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The Chicago Was Bad But Nothing Compared To The Experience The Fire Born From Deborah Hufford · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: It's not about just creating one podcast these days. It's
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  Speaker 1: A-R-R-O-E dot net. Enjoy your exploration. Hello and good morning.
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  Speaker 1: How are you doing today, Debra? Oh, great, Arrow.
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  Speaker 2: I'm so glad to be here. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: I got to tell you, you have no idea how
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  Speaker 1: many times as I go through this book, day in
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  Speaker 1: and day out, that my mind is going crazy. Daddy
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  Speaker 1: was a cop. East side of Chicago. I'm sitting there
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  Speaker 1: singing that song. The night Chicago died over and over
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  Speaker 1: again while reading your book, the fireborn, which is about
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  Speaker 1: a different fire. And I keep trying to figure out,
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  Speaker 1: did they leave an Easter egg in that top 40 song?
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  Speaker 1: The night Chicago died that spoke of this fire. I'm
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  Speaker 1: looking for every signal that, that they had to have
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  Speaker 1: known this was going on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, most Chicagoans today do not know that this
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  Speaker 2: fire happened. In fact, most of the world doesn't know.
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  Speaker 2: It's crazy.
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  Speaker 1: I'm one of them. I'm one of them.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't know.
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  Speaker 1: I thought I was so up to date on history
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  Speaker 1: because I love digging into history. And when I came
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  Speaker 1: across this book, I mean, I literally was going, where
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  Speaker 1: the hell have I been? Why don't I know this?
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  Speaker 2: I know. Isn't it crazy? Well, I can explain a
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  Speaker 2: little bit why that happened. I mean, today, the Pesico
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  Speaker 2: Fire is still the worst fire by far in American history.
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  Speaker 2: But it happened the same night as the Chicago Fire
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  Speaker 2: and when the second biggest, largest city in the United
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  Speaker 2: States burns. And it burns bad. I mean, a third
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  Speaker 2: of it burned to the ground. And most of it
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  Speaker 2: were these huge, huge famous buildings on the Gold Coast
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  Speaker 2: in downtown Chicago. And that's big news. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the cities were terrified of fire at that time. And
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  Speaker 2: the Peshtigo Fire, a million and a half acres burned. Right.
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  Speaker 2: And up to 2,500 people died. But it burned all
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  Speaker 2: of the telegraph wires and poles. So there was no
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  Speaker 2: way to even get news out that it was happening
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  Speaker 2: for many days. So between, you know, Chicago overshadowing it
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  Speaker 2: and then not being able to even telegraph to the
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  Speaker 2: world that they needed help, that's why it just sort
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  Speaker 2: of receded into history. So I hope my book will
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  Speaker 2: change that a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you share history in a way that it's not
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  Speaker 1: a book of Debbie Downers or negative, negative, negative. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: there's love, there's courage, there's loss, there's renewal. There's so
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  Speaker 1: many different levels of real life in this to where
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  Speaker 1: I can see readers getting in their book clubs going,
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  Speaker 1: did you feel this as well? What did you get
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  Speaker 1: from it? Did you know? I mean, you're creating conversation
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  Speaker 1: with the fireborn.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, that is so lovely of you to say. And
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  Speaker 2: that has been the feedback that I've gotten. And in fact,
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  Speaker 2: I was able to get some really huge leading world authors,
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  Speaker 2: including Diana Gabaldon, who wrote the Outlander series, and she
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  Speaker 2: loved the book. And of course, she, you know, is
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  Speaker 2: just a great historical fiction writer, just one of the
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  Speaker 2: best in the world. So I've gotten a lot of
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  Speaker 2: great feedback and people are really engaged in it. But
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  Speaker 2: it was a challenge to try and balance all the bad,
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  Speaker 2: the violence and the horror and the death with, you know,
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  Speaker 2: counteract it with love and, you know, hope as well.
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  Speaker 1: This is one powerful book that you cannot keep yourself
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  Speaker 1: away from. It really is a book that you need
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  Speaker 1: to put into your library. The Fireborn. We're going to
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  Speaker 1: be right back with Deborah Hufford. Hey, thanks for coming
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  Speaker 1: back to the conversation. We're back with author Deborah Hufford.
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  Speaker 1: The name of the book, The Fireborn. How were you
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  Speaker 1: able to do research for this? Because, I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: don't even know these guys, and yet now I want
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  Speaker 1: to know them, and you can sure bet I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to be doing chat GPT all of them, because I
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  Speaker 1: want to know about the first mayors. And that's what
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  Speaker 1: I love about you as a writer, is that you
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  Speaker 1: give me this chance to go do my own dang research.
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  Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's the crazy thing is that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this is early American history. This is building white America
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  Speaker 2: and immigrant America. And he owned he was so wealthy.
