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1910 Fire In Mineral County

The year of 1910 started out much like many current years have -dry.

Add to that a wind that sucked the dew from the blades of grass, drained creeks and shriveled pine needles, and you have all the necessary elements for fire.

Seventy-five years ago-the winter and spring of 1909-1910 - most of the east-bound moisture that came from the Pacific, coast settled to the Cascades in the form of snow.' Little of that moisture came as far as northern Idaho and western Montana.

And the inches of rain that annually deluged the country in June shrunk to brief sprinkles The fledgling U.S. Forest Service had hoped for better as it assigned one man from its thin ranks to each oversee thousands of acres of forest land in the inland Northwest.

As the summer progressed fires in many locations began to spring to life-'often in the isolated, unroaded comers of the forests. Reports came in daily from the Clearwater, Cabinet, Lolo, Blackfoot, Kaniksu and Flathead forests of new fires that swelled to double and triple their size at a speed faster than a man could walk. Even Glacier National Park was ablaze in mid-May despite intensive efforts by fire fighters.

Nearly $6,000 a week was being spent on fires in the Coeur d'Alene forest in northern Idaho by July. And the railroads, lumber and mining industries sent their men to supplement the hired forces.

All backfiring, trenching and other schemes failed against the determined strength of Mother Nature. A powerful, raging wind blew me embers and smokes into a raging inferno near Elk City, Idaho in the afternoon of August 20. Before it was spent, it drove thousands from their homes, decimated Wallace, Idaho as well as burgs and camps on both sides of the Bitterroot Mountains, destroyed as much as $13.5 million in property and approximately 1,280,000 acres of timber and killed 85 people.

There are several books available that deal with the entire in this paper. Here we have tried to give a sampling of the effects that were felt within the boundaries of what is now Mineral County as reported by the Missoulian during and after the "big blowup."

THE CALM BEFORE...

The Friday, August 19, 1910 Missoulian chastised its Missoula readers that they did not "realize the advantages of the Bitterroot banana belt," citing the pleasantly cool temperatures and no wind experienced in the area for the past few days.

"More or less cloudy weather (is expected), throughout this sector,” it forecast, 'but no rain or material changes in temperatures in this locality during the next 24 hours is indicated."

Folks found the lack of rain not just an inconvenience but a real concern. Although the "fire situation in the Coeur d'Alenes looks better than (it has) for weeks," the paper noted, men were still near Spokane, Avery, Trout Creek and Wallace, to name a few, trying to beat the flames into submission.

New fires were springing up, too. Twenty men were enroute to the norm fork of the Blackfoot. And a camper reported that a fire on the Clearwater forest reserve in Idaho was now 10 miles wide and 30 miles long and spreading. A ranger headed for the Montana state line with 200 men to backfire the flames and prevent it crossing into the west side of the Bitterroots.

Although 400 pack horses and 2,000 men were in the Coeur d'Alenes by that Friday, according to the estimates of Associate District One Forester F.A. Silcox of Missoula; the agency figured the cost of fighting the fires would he made up from the later sales from protected stands of prime timber.

But Silcox admitted the task was overwhelming. When asked by the paper, when he and his crews expected to have the fires threatening western Montana snuffed out, he replied:

"It is absolutely impossible to put out such fires as are raging in the mountains now without the aid of rain. The entire northwest is as dry as tinder and the draft from the fires carries embers and burning branches 'miles away into the woods."

Silcox also noted that, "a new fire broke out at Haugan... which is pretty serious. The fire has been raging for several days on Big Creek, but not until yesterday did it assume ' dangerous, proportions."

The forester had already telegraphed Fort Harrison in Helena for a company of soldiers to patrol the Borax section of the railroad east of Taft. But Silcox received word from the fort that '"no troops could be spared…”

As the day progressed the Big Creek fire grew according to a report by Forest Supervisor Elers Koch who had been on the scene. He described the fire's approach: "The fire came over the mountain from the Coeur d'Alenes and so heavy was the smoke along the creek there that the blaze had a good start before we were aware that it had entered our forest at all." But it would be another day before it threatened DeBorgia itself.

Meanwhile at Wallace creative solutions were offered up to bring an end to the drought. Prank Brooks, a balloonist, ascended into the smoke-choked sky with a load of dynamite which he proposed to set off at 5,000 feet. The theory was that the ensuing explosion, would act as lighting and thunder which would in turn bring on the rains.

