HISTORY TOPICS

Hinckley Fire of 1894

The story of the Hinckley fire of September 1, 1894, is a tragic saga of destruction, terror, courage, heroism, and death. Hinckley, a logging and railroad center, was laid waste by the inferno that roared through the town, sending hundreds of townspeople in flight for their lives and leaving hundreds dead in its wake. In attempting to escape the fire, people sought safety in wells, swamps, a railroad gravel pit, and the river. Heroic individuals saved many lives.

What caused this historic fire that raced across 480 square miles and burned 350,000 acres? A long drought made for tinder-dry conditions in miles of cutover forests — the wasteland resulting from the unregulated logging practices of the time. A southerly wind blowing over small fires in the area brought in haze and smoking sparks, picking up speed throughout the morning. By mid-afternoon, a large black cloud hovered over the town, and the sound of the wind had grown to a distant roar. A huge fireball set several houses and the depot ablaze, then swept northward through the town and woods toward Barnum. A 37-mile segment of the Munger Trail memorializes the route the fire took between Hinckley and Barnum, the suffering and death it caused, and the devastation it wrought.

GET STARTED WITH SECONDARY SOURCES:

• From the Ashes: The Story of the Hinckley Fire of 1894, by Grace Stageberg Swenson.
  Stillwater, Minn.: Croixside Press, 1979.
  MHS call number: SD 421 .S84.
  St. Cloud, Minn.: North Star Press of St. Cloud, 1988.
  MHS call number: SD 421 .S84 1988.
• The Great Hinckley Fire, by Clark C. Peterson.
  Smithtown, N.Y.: Exposition Press, 1980.
  MHS call number: SD 421 .P48.
• "Hinckley 1894: Those Who Died," by Antona Hawkins Richardson.
  Transcribed from the official list of the dead compiled by Pine County coroner D.W. Cowan.
  In Minnesota Genealogical Journal, no. 30 (Sept. 2003): pp. 2967-2974.
  MHS call number: CS 42 .M553.
• The Hinckley Fire, by Antone A. Anderson and Clara Anderson McDermott.
  New York: Comet Press Books, 1954.
  MHS call number: SD 421 .A54.
  [Hinckley, Minn.: Hinckley Fire Centennial Committee and Hinckley Lions' Club, 1993].
  MHS call number: SD 421 .A54 1993.
• The Hinckley-Sandstone Fire, by Harold L. Fisher.
  [Royalton, Minn.: H.L. Fisher, 1968?]
  MHS call number: SD421.32.M6 F57 1968.
• A History of the Great Minnesota Forest Fires: Sandstone, Mission Creek, Hinckley, Pokegama, Skunk Lake, by Elton T. Brown.
  St. Paul, Minn.: Brown Bros., 1894.
  MHS call number: SD 421 .B87.
• John Blair and the Great Hinckley Fire, by Josephine Nobisso, illustrated by Ted Rose.
  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
  Tells how a brave African American porter helped save many lives when the train on which he was working was caught up in the horrendous firestorm near Hinckley, Minnesota, in 1894.
  MHS call number: SD421.32.M6 N62 2000.
• Wall of Flames: The Minnesota Forest Fire of 1894, by Lawrence H. Larsen.
  Fargo, N.D.: The North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1984.
  MHS call number: Reading Room SD 421.32 .M6 l37 1984.

PRIMARY RESOURCES:

• John W. Blair Papers, 1867-1915.
  This archival collection is the personal account of an African-American railroad porter's heroic rescue of train passengers and townspeople during the disastrous 1894 forest fire in Hinckley.
  MHS call number: P1788; see the green Manuscripts Notebooks for more details (there is only 1 folder of material).
• "Death at My Heels," by May Gorman Newman.
  A reminiscent account (typed, carbon copy) of the experiences of a 16-year-old Hinckley girl in the 1894 Hinckley fire. Newman describes the first alarm to the city, attempts to flee by train, and the arrival of survivors in Duluth.
  MHS call number: P1193-2; see the green Manuscripts Notebooks for more details (there is only 1 item).
• "The Hinckley Fire," by Alice A. Nelson Wilcox.
  A reminiscent account (typed, carbon copy) of Alice Nelson Wilcox's experiences as a Pokegama, Minnesota, girl during the 1894 Hinckley forest fire. Wilcox gives details of the fire, how she and her family survived, the destruction of property and life, the removal of the survivors to Mora, and the rehabilitation of the land and the people.
  MHS call number: P1193-3; see the green Manuscripts Notebooks for more details (there is only 1 item).
• Minnesota Office of the Governor
  • Commission for Relief of Fire Sufferers Records (1894-1995.)
    MHS call number: See the black State Archives Notebooks — filed under Governor, Disaster Relief Records — for a detailed list of boxes and locator numbers (there 4 boxes and 3 volumes, but not all relate to this topic).
  • Miscellaneous Disaster Relief Files (1871-1920.)
    This archival collection contains information on the Legislature's Pine Lands Investigating Committee, 1893-1894.
    MHS call number: See the black State Archives Notebooks — filed under Governor, Disaster Relief Records — for a detailed list and locator numbers (there are 3 folders and 2 volumes of material, but not all relate to this topic).
  • Railroad and Land Matters Files (1895-1915).
    This archival collection includes correspondence and court documents regarding the 1893-1894 pine lands investigation and a printed report of the Pine Lands Investigating Committee (1894).
    MHS call number: See the black State Archives Notebooks — filed under Governor — for a detailed list and locator number (there is only 1 box).
• Newspapers that may be useful for this topic:
  • Kanabec County Times (Mora, Minn.)
  • Pine County Pioneer (Pine City, Minn.)
  • Duluth Herald
  • Duluth News
  • Duluth Tribune
• Visual Resources Database subjects that may be useful for this topic:
  • Hinckley Fire
• Check the library catalog for other materials.
• More information about the town of Hinckley can be found at Minnesota Place Names.