Did Comet Trigger The Great Chicago Fire?

Discovery ^ | 3-6-2004 | Irene Mona Klotz

[blam]

Did a Comet Trigger The Great Chicago Fire?

By Irene Mona Klotz, Discovery News

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871

March 5, 2004 — Perhaps it was not Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern that sparked the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed the downtown area and claimed 300 lives.

New research lends credence to an alternative explanation: The fire, along with less-publicized and even more deadly blazes the same night in upstate Wisconsin and Michigan, was the result of a comet fragment crashing into Earth's atmosphere.

The comet theory has been around — and most often discarded — since at least 1883, but Robert Wood, a retired McDonnell Douglas physicist, said never before has the orbital parameters of the rogue comet been taken into consideration.

The likely suspect, in Wood's eyes, is a fragment from Biela's Comet, which had been circling the sun every six years and nine months before a close encounter with Jupiter caused it to break into two large fragments in 1845. During its next passage, astronomers noted a 1.5-million mile, 15-day gap between the two pieces.

Wood said his analysis of the fragments' positions during subsequent orbits shows that Jupiter's gravity again affected their speed and trajectory, sending the smaller fragment on a path toward Earth that ended in October 1871. He presented his findings at a conference last week titled "Planetary Defense: Protecting Earth from Asteroids," held in Garden Grove, Calif.

Wood cited eyewitness reports of spontaneous ignitions, lack of smoke and "fire balloons" falling from the sky to bolster his theory. If the fire had been caused by comet debris, which is believed to have consisted of small pieces of frozen methane, acetylene or other highly combustible chemicals, it also would explain the cause of the fires blazing north of Chicago, which wiped out 2,000 people and burned 4 million acres of farm and prairie lands.

The deceased included many who showed no signs of being burned, Wood said. "This would be consistent with either the absence of oxygen or the presence of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide above lethal levels," — a rare — but not unprecedented — situation in large forest fires.

In all, over a 24-hour period, an area of land the size of Connecticut was burned. Wood speculates the main body of the comet crashed into Lake Michigan, with peripheral fragments causing the fires in Chicago, Wisconsin and Michigan.

NASA is among a handful of agencies and organizations working on cataloging potentially threatening near-Earth asteroids and comets. What would be done about any threatening asteroids, however, remains the domain of science fiction.

"What's important about these findings," Wood said, "is that they show you people can actually get killed from something from out of space."

[billorites]

Bush knew!

[blam]

Did Asteroids And Comets Turn The Tides Of Civilization?

[Conan the Librarian]

My theory all along. (Well a comet or Meteor) I am glad the scientic community is finally coming round to my way of thinking. If they had only done so sooner :)

Seriously, I did see a show about this about 8 years ago that made a whole lot of sense.

[Pete'sWife]

No, but I think Donner and Blitzen were in on it.

[expat_panama]

At the same time there was also a fire in Saugatuk Michigan- directly east of Chicago- that burnt more square miles than the Chicago fire but less loss in lives and property. The author may not have been aware of the Saugatuk fire.

[11th Earl of Mar]

Reparations for the descendants of Mrs. O'Leary's cow!

No justice, no peace!!!

[July 4th]

As schoolkids in Wisconsin, we always learn about the Peshtigo fire:

Oct. 8 marks the anniversary of the Peshtigo Fire.

The 1871 fire killed more than 1,300 people. History tells us that it was the most devastating fire in American history.

The blaze, which started in Marinette County, scorched 1.2 million acres, even crossing the waters of Green Bay to Door and Kewaunee counties.

It was also on that exact date in 1871 that Chicago was struck by fire. While not as destructive as the Peshtigo fire, 300 lives were lost.

[DoughtyOne]

This is the type of writer who will do the Clinton administration (in)justice. Gag me...

[Mears]

I read a book on the Peshtigo fire and it was said that very strong,dry winds were the reason the fire spread so quickly.

[Charles Henrickson]

Growing up in the city of Chicago at a time when there were still people around who remembered the Great Fire of 1871, obviously I heard a lot about it.

It had been a very dry summer and autumn--both in Chicago and up near Peshtigo, where the Wisconsin fire started. Dry wood houses and dry forests were tinderboxes ready to burst into flames. That two major fires occurred close in time in the same dry region should not be considered too unusual. This is not to rule out the comet theory, but to say that the two fires could have easily been caused by more common means.

[theFIRMbss]

>The fire, along with less-publicized and even more deadly blazes the same night in upstate Wisconsin and Michigan

If Wisconsin is in the story, then we all know who gets the blame...

[DentsRun]

If the fire had been caused by comet debris, which is believed to have consisted of small pieces of frozen methane, acetylene or other highly combustible chemicals, it also would explain the cause of the fires blazing north of Chicago, which wiped out 2,000 people and burned 4 million acres of farm and prairie lands.

Wow, I never even heard of this. First we discover that an asteroid didn't wipe out the dinosaurs after all. Now we learn the Chicago fire can't be blamed on Mrs. O'Leary's cow.

[annyokie]

Shoot. The end of a great camping song.

[farmfriend]

Non indexed ping.

Gods, Graves, Glyphs
List for articles regarding early civilizations , life of all forms, - dinosaurs - etc.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this ping list.

[JimSEA]

This and the Arizona Sunset Crater article you posted earlier should give the myth chasers mor ammunition. We should look for the base causes instead of dismissing old stories as "childish". Interesting. Next we can solve who Hanuman was, now that we have other ideas about Mrs. O'Leary's cow.

[pa_dweller]

Fire cause determined - Wood

[blam]

"Next we can solve who Hanuman was, now that we have other ideas about Mrs. O'Leary's cow."

The Life Of Hanuman

[greenwolf]

Ignatius Donelly made a fairly compelling case for this over a hundred years ago.

[ItsOurTimeNow]