On October 12, 1918, a massive forest fire raced through northeastern Minnesota from Sturgeon Lake to the shores of Lake Superior north of Duluth, becoming one of Minnesota’s worst disasters. Hot, dry weather had prevailed for several months, and railroads were determined to have started the fires when sparks from engines ignited dry brush along the tracks. Extremely high winds fanned the flames and sent them roaring through the forests and lumber mills of the region. The 1918 Cloquet-Moose Lake Fire destroyed 38 communities in northeastern Minnesota, killed at least 450 people, injured or displaced over 52,000 people, and caused more than $73 million in property damage. No area suffered more than the Moose Lake-Kettle River area, where over one-half of the 453 people killed perished within ten miles of Kettle River. One site especially came to represent the tragedy: at present-day Dead Man’s Curve on Minnesota Highway 73 just south of Kettle River, 15 cars trying to flee the flames failed to make a sharp turn, causing crashes in which nearly 25 people died in smoke and fire.