100 years of being good neighbours

It is hard to believe it has been 100 years since the Great Fire of 1910.
As a kid I heard stories about how a big fire wiped out Baudette and Spooner and the mills in Rainy River as well.
We would go for picnics to The Pines Park just northwest of Rainy River and were told that the trees there are the last stand of old growth pines. They were spared by the Great Fire as was much of Rainy River due to a shift in the wind.
I was told that the fire that destroyed Baudette and Spooner jumped the river and destroyed all the cut lumber in the mill yard here. Incidentally that mill yard is that empty field just east of Riverview School.
I wondered why no one ever built on that field. A big hole right in the middle of town.
But old timers told me that there is so much junk and crap in the ground there left from the pre-1910 mill that excavating would be difficult.
Some folks said that had the fire not come that Rainy River and Baudette would be like Fort Frances and International Falls. Big mill towns. Could you imagine Rainy River with 10,000 people! Wow!
When our neighbours to the south lost their homes and businesses, it was us that took them in. Trains were sent over to bring them here. It was perhaps the beginning of neighbourly ties that last to this day.
When Rainy River flooded a decade ago, friends from all over, including Baudette came to help sandbag.
We share sports teams, venues such as arenas, curling club and bowling alley.
We have shared tough times but also good times like in 1992 when Canadian and American kids took the LoW High School hockey team to 2nd in State.
One of the coaches then said it best, "It is like a big town with a river running through it!"
–Until then,
Ken