A quiz question · medium
Why did the Peshtigo Fire of 1871 — the deadliest in American history — receive almost no national press coverage?
The Peshtigo firestorm of 8 October 1871 killed at least 1,200 people (estimates range up to 2,500) — roughly four times the death toll of the Great Chicago Fire that began the same night. Chicago was a major city; Peshtigo was a Wisconsin timber town. The national press covered Chicago and barely noticed Peshtigo. The pattern has held for 150 years.
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The Fire That Killed Two Thousand and Got Forgotten the Same Night On the same evening as the Great Chicago Fire, a wildfire two hundred and fifty kilometers north killed five times as many people. Almost nobody heard about it.
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