Historical photos of the 1910 Fire

Section:Gallery

Thu., July 22, 2010

This is a 1910 scene of firefighters cooking breakfast at camp. The man in the apron is Pat Grogan, leader of the men who died on Storm Creek. A hazy outline of the Avery Ranger Station is in the background.

Courtesy Idaho Photo Courtesy Of The Museum Of North Idaho
This is a scene during the 1910 fires, showing workers getting off the Milwaukee Railroad in Avery. The depot seen in background. The photo's original caption reads, "So smoky, Buddie could scarcely see to focus his camera." Thousands of men were hired to fight the giant 1910 fires.

Courtesy Idaho Photo Courtesy Of The Museum Of North Idaho
Mule trains loaded with supplies for fire camps prepare to leave Avery, Idaho, during the 1910 fires.

Courtesy Service Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
This is a scene of the 1910 fire at Big Creek, looking east. X marks where seven men died during the fire on August 20, 1910.

Courtesy Idaho Photo Courtesy Of The Museum Of North Idaho
In this scene from the 1910 fire, this giant white pine ended the lives of three men when it fell across a clearing where they had taken shelter. Camp debris can be seen on the ground.

Courtesy Idaho Photo Courtesy Of The Museum Of North Idaho
A mule train stops enroute to the Bitteroot fires.

Courtesy Service Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
William Morris stands in front of the Nicholson adit, the tiny mine tunnel where Ed Pulaski led his crew during a blow over in the 1910 fire. All but a few survived.

Courtesy Service Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
A trail crew stands where they were assigned to open trails through the massive deadfall left by the 1910 fires that swept across the west.

Courtesy Service Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
Charred camp litter is all that's left of Storm Creek Fire Camp, where more than two dozen men died when fire roared through the camp in 1910.

Courtesy Service Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
Meal time at a typical fire camp. Thousands of men, including soldiers, were pressed into service fighting the 1910 fires.

Courtesy Service Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
Emma Pulaski poses for a picture in front of the Nicholson adit, the tunnel where Ed Pulaski hid his crew during the 1910 fire, saving most of them.

Courtesy Service Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
The graves of more than two dozen forest firefighters killed in the 1910 fire stand in a circle at a cemetery in St. Maries, Idaho.

Courtesy Service Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
Ranger Joe Holm's crew at Timber Creek headwaters of St. Joe River before the great fire of August 20-21, 1910.

Courtesy Idaho Photo Courtesy Of The Museum Of North Idaho
This is a scene during the 1910 fire of crews eating breakfast. Fresh from the night train, these firefighters were getting ready to face the Setzer Creek fire, burning northwest of Avery. Picked off the streets of Spokane or Butte, they came ill-dressed and poorly equipped to fight fire.

Courtesy Idaho Photo Courtesy Of The Museum Of North Idaho
89 Black troops of the 25th Infantry out of Fort Wright in Spokane were detailed to Avery to fight fire and maintain order through the hectic days of the 1910 fire. As fires raged around the town, the soldiers patrolled to protect the residents and property in Avery. Ranger Debitt is on the far left.

Photo Forest Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
Crews work on a trail on the Little North Fork of the St. Joe River.

Forest Photo Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
R.H. McKay, left, and Joe Halm, right. R.H. McKay were hired by the Forest Service to document the devastation of the 1910 fire. He had a studio in Missoula, Montana, and was the most prolific photographer of the Western Montana area for almost four decades.

Forest Photo Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
This is a scene during the 1910 fires, of the ruins of a house where a man lost his life trying to save his parrot, Wallace. A bathtub in the foreground.

Courtesy Idaho Photo Courtesy Of The Museum Of North Idaho
This is a photo of the results of the 1910 fires near Wallace, Idaho.
This is a photo of a fire memorial after the 1910 fires, showing Ranger Debitt and firefighters.
This photo is of an unidentified man trudging over the burned trail between Athol and Bayview a few years after the 1910 fire storm.

Courtesy Photo The Spokesman-Review
On horseback, a forest ranger patrolled the blackened and still forest in the first days after the fire. Smoke from the Big Burn drifted as far east as Chicago.

Photo Se Photo Courtesy Of The Us Forest Service
Assistant Ranger Ed Pulaski saved the lives of 39 firefighters during the 1910 fire by herding them into an abandoned mine shaft.
Every house was burned on this terrace in Wallace during the 1910 Fire; about 200 in all.

Courtesy Photo Courtesy U.S.F.S. Region 1 Archives
A burned-over area in Wallace during the 1910 Fire, near the ruins of the foundry. The cottage on the terrace is the only one left standing in town.

Courtesy Photo Courtesy U.S.F.S. Region 1 Archives
This is a street scene in Grand Forks, a bustling little town in the Silver Valley that burned to the ground in the 1910 fire. This shot is looking generally north from the town square. It shows the North Pole Saloon and Restaurant on the left, and (further up) the boarded up Log Cabin Saloon with the El Ray Hotel in the distance and two attached buildings beyond. Across the street is the Old Crow Saloon.
This is a street scene in Grand Forks, a bustling little town in the Silver Valley that burned to the ground in the 1910 fire. In this photo there are 26 men and one woman. It shows the Log Cabin Saloon, and the Grand Forks El Rey Hotel and Restaurant with the attached shed roof building on the south. The photo was probably shot in early 1908.

Photo Forest Montana State Historical Society Archives
On August 20, 1910, Edward C. Pulaski, the U.S. Forest Service's first Wallace district ranger, led 42 firefighters into the War Eagle mine during the Idaho fire. 39 miners were saved from the 1910 Idaho fire by huddling in the mine shaft (center).
The Savenac Nursery marks its 100th anniversary this year. The nursery, located in Haugan, Montana, is one of the U.S. Forest Service's oldest nurseries. These photos were taken shortly after the 1910 fires burned the nursery and millions of acres in the Bitterroot.

Courtesy Service Photo Courtesy Of The Museum Of North Idaho
Wallace, Idaho, was severely damaged by a 1910 fire that burned millions of acres.