horrible. Yet this destruction was to virtually repeat itself in just a scant ten years’ time. How could this happen?

“The 1871 conflagration was termed a ‘tree-top fire’ which left in its wake a tanglement of downed and dead trees to litter the forest floor, providing fodder and fuel for the next blaze to occur when the stage was properly set with just the correct conditions. While the 1871 blaze took in more territory, the 1881 holocaust proved to be far more intense, extracting a greater toll in lives and human suffering than its earlier counterpart….” (Sodders 1997, 77.)

“A 1950 booklet published jointly by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the USDA Forest Service estimated that the fire of September 1881, commonly known as the Thumb Fire, burned well over one million acres, cost 282 lives, and did more than two and a quarter million dollars’ worth of damage….” (Sodders 1997, 77.)

Evening News, Detroit, Sep 6, 1871: “Port Huron: No telegraphic communications forth of Croswell. Port Hope reported burned and Port Austin and Island Beach believed to be burning. Tremendous fires in Sanilac and Huron counties…Richmondville destroyed and Deckerville reported burned…Eight lives known to have been lost. Many people burned.”

Evening News, Detroit, “September 7, 3:00 p.m.: “September 7, 3:00 p.m.:

Wholesale devastation in Saginaw Valley and Huron peninsula. Entire townships becoming roaring furnaces and left in ashes.., Over 30 lives lost…survivor fleeing to the lake. Tyre, Deckerville, Bad Axe, Verona Mills, Elk Creek, Richmondville, and Caro burned. Forestville on fire. Railroad and telegraphic communications cur off.

“4:00 p.m.:

At least 100 lives lost in Sanilac County alone. Men, women and children burned on the roadside while seeking shelter. A norther sets in, fans flames and increases havoc…. Six counties (Tuscola, Huron, Sanilac, Genesee, Montcalm, and Saginaw) have suffered. Villages of Port Hope, Bad Axe, Verona Mills, Charleston, Minden, Forestville, Richmond, Anderson, Deckerville, Tyre, and Ubly in ashes. Fifty to sixty dead…more being found in cellars, wells and root houses.

Evening News, Detroit, “Thursday, September 8:

Several hundred lives known to be lost…thousands left homeless. Principal destruction in Huron, Sanilac and Tuscola counties…fires started from burning by settlers….

Evening News, Detroit, “Friday, September 9:

The worst ever: Thirty-one townships and eleven villages swept by the flames…45 bodies found near Paris in Sanilac County… (Sodders 1997, 80) ….

“Many bodies were found untouched by the flames, killed by suffocation, smoke inhalation and the heat. Some survivors died later of burns and inflammation of the lungs….” (Moreland. “The Heavens Rained Fire.” Detroit Free Press. 9-27-1981; in Sodders 1997, 87.)

“A correspondent to the Detroit Free Press writes from Port Sanilac:

Upwards of three hundred persons perished in the flames. There was no escape for them. In many instances I found men, women and children lying on the found on their faces, just where they had been overtaken by the fire. I found the bodies of children, burned to a crisp, on top of logs where they had climbed for safety. There was no finding each other when once separated. Many took refuge in wells and root houses, thinking to escape, but in almost every instance they were suffocated….” (Sodders 1997, 120.)

(Sodders, Betty. Michigan on Fire. Thunder Bay Press, 1997.)

Harper’s: “Forest fires break out in Huron and Sanilac counties and burn over some 1800 square miles of territory, rendering 2900 families homeless and destroying 138 lives…Sept. 1881.” (Willsey and Lewis. “Michigan,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, p. 511.)

Sources

American National Red Cross Museum. “Responding to America’s Wildfires.” Accessed 10-12-2008 at: http://www.redcross.org/museum/history/wildfires.asp

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Detroit News, MI. “1881 Fire Still a Vivid Memory.” 9-22-1981. In Sodders 1997, p. 134.

Detroit News. “Crucible of Fire Puts Red Cross to the Test…” 5-21-1981. In Sodders 1997, 149.

Ludlum, David M. The American Weather Book. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1982.

Michigan Historical Markers. “Great Fire of 1881.” Roadside Park, Bay Port, MI. Erected 1957. Accessed at: http://www.michmarkers.com/Frameset.htm

Mitchell, John Alfred. and D. Robson. Forest Fires and Forest Fire Control in Michigan. Michigan Department of Conservation. 1950.

Moreland, Doug. “The Heavens Rained Fire.” Detroit Free Press. 9-27-1981; in Sodders 1997.

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

National Interagency Fire Center. “Historically Significant Wildland Fires.” Accessed 6-8-2020 at: https://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/fireInfo_stats_histSigFires.html

Saginaw News, MI. “1881 – That’s how Thumb residents recall great fire.” 3-4-1951; In Sodders 1997, 101.

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

Smalley, James C. (Ed.). Protecting Life and Property from Wildfire. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association, 2005. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=2913l73SEAUC&dq=Wildfire+1910&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Sodders, Betty. Michigan on Fire. Thunder Bay Press, 1997.

Willsey, Joseph H. (Compiler), Charlton T. Lewis (Editor). Harper’s Book of Facts: A Classified History of the World. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false