The Big Burn (41 page)
Authors: Timothy Egan
Pinchot's passion for the outdoors, description of the Grand Canyon, from Pinchot diaries, April 19, 1891.
No money to pay firefighters, from Koch,
Forty Years a Forester.
No money to pay rangers' salary, from Albert Cole's recollections in
Early Days of the Forest Service.
Butte Irish, from
The Butte Irish: Class and Ethnicity in an American Mining Town, 1875â1925,
by David M. Emmons, University of Illinois Press, 1990.
Story of the Irish firefighter Grogan, from his claim file at the Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
More background on Grogan, from Crowell and Asleson,
Up the Swiftwater.
Comments of Wilson, the agriculture secretary, from
National Geographic,
January 1911.
Taft's massage, his routine on holiday, from
Leslie's Weekly,
July 21, 1910.
Taft's insecurities, insulting nicknames, from Anderson,
William Howard Taft.
Pinchot on Taft, from Pinchot,
Breaking New Ground.
Weigle happy to have troops, quoted in
Idaho Press,
August 9, 1910.
Buffalo Soldiers, their history and pay, from National Park Service,
www.nps.gov.
Number of blacks in the region, from U.S. Census Bureau,
www.census.gov.
The Brownsville incident, from
A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America,
by Michael McGerr, Oxford University Press, 2003, and from the Park Service history of the Buffalo Soldiers,
www.nps.gov
.
Additional background on the 25th Infantry, from
Buffalo Soldiers, 1892â1918,
by Ron Field, Osprey Publishing, 2005.
Senator Tillman's racist comments, from
The Betrayal of the Negro: From Rutherford B. Hayes to Woodrow Wilson,
by Rayford W. Logan, Da Capo Press, 1997.
Taft's reaction to a request for interview, from Anderson,
William Howard Taft.
James J. Hill on Taft, from Martin,
James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest.
Peary and Roosevelt, from
True North: Peary, Cook and the Race to the Pole,
by Bruce Henderson, W. W. Norton, 2005.
Taft quote, from Anderson,
William Howard Taft.
8. Spaghetti Westerners
Italians get old quickly, from
The Immigrants Speak,
by Salvatore J. LaGumina, Center for Immigration Studies, 1979.
Background on Italian immigration experience, from the author's visit to the Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, Torino, Italy, October 16, 2007.
Why Italians from the north left Italy, from the author's interview with Professor Paola Corti, University of Torino, October 17, 2007.
Lives of Bruno and Viettone, from their claim files at the Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, College Park, Maryland, and from the author's visit to their hometown, Rivara Canavese, Italy.
Death of twelve-year-old Italian girl, from
The Survey,
January 17, 1911.
Sentiment toward immigrants, scum of creation, from
This Fabulous Century, 1900â1910.
Anti-Italian sentiment, from
Wop,
edited by Salvatore J. LaGumina, Straight Arrow Books, 1973.
Plantations trying to get Italians, from
The Survey,
January 17, 1911.
Orphans and treatment of immigrants in Morenci, from
The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction,
by Linda Gordon, Harvard University Press, 1999.
Italians in Washington State, and Indians, from
La Storia: Five Centu
ries of the Italian-American Experience,
by Jerre Mangioni and Ben Morreate, HarperCollins, 1991.
Italians seeing their first blacks, from LaGumina,
The Immigrants Speak.
Days the Italians were hired, from claim files, Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
Pinchot in Italy, from Pinchot diaries, May 1910, and from his book
Breaking New Ground.
Roosevelt in Africa and Italy, from
When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House,
by Patricia O'Toole, Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Roosevelt letter to Lodge on mistake of Taft, May 5, 1910, from
Selections from the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge.
Heyburn's views on states' rights, from
The Outlook,
March 19, 1910.
More on Roosevelt and Pinchot scheming, from O'Toole,
When Trumpets Call.
Roosevelt, Man in the Arena speech, and Africa, from
www.theodoreroosevelt.org.
