Frost Lake Fire of 1936

From BWCAWiki

The Frost Lake Fire occurred during the exceptionally hot and dry summer of 1936. Smoke, presumably from a lightning strike, was spotted at Frost Lake on August 12. The fire eventually burned 3,500 acres, from Frost Lake in the west to Fool Lake and Rib Lake in the north to Gordon Lake in the south. Much of the western end of Long Island Lake was burned.

The nearby Cherokee Lake area burned about a month earlier. There were many smaller fires throughout the eastern BWCAW, which were all vigorously suppressed by the Forest Service and CCC volunteers.

References

• Hansen, Mary Alice. Sawbill: History and Tales, Sawbill Press. ISBN 0976162709. Excerpted at Stephen Wilbers' Boundary Waters Chronology.
• Heinselman, Miron. The Boundary Waters Wilderness Ecosystem, University of Minnesota Press, 1996. ISBN 0816628041