Moose Lake Fire

Moose Lake Fire is a Minnesota historical marker in Carlton County.

U. S. highway 61, near Riverside Cemetery, just north of Moose Lake · location approximate

Directions to the area ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

On October 12, 1918 one of the several terrific forest fires which were burning simultaneously, driven by a sixty mile wind, swept through the Moose Lake region. Of the 453 persons burned to death in these fires, some 200 perished in and about this town. A State monument in Riverside Cemetery near here commemorates the disaster.

Verbatim 1940 text, presented as a historical record, not current interpretation. Minnesota now calls the 1862 conflict the U.S.-Dakota War and has since replaced the wording on some of these signs.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1870 · Burritt's Sectional Minnesota (1870) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1873 · Minnesota. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1911 · Nr. 87. Vereinigte Staaten, Bl. 2. ... von H. Habenicht. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1924 · AutoTrails Map, Minnesota, Western Wisconsin. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1937 · Forest and park activity map as of December 15, 1937 : [Wisconsin] (Northwestern University Libraries)

AutoTrails Map, Minnesota, Western Wisconsin, 1924, covering the location of Moose Lake Fire, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — AutoTrails Map, Minnesota, Western Wisconsin, 1924, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

Example

For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

Upload your family tree and TreeAlive finds the markers near where your own ancestors lived.

See your family's markers

Start with a tree file, a FamilySearch sign in, or a WikiTree ID.

Report a problem with this page

The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyExpected here. This page shows the older published text, and some signs were recast later. Telling us still helps.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

We may pass what you report to the state's marker program. Please don't include personal details.

Marker data: Minnesota Historical Records Survey Project, Work Projects Administration, Guide to Historic Markers Erected by the State Highway Department Cooperating with the Minnesota Historical Society (1940)

Moose Lake Fire

Historical maps covering this location

More markers nearby