9. Firestorm's Eve
Prediction on the winds,
Seattle Times,
August 12, 1910.
Halm, the athlete, from
Chinook 1907,
published by the junior class of Washington State College, Pullman.
Halm, on how dry the forest was, from his recollections in
Early Days of the Forest Service.
Behavior of black troops, from
Idaho Press,
September 8, 1910.
North Pole and Negro not named, from
The Outlook,
March 12, 1910.
Black dialect in headline, from
The Missoulian,
July 8, 1910.
Comment, six good Greeks, from
Company Town,
by Keith C. Peterson, Washington State University Press, 1987.
Weigle quote, God only knows, from Hult,
Northwest Disaster.
Problems of Italian immigrants in the cities, from
The Survey,
January 17, 1911.
Italians, on receiving the roughest treatment in Idaho, from
Idaho Ethnic Heritage,
vol. 2.
Pulaski details, from Emma Pulaski's "Memories of a Forest Service Wife."
Italians had a saying about the streets being paved with gold, from
Coming to America: Italian Americans,
by Barry Moreno, Barron's Educational Series, 2003.
Pulaski's thoughts, doubts, and guilt, from Pulaski's response to questions on what happened, internal Forest Service correspondence, from Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, Seattle.
Pulaski's surprise at the chef's hat, from Hult,
Northwest Disaster.
Koch on how fire is like war, from Koch,
Forty Years a Forester.
Koch on manpower requirements, from Koch,
Forty Years a Forester.
The town of Taft, people getting drunk before the fire, from Koch,
Forty Years a Forester,
and from Haun's report in Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, Seattle.
More on Taft, reaction of forest rangers to town, from Koch,
Forty Years a Forester,
and from memories of Roy A. Phillips in
Early Days of the Forest Service.
10. Blowup
Fire description, from W. G. Weigle's "Report on the 1910 Fires," on file at the National Archives, Seattle; from Koch's report, "When the Mountains Roared," on file at the Forest Service Region One headquarters, Missoula; from Spencer,
The Big Blowup;
from Halm's published account, "The Great Fire of 1910,"
American Forests and Forest Life,
July 1930; and from William W. Morris's account, "The Great Fires of 1910," on file at the Forest Service Region One headquarters, Missoula.
How a fire grows, feeds on itself, nature of fire, from
Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire,
by Stephen J. Pyne, University of Washington Press, 1997.
The velocity of fire in the Rockies, from
Young Men and Fire,
by Norman Maclean, University of Chicago Press, 1992.
11. The Lost Day
Weigle's account of being in the fire, from his "Report on the 1910 Fires," and from his "The Great Idaho Fires,"
The Timberman,
July 1934, reprinted in
Idaho Yesterday,
Fall 2001.
Weigle's thoughts just before the storm, from
Butte Miner,
August 14, 1910.
Description of Wallace as the fire spread, from
Seattle Times,
August 26, 1910, and from L. Worstell's account on file at the National Archives, Seattle. Additional information from Hult,
Northwest Disaster.
No horse fast enough to outrun the fire, from personal accounts on file at the Museum of Northern Idaho, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and from Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, Seattle.
Carl Getz and the horror, quoted in
Seattle Times,
August 26, 1910.
William Chance quotes on following him, from Records of the Forest Service, Region One headquarters, Missoula.
Ed Pulaski quote on no use, from the account by Foltz, a witness, in "Pulaski, Two Days in August, 1910," cultural resource inventory from Records of the Forest Service, Region One headquarters, Missoula.
Pulaski's details from his own account, "Surrounded by Forest Fires,"
American Forests and Forest Life,
August 1923, and from Forest Service archival report put together for the 1984 dedication of a memorial, on file at the Wallace District Mining Museum.
More Pulaski details, from "Pulaski, Two Days in August, 1910."
