THE HOLOCAUST IN MINNESOTA 



647 



toward the thousand mark, can be considered even ap- 

 proximately correct ; it can never be complete. It will be 

 weeks before the property loss, mounting high into the 

 millions, can be even guessed with any degree of accuracy. 



The loss of merchantable timber was comparatively 

 small in the 

 light of the 

 area covered, 

 but even that 

 when the 

 young growth 

 is included 

 will be a stag- 

 gering total. 

 The loss of 

 property, ow- 

 ing to the de- 

 struction of so 

 many towns 

 and country 

 homes, will be 

 enormous. The 

 loss of life is 

 simply appal- 

 ling even in 

 these times of 

 war when ever- 

 swelling casu- 

 alty lists make 



life seem lightly held. It is far the most disastrous fire 

 in Minnesota's history, and when the whole truth is 

 known few will be found to surpass it anywhere. 



It cannot be traced to any single cause. The rainfall 

 was eight inches below the normal last year and has 



Photograph by McKenzic, Duhtth 



LINES OF WIRES 



Rows and rows of telegraph poles leveled by 



fallen twelve inches below the average so far this year. 

 The leaves had fallen and the weather was unseasonably 

 warm. Certainly these were prime conditions for a 

 sweeping conflagration. Add to this a sixty or eighty- 

 mile wind that raged for several hours, and the stage was 



set. The rang- 

 ers could not 

 be given the 

 needed help. 

 Four years ago 

 a pennywise 

 legislature cut 

 the force in 

 half and in- 

 vited this dis- 

 aster. 



Four years 

 of inadequate 

 patrol service 

 has allowed 

 the conditions 

 grow steadily 

 worse. Luck 

 has been with 

 us. Today 

 the luck has 

 changed and 

 the inevitable 

 has happened. 

 Probably no bronze tablets will be erected, no dedica- 

 tion ceremonies performed, but none the less will these 

 blackened acres, these desolate, ruined homes, and the 

 silent graves stand as a memorial to the men who arbi- 

 trarily abandoned the northern peoples to this fate. 



BROUGHT DOWN 

 that sixty-mile a minute wind, but unburned. 



Photograph by McKenzie, Duluth 



THE ONCE FAMOUS DULUTH COUNTRY CLUB 



A remarkable thing, and of the freak tricks of the fire, was that the small and apparently easily inflammable bungalow in the rear was 



untouched while the club house was completely demolished. 



