My grandfather, Roscoe Miller (1908-1991) told me the story of the last prairie fire in the area. He lived several miles north of Clear Lake (see 1875 map). His grandparents were named Dawson and they were one of the first settlers in this area.
It was early spring in 1915 and they could see the smoke from a prairie fire from 30-40 miles away, and the wind was blowing right towards them. They hooked up the horses to the plow and tried to plow a firebreak around the house, but the fire was coming too fast. They knew they would lose the house so they piled all the furniture in the yard and covered it with wet blankets, then raced into Clear Lake. When they returned the next day the house was fine, but an ember had caught the furniture on fire and it was all burned up.
The youngest in the photo is my grandfather and that is the house that didn’t burn. It was torn down in the 1990s.
Photo 1: 1875 Cerro Gordo County Farm Map – Dawnson
Photo 2: Roscoe, Paul, Lillie & jim Miller at the Home Place
Story by David Miller
