America’s Worst Fire
- January 6, 2015
- By KIDS DISCOVER
The worst blaze in U.S. history was the Peshtigo fire, which began October 7, 1871, near the Wisconsin logging town of the same name. Two billion trees burned and 1,200 people died, but newspapers paid more attention to the much smaller Great Chicago Fire, which began the next day. (Painting by Mel Kishner)