Did the Great Chicago Fire really start after a cow kicked over a lantern in a barn? Find out the truth in this addition to the What Was? series.
On Sunday, October 8, 1871, a fire started on the south side of Chicago. A long drought made the neighborhood go up in flames. And practically everything that could go wrong did. Firemen first went to the wrong location. Fierce winds helped the blaze jump the Chicago River twice. The Chicago Waterworks burned down, making it impossible to fight the fire. Finally after two days, Mother Nature took over, with rain smothering the flames. This overview of a stupendous disaster not only covers the fire but explores the whole history of fire fighting. What Was the Great Chicago Fire?
One dark night when we were all in bed,
Old Mrs. O'Leary took the lantern to the shed.
And when the cow kicked it over she winked her eye and said,
"There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight."
For 125 years, children have been singing different versions of this rhyme. Many kids think it's just a funny song. But it tells the story of a terrible tragedy-the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
In 1871, Chicago was a rich and thriving city. Soon it might even pass New York as the most important city in the United States.
Chicago leaders knew that fire was one of the main risks to a large city. So they had planned ahead. They had a top firefighting force with modern equipment. No matter how big a fire was, they were sure they could stop it.
Sadly, they were wrong.
On a hot, windy October night, a fire broke out in the barn of a woman named Catherine O'Leary. The fire spread and spread for thirty hours. It jumped over two rivers. Nothing seemed to slow it down. By the time it was finally put out, most of the city was destroyed. Thousands of people, rich and poor, had lost everything.
One of the few houses that was left standing belonged to Catherine O'Leary. She and her family also survived the fire. But her cows did not. Did one of them really cause all this destruction?
Chapter 1: Buckets, Hoses, and Horses
Ever since people started living in houses, fire has been one of the greatest dangers they faced. For centuries most huts and cottages were made of wood or mud. Many of them had straw roofs. Inside, people used open fireplaces, candles, torches, and oil lamps for heat, light, and cooking. All this meant fires could break out at any time. And once they had started, it was easy for them to spread.
Firefighting was everyone's business. If one house caught fire, all its neighbors were in danger. As soon as anyone saw a fire, they would sound the alarm. Then everyone in the village grabbed a bucket and rushed outside. They formed a double line from the fire to the nearest pond, river, or well. They filled buckets and passed them up the line to the fire. When the bucket was empty it was passed back down the line to get filled again. This was called a bucket brigade.
As cities rose up, buildings were packed close together. Fires could spread with even greater speed. Most cities had night watchmen. They kept guard against enemies. But they also watched out for fires. They could give the alarm right away by ringing a bell. The sooner a fire was reported, the more quickly it could be put out. The main way to fight a fire was still with buckets of water. Firefighters also chopped away wood that had not yet started burning. This took fuel away from the fire so it would die down.
Sometimes a fire was too hot to go near, or too high to reach. Then buckets and axes were not enough. In the sixteenth century, in Europe, people started to use pumps that could shoot water longer distances. The first pumps were like giant squirt guns. They were better than nothing, but they couldn't spray very far. Then around 1672, a Dutch inventor created the f