Brooks reached only about 1,600 feet before he abandoned his task because the smoke from area fires was so heavy and winds so adverse he could rise no higher.

On the afternoon of Saturday, August 20 the worst fears of residents of the inland Northwest were realized. A hurricane of wind and flames roared across the land, the mountains and the little tinder-dry villages forcing a mass exodus from the area. Many rode, ran and walked to Missoula which became the refugee headquarters.

On a bulletin board next to the Missoulian newspaper offices an update of the holocaust was posted ..after every phone call from the ravaged zone. That information also went directly into the daily paper from which is drawn the first published reports of the inferno. The banner headline of the paper's front page on Sunday, August 21 blared: FOREST FIRES IN MERCILESS SWEEP DESTROY TOWNS IN COEUR D'ALENES.

FRIGHTENED PEOPLE FLOCK FROM TAFT

"Telephone messages from Taft at two o'clock this morning stated that the forest fires had crept down upon the town and that the Northern Pacific was taking residents of the famous camp down to Saltese. Two trainloads had left by two o’clock, at which time the fire had become so serious that it was thought that further wire communication would be impossible... The fire was burning close to the tracks and it was feared that traffic might possibly be seriously delayed.

	Street scene of Taft

As of three o'clock (a.m.), it continued: "Taft is entirely surrounded by fire which is within 100 yards of the nearest building and advancing rapidly...  Wallace has fallen at last, a victim of the forest fires that have hedged it about with fire and smoke for the last week. "There will be 300 refugees from Wallace, Mullan and Taft in Missoula... at seven this morning. They are on a special train that left Saltese at 2:30 this morning. In the number are 30 patients from the Wallace hospitals. The sick people will be taken care of at the Sisters' hospital; Missoula will do all she can for the relief of the others."

In another story, the paper described a Northern Pacific train headed for the besieged area: "Six outfit cars and a regular road crew of 60 men with all the equipment in the nature of buckets, axes, water bags saws,.. needed in fighting fires tried to get to Wallace." This rescue train was organized by Missoula Mayor Andrew Logan and Silcox along with the help of C.H. McLeod who "opened the Missoula Mercantile store (for) anything needed."

DEATH AND DESTRUCTION STILL FOLLOW

In the wake of the fierce flames, details of the fire's destruction was confused and incomplete. The paper reported that "Last night a report was received from DeBorgia... that Mullan has not been burned and was well out of danger. The word is supposed to have been brought direct from Mullan by a man named McKay who made the trip from DeBorgia to Mullan and returned on a railway speedcar, the round trip being a distance of 70 miles."

In another story, the fate of the rescue train sent from Missoula • the day before was told: "(it) got as far as Saltese about noon when all connections were broken with that place. At nine last night a lineman fighting his way through .the blaze by keeping in the river from Saltese to DeBorgia, notified the' company headquarters here that the special had attempted to go on from Saltese, failed to get through and was returned to Saltese. All were safe at that hour but the danger of Saltese burning was increasing every minute. As a bridge burned between Saltese and DeBorgia, the relief train is tied up and will have to take chances of escaping the fire at Saltese."

TWO TOWNS GONE

"The last word from the Northern Pacific was that DeBorgia and Henderson have both burned and that Buford (two miles east of St. Regis) will also down the Mullan Gulch, was in danger all evening and at 10 p.m. the Northern Pacific received a flash that the town was burning and all remaining residents were using its own engine. A stop was made at St Regis where the fire was... burning on the west side, and every effort was made to save the remainder of the burg.

"The last relief train from St Regis which left just as the town was catching fire will be held close ahead of the fire as long as possible to make sure of not missing any inhabitants of the towns being deserted. It will reach Missoula seven this morning.

"Persons arriving on the last special from St. Regis last night reported the destruction of Wiley's big stock ranch, which was situated about three miles from Haugan's spur. It is understood that his cattle consisting of several hundred head were also killed by the fire.

"At 1:30 this morning Mrs. Dowling, the Bell telephone operator at St. Regis, reported that the wind had gone down and the flames had been checked in their advance on the town. The feeling there this morning, however, is that both old and new St. Regis are doomed."

THIRD TRAIN HERE FROM FIRE

"The third Northern Pacific train to reach this city from the burning districts toward Wallace arrived at 9:15 p.m. yesterday and had on board about 250 men, women and children. This was the regular Coeur d'Alene train sent out of Missoula at 1 p.m. yesterday but which only got as far as St.Regis. There it picked up families and men who had gotten down from Henderson, Buford and DeBorgia earlier in the day, and upon leaving St. Regis the town was practically deserted. Two coaches and a box car were well packed with the crowd, but there were comparatively few in distressing circumstances."

