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Peshtigo Fire
This fire in Wisconsin started the same day as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In addition to destroying the city of Peshtigo, the fire spread and burned down 12 towns and killed approximately 1,200 people -
Yellowstone nat park
On March 1, President Ulysses Grant signed into existence the world's first national park, Yellowstone National Park. The 2.2 million acres of wilderness was "set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." Nathaniel Langford, one of the most outspoken proponents of the national park idea, was appointed the first superintendent of the Park. -
Johnstown Flood May
Johnstown in Pennsylvania was totally washed away when the South Fork dam burst after days of heavy rains. The dam had been reconstructed with unstable material. The flood destroyed 1,600 homes and 2,209 people were killed. -
Conservation movement
Conservation first became a national issue during the progressive era's conservation movement (1890s - 1920s). The early national conservation movement shifted emphasis to scientific management which favored larger enterprises and control began to shift from local governments to the states and the federal government. Some writers credit sportsman, hunters and fisherman with the increasing influence of the conservation movement. -
Yosemite Nat park
In 1889, John Muir, America's most famous and influential naturalist and conservationist, and Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of Century Magazine, had growing concerns about the devastating effects of sheep grazing in the high country. They launched a successful campaign to persuade Congress to set aside this area as a national park in 1890. On October 1, 1890, the U.S. Congress set aside more than 1,500 square miles of reserved forest lands, soon to be known as Yosemite National Park. -
Galveston hurrcan
The Hurricane of 1900 made landfall on the city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas, on September 8, 1900. It had estimated winds of 135 miles per hour at landfall, making it a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
The hurricane caused great loss of life with the estimated death toll between 6,000 and 12,000 individuals; the number most cited in official reports is 8,000, giving the storm the third-highest number of casualties of any Atlantic hurricane, -
San Francisco earth quake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other values have been proposed, from 7.7 to as high as 8.25. The main shock epicenter occurred offshore about 2 miles from the city, near Mussel Rock. It ruptured along the San Andreas Fault -
Tri-state tornado
Over the span of three-and-a-half destructive hours, the Tri-State Tornado became the deadliest twister to rip through the heartland. Along its path — which included Illinois, Indiana, Missouri — the tornado demolished more than 15,000 homes. Of the nearly 700 people killed, 613 were from Illinois. In the aftermath, forecasters started to look into developing a tornado warning system that would have spared many lives at the time. -
1928 Okeechobee hurricane
The Okeechobee hurricane, or San Felipe Segundo hurricane, was a deadly hurricane that struck the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida in September of the 1928 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the second recorded hurricane to reach Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale in the Atlantic basin after the 1924 Cuba hurricane; as of 2010, it remained the only recorded hurricane to strike Puerto Rico at Category 5 strength. -
Dust Bowl Early 1930's
Rising demands for wheat caused excessive plowing and planting in the southern Plains. The land eventually eroded and a 10-year drought dried up the soil. Windstorms swept up the soil and crop failure was widespread. Half a million people were homeless and many farmers applied for government assistance.
