In the course of doing background research on the 1871 Peshtigo Fire I learned about other fires that burned in Michigan on the same day including the Chicago Fire, see Hultquist's article on the Great Midwest Wildfires of 1871. I knew that I wanted to know more about the Michigan fires of 1871, and thanks to Professor Randall Schaetzl, in the Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Science at Michigan State University. Prof. Schaetzl had knowledge of these fires that burned in Michigan in the later part of the 19th century. He recommended that I read Betty Sodder’s Michigan on Fire (Thunder Bay Press: 1997), edited and designed by Don Weeks.
I knew that I wanted to write more about these Michigan Fires, a good place to start was by reading Sodder’s book. So I decided to use the inter-library loan service from my local library where patrons like me can borrow a book from another library if the book is not owned by the local library. I was not surprised to note from the inter-library loan database that most of the copies of Sodder’s book were owned by libraries in Michigan. I put in my request and a few days later, Michigan on Fire arrived on loan from the Alpena Community College Library in Alpena, Michigan. I finished the book in early December and returned it to my local library who in turn mailed it back to the Alpena Community College.
I am still developing this series as I write this, but as I think that Sodder's book will arrive in Alpena today, I wanted to post this article today in part as a shout out to the Alpena Community College, but also to let you know what I have been working on for the last six weeks or so.
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