This rural fire sign was donated to The Morrison County Historical Society by Pike Creek Township resident, Alvina Smuda. The galvanized steel sign was replaced by the county when the road in front of Alvina’s house was redone a few years ago. Alvina and her brother, Ben, are the grandchildren of Peter Smuda. Peter purchased the property where Alvina and her brother live in 1904, one year after his marriage to Tillie Lisinski of Swan River. According to the Works Progress Administration biography on Peter (#892 Biography of Peter Smuda), Peter “…grubbbed a little place where he built a frame house in which they lived fourteen years. Later he bought a house from Jacob Mrozik, located on the west bank of the Mississippi. The house was on very low land and after three years he had to move it to higher ground because of the new Blanchard Rapids Dam.” According to family lore, the house was moved using one horse, a winch and a tree that stood on the Smuda’s property until the fall of 2008.