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on the morning of September 2nd 1894 the
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sun never rose over Michigan from Bay
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City to Lington from the Upper Peninsula
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to the Thumb the sky turned black cattle
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refused to leave Barnes school children
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were sent home steam ships hugged the
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shoreline in zero visibility some
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thought it was a solar eclipse others
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thought it was the end of the world but
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the cause wasn't in Michigan it was 400
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m away burning fast across eastern
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Minnesota you're listening to End of the
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Road in Michigan where history takes a
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turn down the forgotten roads of the
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Great Lakes i'm Michael Hardy the fire
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began near Hinckley Minnesota on
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September 1st conditions were perfect
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for disaster drought wind and dry timber
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left by logging crews by late afternoon
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a firestorm swallowed the town
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temperatures hit 1,600° F trains melted
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on their tracks entire families
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suffocated or burned when it was over
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more than 400 people were dead but
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Michigan didn't just read about the
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disaster it felt it by the next morning
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the smoke cloud had drifted across Lake
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Superior moving east and south michigan
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was covered by a choking orange haze and
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panic followed in Sous St marie steamers
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refused to leave port reports from
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September 3rd say the smoke made
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navigation too dangerous and vessels
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waited for daylight that never came
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according to the Detroit Free Press a
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dull red glare overhung the entire state
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of Michigan farmers from Tuscola Bay and
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Marquette counties plowed around barns
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trying to stop advancing fires in their
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own backyards in East Tawis the steamer
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Oafridge became stranded between
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Alabaster and Tawis City caught in zero
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visibility passengers had to wait for
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tugs to rescue them along the southshore
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of Lake Superior ship captains couldn't
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see more than 100 yardds ahead telegraph
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lines failed trains stopped running
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inland things weren't any better reports
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from Gladwin County described a red haze
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and choking heat men clearing brush were
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overtaken by fire in less than 10
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minutes barely escaping with their lives
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others weren't so lucky the town of Sei
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in the UP saw six buildings burn everton
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Lington reported losses in timber entire
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counties were cloaked in fear and flame
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in Pinaning the swamps burned for 6 days
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straight near Shboan settlers loaded
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everything onto trains in case they had
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to flee by rail telegraph reports
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described columns of smoke so thick the
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sun disappeared for hours rail crews
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were overwhelmed the Western Union
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Telegraph Company could only communicate
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intermittently even when the fires
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weren't local the smoke shut down
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communication across the state in
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Lington a paper noted that many farmers
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are striving to save their homes and the
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sky for several miles outside is covered
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with a continual cloud of smoke even
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cities far from the flames reported fear
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people gathered in churches some
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believed it was the judgment day the
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total death toll from the Hinckley fire
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reached over 400 but it's unknown how
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many more perished across Michigan due
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to the secondary fires that ignited in
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the chaos or from injuries and smoke
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inhalation within a week the skies began
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to clear but the event left its mark it
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showed how vulnerable Michigan was to
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disaster not just from its own forests
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but from those burning hundreds of miles
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away it also showed how fast
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misinformation and fear could spread in
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the years that followed newspapers would
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refer to it as the day the sky went
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black today most remember the Great
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Hankley fire as a Minnesota tragedy but
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in 1894 it was very much a Michigan
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story too a smoky terrifying day that
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made people stop pray and wonder if the
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sun would ever rise again that's it for
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this edition of End of the Road in
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Michigan if you like this story share it
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with a friend or leave a review it helps
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thanks for listening until next time
