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| Michigan |
For purposes of this discussion, the Thumb region in Michigan are Huron, Tuscola, and Senilac Counties; as well as portions of Genesse, Laperre, and St. Claire Counties to the south of Tuscola and Senilac Counties (if you want to see a county map of Michigan please see this map from the U.S. Census Bureau). In 1881 the Thumb region burned again. One important contributing factor to these fires was slash in the form burned timber and the like left over from the 1871 fires. Other contributing factors to the outbreak in the Thumb were: drought in the couple of months leading up to the fires, and fires used by settlers and others to clear land. (Sodders 1997:82). Fires burned in all the counties marked in yellow on the map below.
In a Detroit Free Press article by Doug Moreland -- The Heavens Rained Fire -- published on September 27, 1981, Moreland describes the conditions leading up to the fires and the toll the fires took:
There are few trees. Once forested with giant white pines, 150 feet tall and five feet in diameter, the countryside was logged in the early 1800s. The pine was replaced by second-growth maple, aspen, and birch. Then, exactly 100 years ago this month, that second growth was destroyed by a fire of almost unimaginable proportions, a holocaust still recalled in some accounts as ‘the Great fire of 1881.’
Starting east of Saginaw, freak hurricane winds lashed burning woodland into a fire storm that covered 1,500 square miles, destroyed 3,400 buildings, left 15,000 homeless in the face of winter and killed well over 300 (reprinted in Sodders, 1997:84).
As I read Sodder's account of the 1881 Thumb Fires, I was again struck by the toll the fires took. At the same time, as Ms. Fraiser mentioned in her video on the 1881 Thumb Fire (see my December 20th article), I too latched onto the role of Clara Barton and the newly created American Red Cross. Clara Barton and her colleagues founded the American Red Cross in May 1881, go to this short history of the American Red Cross for more information.
Thumbwind has a two-minute video about the 1881 Thumb Fire.
Direct link to video on YouTube from Thumbwind
One of the first domestic relief efforts for the newly minted American Red Cross was the 1881 Thumb Fires providing food, clothing, medicine and shelter along with about $80,000 in cash donations to the fire victims. (Sodders, 1997:147-8).
Speaking of the important role of the American Red Cross, Sodders says: “Certainly the American Red Cross put down deep roots in our Michigan Thumb Area. But had this devastating fire not taken place, they may not have proved their national worth for some additional years. So in essence, Clara Bar’s new organization needed the Michigan tragedy just as much as the fire victims need the help of the Red Cross. This humanitarian organization proved its worth in raising and disbursing of relief money and the rehabilitation of persons suffer personal losses during times of disaster. And, yes, Michigan was just such disaster area with 70 townships burned, 1,521 houses destroyed, 220 dead and over 14,000 people in need of assistance. (Sodders, 1997:149)”
It would seem that the Thumb region needed the American Red Cross after the 1881 fires and the American Red Cross need the 1881 Thumb Fires. I am glad that this was mutually beneficial.
Note: Sodders, Betty (edited and designed by Don Weeks) Michigan on Fire. 1997: Thunder Bay Press.
Articles in this series:
- December 15, 2021: Introduction
- December 17, 2021: 1871 Fires
- December 20: 2021: 1881 Thumb Fires, part 1
- December 22: 2021: 1881 Thumb Fires, part 2 (this article)
- December 27, 2021: 1896 Ontonagan Fire
- December 29, 2021: 1908 Metz Fire
- January 3, 2022: 1911 Au Sable - Oscoda Fire
- January 5, 2022: Reflections
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