A forest fire begins on the railroad line between Duluth and Hibbing and burns for the next three days, reaching Duluth on the thirteenth. Thirty-eight communities, including the cities of Cloquet, Carlton, and Moose Lake, and the towns of Adolph, Brookston, Munger, Grand Lake, Pike Lake, and Twig, are burned and 435 people are killed. After the blaze, forest salvagers cut 1.6 million tons of lumber. In response to a series of lawsuits, the Minnesota Supreme Court rules that the railroads, and by extension the US Railroad Administration, a federal agency that controlled the railroads during the war, are responsible for damages based on poor forestry practices. The Railroad Administration eventually compensated claims at a rate of fifty percent, the final payments being made in 1935.