[meteorite-list] Could A Meteorite or Comet Cause All The Fires of 1871?

[Paul H]

In Could A Meteorite or Comet Cause All The Fires of
1871?
http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2004-August/143245.html
Sterling K. Webb wrote:

"These strange fires were not restricted
to the IL-WI-MI triangle centered around
the southern end of Lake Michigan. Because
of the slowness of communication in 1871,
it was not immediately recognized that the
fires of October 8, 1871 were scattered
over parts of seven states and Canada and
may have caused as many as 10,000 deaths."

I would be interested to know where the claim that the

fire actually started in seven states and Canada 
simultaneously. From what I seen written in well-
researched books on the 1871 fire, i.e. "Michigan On 
Fire" by Betty Sodders in 1997, the fact of the matter
is that fires outside IL-WI-MI area were occurring and

started well before October 8 and had been occurring 
all Fall because of the hot and dry weather that had 
created a drought that was devastating in its own
right.
If a person looks at the historical record, he or she 
would find that it is an absolute misrepresentation of

it in stating that these fires all started
simultaneously 
with the October 8 fire. The so-called "instantaneous"
/ 
"simultaneous" nature of the fire, from what I have 
seen, is pure fiction created by shoddy research and 
wishful thinking on the part of advocates of the comet

impact theory, who seem to be rather ill-informed of 
the actual chronology of forest fires in 1871. 

For example, a person can read "The Fire that
Destroyed 
Holland, Michigan" at:

http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/holland%20fire/hollandfire1.html

In terms of the so-called "simultaneous" nature of the
1871 fire, the web page noted:

"There had already been a threat of danger
earlier in the week.  Fires kept smoldering
and burned barns and houses, but the danger
seemed to be far from the city.  Then on
Sunday, October 9, there were reports that
a threatening forest fire was coming."

and

"The community at the time was populated with
2400 residents and for many days previous,
these residents had battled and beaten many
small fires that had erupted throughout the
town."

It is quite clear that fires were starting within the 
area of the 1871 fire days, even weeks, before October
8.
The fire of 1871 simply didn't magically appear on
October
8, 1871 out of nowhere but was preceded by numerous
smaller fires days, even weeks, before it occurred.

Even more interesting comments about the 1871 fire 
can be found in "History & Ecology of Fire in Michigan

Wildland Fire In Michigan". at:

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10367_11851-24038--,00.html

This web page stated:

"It was not a single fire but a combination 
of hundreds of fires, small and large, that 
had been burning unattended for weeks, only 
to flare up and unite when conditions became 
acute."

This statement totally demolishes the case for a 
meteorite or comet, as the 1871 didn't start on Oct.
8, 
1871. Rather the "1871 fire" on October 8 occurred
when 
it exploded into a firestorm when fires only after
burning 
for days, even weeks, before that date. Oct 8 was
simply 
the point that these fires, as they coalesced,
exceeded 
the critical mass needed to explode into massive 
firestorm. 

The historical record also clearly demonstrates the 
source of these fires. For example, the "History & 
Ecology of Fire in Michigan Wildland Fire In Michigan"

web page stated:

"Set carelessly or by settlers in clearing 
land, fires burned everywhere, and ran 
uncontrolled into the woods and swamps 
where they continued to smolder."

Also, the "The Fire that Destroyed Holland, Michigan" 
web page stated:

"In the fall of 1871, the ground was very
dry after the long summer.  The summer had
been very hot and dry and some areas hadn't
had rain since June.  In Holland, fires
began in the piles of sawdust, waste wood,
and finished lumber in the yards of the
city's several sawmills, and the winds
quickly spread the flames throughout the
town.  The small spark ignited the piles
of wood and spread to become one of 
Michigan's most widespread forest fire."

These quotes point out the fact that that Michigan was
having problems with outbreaks of smaller fires, weeks

before October 8. The fire simply didn't magically, 
simultaneously start on that date, but rather
innumerable 
small fires, which had been burning for weeks before 
October 8, came together on that date. The fact that 
smaller fires were burning many days prior to October
8 
refutes the claim that everything simultaneously burst

into flame on that date and the so-called anomalous 
nature of the fire. It is quite obvious that long
before 
October 8, this region was having major problems with 
outbreaks of multiple, ongoing fires. 

The "History & Ecology of Fire in Michigan Wildland 
Fire In Michigan" stated:

"Michigan was extensively logged toward the 
end of the 19th century. The White Pine that 
had once covered Michigan was cut, followed 
by the hardwood forests, and large expanses 
of slash (the branches and other debris left 
after logging) were left behind. Many areas 
were cleared for farming, and the vegetation 
was burned to dispose of it. Several catastrophic 
fires resulted from the indiscriminate burning 
of slash following logging and land clearing 
for agriculture."

and

"In the summer of 1871, a drought occurred over 
much of the Great Lakes region. Slash and debris 
from logging and land clearing became tinder-dry 
during the months without rain. From early 
August no rain fell, pastures and gardens dried 
up, wells went dry, streams shrank to a mere 
trickle, and crops failed."

These conditions, i.e. the abundance of fuel, created
by 
careless logging techniques and forest land
management;
the hot and dry weather and massive drought; and the
careless use of fire to clear land made for an ideal 
situation for the development of a catastrophic fire. 

In fact, a fire similar in magnitude to the 1871 fire 
occurred tens years later in September of 1881 in the 
Thumb area of Michigan. It was more serve, caused more

damage, and made more people to be homeless than the 
1871 fire. 

About the 1881 fire, the "History & Ecology of Fire in

Michigan Wildland Fire In Michigan" stated:

"Like the 1871 fire, the fire of 1881 came 
at the end of an extremely severe drought 
and was the result of hundreds of land-clearing 
fires whipped into a seething cauldron of flame 
by high winds."

This discussion reminds me of a "mysterious" sinking 
of the Sandra that allegedly sank in a calm sea
without 
any distress signal as described by Charles Berlitz in

his book "The Bermuda Triangle". When Larry Kusche 
looked into this disappearance, he found that the ship

was half as long as the book stated and it disappeared

in the middle of a hurricane. In this case, as in the 
1871 fires, the mystery disappears when the 
misinformation and folklore is replaced by documented 
facts.

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA



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