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  Speaker 2: He was called the Astor of the West. And not
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  Speaker 2: only was he the first mayor, but he was the
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  Speaker 2: wealthiest tycoon in Chicago. Wow. And he owned most of
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  Speaker 2: the land that burned in both Peshtigo and Chicago.
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  Speaker 1: What? What?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. So he lost it all. He lost it
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  Speaker 2: all in one night. And he also built the world's
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  Speaker 2: largest lumber factory in Peshtigo. It employed 1,000 people, and
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  Speaker 2: it burned to the ground that night as well, and
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  Speaker 2: most of its workers died as well. So, yeah, it
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  Speaker 2: was a big deal. He lost everything that night.
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  Speaker 1: Will you take the time to introduce us to the
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  Speaker 1: real people in this story? Because so many times when
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  Speaker 1: we hear about gigantic fires or hurricanes or other disasters—
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  Speaker 1: We don't get to hear about the lumberjacks, the immigrants
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  Speaker 1: and the women on the American frontier. I mean, you're
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  Speaker 1: showcasing real people here. And it makes me as a
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  Speaker 1: reader feel like, oh, my God, this my family could
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  Speaker 1: have been a part of this. And maybe someone in
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  Speaker 1: my family was there or did help put these fires out.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, absolutely. Well, it's an American story all the way,
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  Speaker 2: and it includes robber barons and the very wealthiest and
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  Speaker 2: the movers and shakers, and it includes the lumberjacks and
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  Speaker 2: the prostitutes and lumber camp brothels and immigrants, everything. So
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  Speaker 2: it is a tapestry of all America. And some really
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  Speaker 2: interesting history with it.
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  Speaker 1: I got to go out with a way of bringing
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  Speaker 1: in Julia Cameron. And what I mean by that is
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  Speaker 1: that Julia Cameron always told us that the reason why
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  Speaker 1: they have certain books and magazines and positions is so
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  Speaker 1: that when we go through our own hell in life,
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  Speaker 1: we have something we can compare it to. And I
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  Speaker 1: just feel like this is such a Julia Cameron moment
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  Speaker 1: to where... We're going to read this book and have
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  Speaker 1: a better life because we have something to compare our
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  Speaker 1: junk with, if you know what I mean. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: this book right now is so valuable to us because
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  Speaker 1: it is a piece of the land that we're living on.
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  Speaker 1: And what happens is they still prevail. They're still there today.
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  Speaker 1: And it's like we need books like this that say
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  Speaker 1: your storm is a big storm, but it ain't as
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  Speaker 1: big as this one.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, exactly. I mean, there are very, very few
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  Speaker 2: tragedies in the world that compare with the one in Peshtigo. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I hope that readers get from this book
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  Speaker 2: that our ancestors... And most of our ancestors were immigrants.
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  Speaker 2: And they went through hell. And so did indigenous people
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  Speaker 2: went through hell to come to this country, to build
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  Speaker 2: this country, to try and save their civilizations and their land.
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  Speaker 2: And all of that is in this book.
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  Speaker 1: I want listeners to go to your blogs because I
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  Speaker 1: want them to understand that you're more than just writing
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  Speaker 1: a book here, that you've got your blogs Frontier as
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  Speaker 1: well as MindMoss, that this is something that you have
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  Speaker 1: dedicated your life and creativity to.
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  Speaker 2: Yes. My Notes from the Frontier I created about five
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  Speaker 2: or six years ago. It was before I got my
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  Speaker 2: first book published. And it grew to about 200,000 followers
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  Speaker 2: or readers. But then I got sick. I was diagnosed
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  Speaker 2: with end-stage kidney failure. And on top of that, I
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  Speaker 2: had a related heart attack because having kidney failure wasn't
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  Speaker 2: quite enough. But I was very, very lucky. And my
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  Speaker 2: husband got tested, and he was a perfect match for me.
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  Speaker 2: Miracle number one. And then the same day, a publisher
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  Speaker 2: bought my book, Miracle Number Two. So I am one
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  Speaker 2: lucky cowgirl, and I never forget that. So, yeah. And
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  Speaker 2: he saved my life dream, too, which was to publish
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  Speaker 2: my novel. And I really didn't think I was going
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  Speaker 2: to make it, so....
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  Speaker 1: Well, you've got to come back to this show anytime
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  Speaker 1: in the future. 10 Minutes with you is nowhere near
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  Speaker 1: the kind of time I want to be with you, Debra.
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  Speaker 1: I really wanted dig into your writing and your passion
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  Speaker 1: for history I.
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  Speaker 2: Love your passion for history too and I'd love to
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  Speaker 2: come back thank you well.
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  Speaker 1: You be brilliant today okay
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  Speaker 2: Thank you I'm trying my best thank you