Great Hinckley Fire

Coordinates: 46°0'40"N 92°55'24"W



Location: Pine County, near Hinckley, Minnesota, US

Statistics
Date(s): September 1, 1894 to September 6, 1894; 3:00 p.m. (CDT)
Burned area: 200,000 acres (810 km2)
Cause: Drought
Land use: Logging
Deaths: 418+

The Great Hinckley Fire was a conflagration in the pine forests of the U.S. state of Minnesota in September 1894, which burned an area of at least 200,000 acres (810 km2; 310 sq mi) (perhaps more than 250,000 acres [1,000 km2; 390 sq mi]), including the town of Hinckley. The official death count was 418; the actual number of fatalities was likely higher. Other sources put the death toll at 476.

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Boston Corbett

Thomas P. "Boston" Corbett, the Union soldier who killed John Wilkes Booth after Booth's assassination of Abraham Lincoln, is presumed to have died in the fire. His last known residence is believed to have been a forest settlement near Hinckley, and a "Thomas Corbett" is listed as one of the dead or missing.

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