‘Hellfire in Hermantown’ As fires raged across northern Minnesota, Hermantown was in their path

By Jack Nissen Jnissen@duluthnews.com

The 1918 fires charred Moose Lake, burned Cloquet and torched Kettle River. But have you heard of the hellfire in Hermantown?

“No one knows that Hermantown had a fire,” said Delaine Carlson of the Hermantown Historical Society. “They think it’s Cloquet, they think it’s Moose Lake, but it wasn’t just there.”

Published in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the inferno that tore through northern Minnesota 100 years ago, “Hellfire in Hermantown” documents the stories of when the flames reached the small town.

“I decided to write the book last year and make sure it got out,” said Connie Jacobson, author of the book. “I thought jeez, someone’s gotta tell the Hermantown story.”

The 115-page publication chronicles events that lead up to the fire and the destruction left in its wake, as well as stories about the people who experienced the fire firsthand. While the book provides historical background on wildfires, the influenza outbreak and the conditions that led to such an extreme event, it’s the personal accounts that craft a more vivid story.

Jacobson found many of the stories in archived newspapers, the public library and relatives and friends who had stories of their own to tell.

One describes balls of fire being “blown by the wind to other groups of trees.” The tall evergreens growing at the time became easy targets for the fire that was being blown by roaring winds. Another tells of a family that spent most of the night the fire hit inside an old well near their house.

A particularly harrowing retelling of the tragedy comes from Dagmar Westin, who was 7 years old at the time.

“There were endless miles of charred trees, hanging everywhere, ready to fall at a moment’s notice. Everything was black — ‘black everywhere.’ To add to the black ugliness, the Red Cross fire shacks were covered with ugly black tar-paper, amid the black ruins of forests.”

“There were some stories that just left me with heartache,” said Jacobson. “I just felt so bad for the people and can’t imagine how they lived through it.”

While Jacobson doesn’t live in Hermantown, she has strong family ties to the area. She’s related to the people who founded the town. Her dad was 5 years old when the fires hit. Her mother knew many survivors of the fire.

“My mother went to school with people who had burned in the fire and people that had scars the rest of their lives; that really pains them because medical treatments were so primitive,” she said.

After the main fire subsided, it was a week before any rain came. Smaller fires would reignite on remaining fuel. Jacobson said the story taught lessons and paid respect to those that experienced the fire.

“They deserve to be remembered and their struggles not forgotten,” she said. u

The so-called “Death Curve” on the road to Pike Lake. Blinded by smoke, cars ran into the ditch in a multiple pile-up with drivers losing their lives. Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Kathryn A. Martin Library, University of Minnesota Duluth

Timeline of the res

1918 1916

Two years of unusually dry weather in the Arrowhead begin, preparing conditions for a major fire.

October 10

October 4

Sparks from a train ignite a small but persistent fire near Tamarack in Aitkin County, northwest of the Kettle River. This becomes the main source of the Moose Lake Fire.

October 12

Sparks from a train ignite another small but persistent fire—this one at Milepost 62 near Brookston, four miles northwest of Cloquet. This will become the main source of the Cloquet–Duluth Fire.

A cool front enters Minnesota from the northwest, bringing high winds and a sudden drop in humidity—the two remaining elements needed for a major fire. At about 1:30 p.m. both the Cloquet–Duluth and Moose Lake fires begin to move.

October 12 p.m.

3:30 p.m.

4 p.m.

The first known death occurs when Laura Miettunen is thrown from a fleeing car near Brookston. Her body is never found.

Winds exceed seventy-five miles per hour. Soon, the Duluth sky is so dark from smoke that street lights are turned on.

The fire reaches Kettle River. Seventy-five to one hundred people are killed at a highway turn called Dead Man’s Curve south of the town.

Fire reaches Duluth

7:30 p.m.

October 13

Fire reaches Moose Lake Flames chase the last relief train out of Cloquet.

Cars in the ditch along the side of a road near Cloquet. Many drivers lost their way in the heavy smoke from the fire and drove off the road. Carlton County Historical Society

10 p.m. The fires have subsided. Later in the day, a statewide relief effort begins that grows to include the Minnesota Home Guard, National Guard, Motor Corps, Red Cross, and other groups.

October 16

1935

October 19

The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety meets at Moose Lake and creates the Minnesota Forest Fires Relief Commission to oversee relief work.

Heavy rains douse what little remains of the fires.

The last of the litigation arising from the fires is resolved by large payments from the railroads, authorized by President Franklin Roosevelt on August 27.

SOURCE: Minnesota Historical Society NEWS TRIBUNE GRAPHICS