At the time of the 1894 Hinckley Fire, the town was served by three railroads: The Minneapolis & St. Cloud (Great Northern), the St. Paul & Duluth, and the Eastern Minnesota Railway. Two of the Eastern's trains would prove instrumental in saving a number of refugees from the
The first train involved was the Eastern's southbound Superior-Hinckley Freighter, Consisting of engine #105, three empty boxcars and a caboose. It was being run by engineer Edward Barry, who knew that something was wrong the moment he rolled into town. After refueling his engine, he moved the train onto a side track as there was another train not far behind his own. This was to be the second train involved in the evacuations, and it was a passenger train being run by engineer William Best. By the time Best arrived in Hinckley and brought his train to a halt, the town had already begun to burn. As Best's fireman refueled the engine, his conductor, a man named George Powers, spotted Barry's train idling on the siding nearby. He had an idea and said that they should hook the two trains together, using best's coaches and Barry's empty boxcars to carry people, and run out of town to safety. The two engineers agreed, and Barry reversed his train off of the side track and hooked it to the last coach of Best's train. Their run to safety would have to be made in reverse, with two flagmen and conductors of both trains riding on the caboose (which would be the first car of the train) acting as lookouts. The townsfolk rushed towards the train and piled onboard as the fire advanced through the town and towards the train station. When Barry started to back up, Best stopped the train by applying the air brakes. Despite everyone demanding that he release the brakes, Best refused to do so for several minutes, an action which saved hundreds of lives. The refugee train backed out of town and crossed the grindstone river before making a quick stop to pick up a few loggers. After rushing through 5 miles of burning forests they arrived at the town of Sandstone, where they stopped to take on more people. They then crossed over the Kettle River bridge, which had caught fire shortly before the train reached it. A flagman who was stationed at the bridge told the engineers that they could still cross, and the train barely made it across before the entire structure collapsed in on itself. The train continued onward with the fire still hot on its heels, stopping at several towns along the line to take on additional refugees. By the time the train rolled back into superior there were over 800 people onboard, all saved thanks to the heroic actions of engineers Barry and Best.
"A (Passenger) train came steaming in on the Eastern Minnesota's rail line, and on this [train] about 500 people were saved, who otherwise certainly would have died. The train itself was not sufficient in order to be able to carry all of the refugees, but one knew what to do. A number of freight cars and a caboose stood coupled together with a freight locomotive on an adjoining track a little ways in the woods, was coupled on the other end of the passenger train. Now equipped with two locomotives, the train steamed away in the direction of Superior again, loaded with as many people as the cars could accommodate."
