1918 Cloquet Fire - Damage and Fatalities

Damage and Fatalities

Many instances of mass deaths were reported. For example, in Moose Lake, an Associated Press Correspondent reported seeing seventy-five bodies piled in a burned building. On a road leading out of Moose Lake, "100 bodies were strewn here and there", according to the New York Times. A relief worker reported that there were thirty bodies piled in a heap in a cellar between Moose Lake and Kettle River.

Among other structures, the Duluth Country Club and the Children's Home were both a complete loss. Within Carlton and southern St. Louis counties the towns of Brookston, Arnold, and Moose Lake were completely destroyed. Cloquet and its surrounding cities were known for the great deforestation caused by the fire.