CLOQUET, Minn. (Northern News Now) - October 1918 was a tough time for many in the Northland.

World War I would rage on for a few more weeks, the Spanish Flu was killing millions around the world, but close to home, a devastating fire destroyed two Minnesota towns.

“On October 12th, the fire started from farmers burning brush and things they should have done in the spring,” said Moose Lake Historical Society leader Ray Pesavent, talking about the fires of 1918 that burned from Moose Lake to Cloquet.

He says other theories about the origin of the fire included train sparks and German saboteurs during the last month of World War I.

Either way, 1,500 square miles were destroyed and nearly 450 people were killed, with most of the deaths coming in the city of Moose Lake.

There weren’t as m

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