Searching for the cause

Most everyone has heard the story of how Mrs. O’Leary’s cow started the great fire of Chicago, October 8, 1871. Supposedly Mrs. O’Leary was milking the bad tempered bovine when the animal kicked over a kerosene lamp, which started the fire.

It was as good a story as any for the grisly fire that destroyed 17,500 buildings and claimed 250 lives. But it was not just Chicago that was burning, nor was Chicago the worst of the fires. Separate fires were burning in Peshtigo Wisconsin, and in Green Bay, Rosiere, Williamsonville and other Sturgeon Bay area towns. The death toll for the entire area was actually between 1,650, and 1,750. Peshtigo Wisconsin had the highest death toll, about 1150.

It has been generally accepted that the real cause of the fires was forest fires burning out of control. That summer had been one of the driest with drought conditions well established by May. The logging industry flourished in the area, and there seemed to be an endless supply of timber. There was also a great deal of waste left in the forest to later act as unwanted fuel for the fires. Forest fires became common sights, and were blamed for the disasters.

Forest fires, however, have not been the only suggested cause of these fires. Some years later, a book entitled Ragnarok was published by an amateur astronomer named Ignatius Donnelly. Donnelly proposed that many of the Earth’s catastrophes resulted from comets striking, or grazing the Earth. At the time, the book got little notice.

In 1982, a man named Mel Waskins discovered Ragnarok. In turn, Waskins published a book entitled Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow. He too, speculated the possibility of a comet causing the October 8th fires. Donnelly pointed out that the Chicago and Peshtigo fires broke out at the same time, an odd coincidence. Donnelly pointed out other strange occurrences with respect to the fires. Survivors of Peshtigo claimed to have seen a great black balloon shaped object which came out of the sky and exploded over the trees. Other witnesses in Wisconsin claimed that the fire came down from the sky in great balls of fire. In Chicago, firemen reported seeing basements burning blue, which, Waskins said, could have been because of the methane commonly found in comets. Other strange occurrence included people who survived, but had coins melted together in their pockets.

Waskins thinks he may have even found the comet in question. In 1845 a comet known as Biela’s comet was found to have split into two pieces, and Waskins believes one of the pieces may have been on a collision course with Earth.

Even Waskins describes his comet theory as highly speculative. Actual evidence still points to forest fires as being the cause. But if it was a comet, there would probably be no evidence. Comets are largely composed of ices, with little rock. A comet hitting the Earth would not leave a crater because it is not composed entirely of rock, as meteors are. We probably will never know for sure.