The "Don't Blame It On The Cow" Story.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a few of the emails I had recently received when I came across a rather interesting one that told the story of the 150th Anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire.  It was on October 8th of 1871 that Catherine O'Leary fed her horses and then led them to her barn before retiring for the evening. The farm was located in Southwestern Chicago where she and her husband Patrick lived.  He was in bed when she returned from feeding and placing the horses in the barn that fateful evening.  Catherine and Patrick were in bed when a neighbor alerted them to the flames that were growing out of control in their barn that windy night.  The dry and windy conditions that evening allowed the fire to grow out of control and within ten minutes two blocks were ablaze.  It eventually consumed five square miles.  Yes...you read that correctly.  It took two days and nights, but the fire consumed five square miles.  The fire became known as the Great Chicago Fire with more than 17,000 buildings burned to the ground and 300 people died.  I scanned the story over and over again and no where did I find that Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over the lamp which started the fire.  Never mentioned that she had a lamp!  A story in the Chicago Tribune from October 11, 1871 said that "At 9:30 a small cow-barn, attached to a house on the corner of DeKoven and Jefferson streets, one block north of Twelfth street, emitted a bright light, followed by a blaze, and in a moment the building was hopelessly on fire.  Before any aid could be extended the fire had communicated to a number of adjoining sheds, barns and dwellings and was rapidly carried north and east, despite the efforts of the firemen.  The fire seemed to leap over the engines, and commenced far beyond them, and working to the east and west, either surrounded the apparatus or compelled it to move away.  In less than ten minutes the fire embraced the area between Jefferson and Clinton for two blocks north, and rapidly pushed eastward to Canal Street."  Chicago was incorporated in the 1830s and grew to become the world's largest grain port by the 1850s.  The city was built of wood and was prone to fires.  It had been hot and dry that fall and the area was experiencing a drought.  When the O'Leary farm began to burn, the tinderbox conditions quickly led to a firestorm that was unstoppable.  There was nothing the firefighters could do to stop the firestorm and to top that off, the flames burned the city's waterworks which cut off water to the hydrants.  Before long it had jumped the south branch of the Chicago River and destroyed much of Central Chicago and then jumped the river again and consumed the Near North Side.  The fire continued another day unchecked.  The Schultze family reported that the fire had started on a Sunday evening after supper.  By 2 a.m. the family were awakened by a knock at the door telling them that the fire was sweeping the city and their home was in the path of the fire.  Mr. Schultze dug a hole in the front yard and dumped in the family linen, silver, dishes, bedding and furniture.  The family gathered the rest of the household items and set out on foot towards the home of a friend,  Several days later they returned to find the smoldering foundation of their home.  As they explored the ruins, hot ashes burned the soles of their shoes off.  After the fire had diminished, over 100,000 people had been left homeless.  The Chicago Tribune was unable to publish a paper on October 9th and 10th and on the 11th described the scene like this:  "This city has been swept by a conflagration which has no parallel in the annals of history."  Reconstruction began almost immediately, and relief poured in from around the country and abroad.  Railroads offered free passage to those who wanted to leave.  Improved building techniques and updated fire standards helped Chicagoans rebuild and emerge as a modern city.  Just two decades later, Congress named Chicago the host city for the 1893 World's Fair.  So...if you learned in school that Mrs. O'Leary's cow started the fire, someone was just feeding you a line of hogwash.  I for one know that a cow would never do that...at least on purpose!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.