RELIEF COMMITTEE FORMED

As the refugees started piling into Missoula, they were met at the trains by a relief committee made up of concerned Missoulians. All of the needy were taken to the Masonic Temple where they were fed, given coffee and assigned rooms with various families who had opened their doors to the homeless.

The chamber of commerce headed up the relief drive. Money began pouring into the coffers in response to a coupon published in the newspaper that said: "Please find __ dollars inclosed (sic) for the relief fund to be used in helping the suffers from the fire district"

Fraternal orders were asked by chamber secretary A.J. Breitenstein to be on hand at the train station to help with the anticipated "300 refugees." The Eagles, Sons of Herman, Salvation Army, the lumberman's and railroad unions responded with food, clothing and money.

FIRST FUGITIVES

"Working with fire no farther west than Haugan... the (Milwaukee) handled admirably a situation which at every moment threatened to overcome all human endeavor," the paper noted. "With the outbreak of the fire on the "loop" on the Idaho Side of the divide, last night a train was made up and all of the men who could be located then were hurried on "toward Missoula... at every town all down the road, men, women and children were picked up.

"The train, made up of box cars, reached Missoula at 8:30 after a run through fire and smoke... When the 200 dusty, smoky tired passengers on board fifed from their grimy cars under the glare of electric lights of the bridge they were indeed a sorry- looking sight "Great, strong men wearied by a long night of continual mental and physical strain, staggered up the steps to the bridge in pitiful weakness. Women, on whom the terror of a fire-filled night rested heavily, fairly crept along the sidewalk, their haggard faces and sunken eyes telling better than their few incoherent words of their fearful experience...

BEATEN WARRIORS

"The trainload was made up principally of fire-fighters from along the "loop"... All of them carried rolls of blankets and some held in addition few belongings snatched as the rush for the train began. One man held in his arms a little Mack mongrel that whined pitifully with fright, and licked his mater's hands as he was carried out to the street.

"All of the arrivals had stories of terrible experiences... they were dazed with fright and weary from overexertion and mumbled their stories with a peculiar monotone as though there were nothing to be surprised at or to wonder over...

ST. REGIS HEROINE

"...Mrs. J.J. Dowling gave constant attention to her (telephone) line and grasps of the fire situation.... she remained at her post from early morning and was the last to leave at night. Through her reports of fire which started between St. Regis and Henderson, the railway company was enabled to get word to their train crew in time to have them turn their train and get back to St. Regis before having been cut off from escape..."

SPLENDID BATTLE AT SALTESE 

Missoulian correspondent W.G. Ferguson telephoned the newspaper with his eye witness report of the fire fighters in Saltese and other west end towns. He said: "After hours of the finest fire fighting I ever saw, Saltese is safe. Superintendent Fowler and his Northern Pacific men... did so well that there were no property losses in the little mountain town except the railway stockyards and six residences on the west end of the flat."

The NP relief train started enroute to Mullan despite reports that there were "advancing walls of flame on the divide," he said. "It was a doubtful situation, but after looking it over. Fowler decided to push on as far as he could...

"Up the steep mountain grade west of Saltese we went through an increasing volume of smoke and the air became laden with ashes and embers. At times the flames were so close as to seem dangerous, but the train pushed on and would have crossed the divide down to Mullan had it not been for a burned bridge... encountered at Borax. Further progress was impossible... so we dropped back down the mountain (where) we found Saltese in dire danger... The main canyon of the St. Regis (River) was aflame on both sides; it was stifling hot.. down Silver Creek to the south, and Packer Creek to the north, two other fires were coming at the rate of four miles an hour.

"Packer brigades were formed; men were sent out with shovels; the officers in command had their, men lined up with precision...

"In a few minutes the flames closed in; there was a roar as of a thousand cyclones... the crackling of flames... the dread glare... it was met by determined men... and the men won."

Ferguson said they stayed the night on guard for new outbreaks and the next morning (August 23) he and seven men headed toward St. Regis on a handcar taking turns at pumping the handles. He described the 26-mile trip as being "like a moving picture show only more realistic... with the exception of Saltese and Henderson, nothing... escaped the flames between the summit of the divide and Buford.

