1918 Cloquet Fire - Recovery

Recovery

The recovery of the region was area-specific due to the nature of the damage dealt. The damage that Duluth sustained had very little threat of impacting the economy, although the fire did destroy several small suburbs, as well as farming communities, but most of Duluth’s economy at the time centered around the transportation and mining sectors, which were left relatively untouched.

The farming industry suffered a large loss. A great deal of livestock was killed and many acres of farmland were torched. Charles Mahnke, who was the Moose Lake member of the relief commission told the farmers "We are going to put you back as well off as you were before.” Relief assistance aided the farming community, and with their help the farmers were given a place to stay and the means for rebuilding what they had lost. The Northwestern Telephone Company had phone service restored by Sunday at approximately 7:00 pm. The education of Moose Lake resumed on January 6, 1919 with the benevolent assistance provided by the Red Cross.

Cloquet had suffered significantly more damage than Duluth and the recovery was much slower and much greater in magnitude. On Sunday, October 20, Cloquet citizens met in Carlton County to talk about what needed to be done. The secondary industries which included: Northwest Paper Company, the Cloquet Tie and Post Company, the Berst-Forster-Dixfield Company toothpick factory, and the Rathborne, Hair and Ridgeway Company box factory. These secondary industries would eventually ascend to the primary industries, but the recovery of the primary industries was much more complex. The Northern Lumber Company, which was responsible for a strong percentage of Cloquet’s economy, had been destroyed. The Northwest Paper Company began production a week after the fire, which gave much needed jobs for the recently “fired” citizens of Cloquet. The Red Cross stepped in and constructed many temporary shelters for the victims’ families of Cloquet. By November 15 there was over 200 shelters built with the help of the Red Cross and other dedicated townspeople. Within a five year span Cloquet had industrialized, rebuilt many of the lost railroads and the citizens moved out of their temporary Red Cross shelters into beautiful new homes.