The Great Fire
by Caleb Cox
It was 1871 Oct. 8 the Great Chicago Fire just broke out! What is even more sad is that the same night an even deadlier fire broke out in Peshtigo. Over 1200 people were killed.
How It’s Made
The people were building the city. They decided to build the city out of wood,but soon they knew that the city had a 79% chance of burning. Chicago was in trouble. Not only that, but the people were so irresponsible that they polluted their water supply!
Where It All Began
Oct. 8 1817 it’s 9:00 p.m. on Dekoven Street house one hundred thirty seven on the south side of the city. A cow had knocked over an oil lamp, and the barn caught fire! The whole city caught in under two hours, but it burned for twenty four.
Windy Weather
The fact that it was a windy morning didn’t help. Along with the drought. The wind was so strong that the wind speed increased up to thirty M.P.H. The fire swade like the wind it was in. Eventually, the fire reached City Hall. (everything was destroyed) Voting records, laws, and job records. It was almost impossible to keep people from voting more than once. ( I wouldn’t know what to do if I was in that situation)
What About The People
Chicago had to move thirty two thousand to, five hundred people out of the city. Also, twenty seven million people were visiting. As the firefighters struggled to contain the fire one hundred seventy firefighters died, for the fire department only had one hundred eighty employs. Approximately three hundred people were killed! ( wow!) Only one million people visited after the tragedy, but people from all over the country
populated the city. What helped is that on the last day of the fire a huge rain storm helped put out the Great Chicago Fire.
Work Cited
American History. “Great Fire”
Hitory.com. “The Great Fire”
Studies for kids. “The Great Fire of 1871”
Levy Jane. “World's Worst Fire’s”