Death of the Italians, Ranger Bell's account, from Koch's report, "When the Mountains Roared"; from Spencer,
The Big Blowup;
and from claim files of the Italians at the National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
Weigle returns to town, what he found, his reaction, from his account, "Report on the 1910 Fires," National Archives, Seattle.
Weigle, all crews lost, from his "Report on the 1910 Fires."
12. The Lost Night
Magazine description of the fiercest forest fire ever, from
Collier's,
September 24, 1910.
Maclean quote, from Maclean,
Young Men and Fire.
Greeley quoted on all hell breaking loose, from Greeley,
Forests and Men.
Wallace, account of its being doomed, then surviving the fire, from two editions, published on same day,
The Missoulian,
August 21, 1910.
Accounts of flames burning homes, from
Seattle Times,
August 25, 1910.
Soldiers on the train, overseeing the evacuation, from Hult,
Northwest Disaster.
Quote of the fire chief, from Hult,
Northwest Disaster.
How the fire affected property owned by Senator Heyburn, from
Idaho Press,
August 25, 1910.
Wallace evacuation and the plight of the hospital, from
Idaho Press,
August 22, 1910; Spencer,
The Big Blowup;
and Hart and Nelson,
Mining Town.
Emma Pulaski quotes, from her "Memories of a Forest Service Wife."
Boss is dead quote, from Pulaski's own account, and from Stockton's account as reported in Crowell and Asleson,
Up the Swiftwater.
Death of the Italians, from their claim files, Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
Additional information on the Italians, from consulate's report, Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
Quote on being cooked alive, from Crowell and Asleson,
Up the Swiftwater.
Arthur Hogue quote on what fire looked like, from Spencer,
The Big Blowup.
Eighteen bodies burned, death of Grogan, suicide of firefighter, from Koch, "When the Mountains Roared," Forest Service Region One office, Missoula.
Cause of Weigert's death, and conclusion of suicide, from claim files, Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
Times of death for firefighters with Grogan, from Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, Seattle.
Common laborer, from Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, Seattle.
Two Englishmen, final letter: on Holmes, from Records of the Forest Service, National Archives, Seattle, and for the other victim, from
The Missoulian,
August 25, 1910, and Hult,
Northwest Disaster.
13. Towns Afire
Taft burning, from Koch,
Forty Years a Forester,
and from Koch's report, "History of the 1910 Fires," on file at the Forest Service Region One headquarters, Missoula.
Quote, I've lost all my crews, from Spencer,
The Big Blowup.
Sky turning a ghastly color, from Koch, "History of the 1910 Fires."
What town of Taft was like, from
Doctors, Dynamite and Dogs,
by Edith M. Schussler, Caxton Printers, 1956.
Wence, the Northern Pacific section man, quoted in
The Missoulian,
August 24, 1910.
Whole canyon on fire, from Koch, "The 1910 Fire Season."
Quote from man in Mullan, from
The Missoulian,
special commemorative edition, August 2000.
Death of towns, from Koch, "When the Mountains Roared," and from individual ranger reports on file at the Forest Service Region One headquarters, Missoula.
Evacuation of Grand Forks, from Hult,
Northwest Disaster,
and from Crowel and Asleson,
Up the Swiftwater.
What it looks like, from the author's visit to the site, August 15, 2007.
Pinkie Adair story, from oral history project, Latah County Historical Society.
Additional Pinkie story, from Crowel and Asleson,
Up the Swiftwater.
14. To Save a Town
Here lies a coon, from
Gems of Thought and History of Shoshone County,
edited by George Hobson, Kellogg Evening News Press, 1946.
Avery troops, from official report of 25th Infantry, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, National Archives; Lieutenant Lewis's report, from Forest Service Region One office, Missoula.
Kid on the train, from
Hardship and Happy Times,
edited by Bert Russell, Lacon Publishers, 1978.
Pinkie Adair, from oral history project, Latah County Historical Society. Black troops "stuck to their posts like men," from Crowell and Asleson,
Up the Swiftwater.
Negro soldiers' heroic service, from
Seattle Times,
August 22, 1910.