"Everywhere there has been fire... Eyes are red and weeping, hands are blistered and clothing is burned full of holes by, the flying embers. In Taft, we are told, there are two buildings standing... In DeBorgia there are left standing the Schoolhouse, the 'A.L." saloon and a toolhouse. At Bryson everything is gone. Haugan is destroyed entirely. East Portal at the Milwaukee tunnel is all gone. All of the falsework on the Milwaukee's big bridge over Dominion Creek on the west side is burned out.

"Two men remained in Taft when the people fled," Ferguson continued, "They were to watch some property which had been buried. The fire came upon Taft when they were in their shack. Just as they rushed from the door, the rear of the building caught fire. The sheet of flame from the timber enveloped William McKay, who was behind his companion, and burned him from head to foot. His comrade returned, himself uninjured, and dragged McKay to safety. As soon as possible, medical aid was brought from Saltese and McKay's awful burns were dressed. He was left in charge of a friend who got drunk and dropped a match upon McKay's bandages which caught fire at once aggravating the previous Injuries so that the man died shortly after being brought to Saltese.

"The most serious loss of life yet reported here is at the Bullion Mine above Borax. There were 25 men employed there and when the fire came... the miners sought safety in the workings of the mine. Ten of them ventured out too soon. The heat and poisonous air overcame them at once and they (died)."

All saloons in St. Regis had been closed when word of the fire came to the town. But Taft, he reported, had been the scene of debauchery when "a gang of men... rolled whisky barrels from the saloons into the streets and had a carousal-which lasted until they fled down the mountain to Saltese."'

REFUGEES LISTED

The first list of refugees from the burned district appeared in the newspaper on August 23 along with the families they were staying with. The Wallace hospital patients were numbered among the many exiled from that city and many points to its east.

The residents from the Mineral County towns were:

Saltese-Mrs. E. Holmes and two children; Harry Stacy; Mr. and Mrs. A.H. Gray and son; W.L. Conover; Mr. and Mrs. T. Thayer and child; Mrs. Hill, wife of Saltese constable Ed Hill, and two children; Mrs. C.A. Mitland and son; Mrs. Otto Monsen and two children.

Haugan-Mrs. B.A. Haugan and three children; Mrs. Lloyd Davis and daughter.

Rivulet-Mrs. Ben Richardson.

Lookout-Ed Godfrey, Quartz-Mrs. G. Swanson and children; Mrs. J.C. Brickley; Mrs. Mary Brickley; Miss Edith Reinhardt.

DeBorgia-Mrs. Clara Stephens and four children; Mr. and Mrs. H.D.Stephens and three children; Mrs. E.K. Brennan; Lee Denny and sister; J.G. Nelson; Mrs. E.M. Page; Mrs.

William Harding; Mrs. John Lafaivre and daughter; H.A. Noble, wife and seven children.

St. Regis-Mrs. Smith and two children; Mrs. J.L. Teufal; Mrs. J.H. Quirk; Mrs. R.Goodwin; Mrs. E.M. Moore.

Iron Mountain-Mrs. G.A. Whitmarsh; Mrs. C.H. Barrett and two children; Mrs. Mont Wilson; Mrs. Curt Hudler and child; Mrs. Barrington and family.

UP CEDAR CREEK

The fire came over the mountains from Idaho and into Cedar Creek basin, the paper reported. It continued: "The fire is coming down Cedar gulch and is reinforced by a huge blaze from Oregon gulch. "The Cedar... fire has already destroyed the Amador mining property and the Kansas City Commercial company's dredging plant with the exception of the dredge itself. Two charred bodies were found on the summit by fire, fighters returning to Iron Mountain from Oregon gulch. "If a heavy wind should arise in the direction of Iron Mountain, the fire from Cedar... may become... bad... It has reduced the Amador mine to a smoldering heap and consumed... the Big Flat Mining company's plant in Oregon gulch..."

W.S. Clifford and Joe Shinnick had passed through the firey Cedar area and shared their experiences with the newspaper: "They were members of a pack outfit which was composed of eight men and 27 horses. They went through Oregon gulch on their way into Idaho and at the summit met a courier who warned them back.

"The fires came quickly. Before the party could get out, the horses had been lost in the fire and the two boys cut off from their comrades. They don't know what became of the six men who were with them. Clifford and Shinnick got out through Oregon gulch into Cedar. There they stayed at the Kansas City Commercial company plant until they were routed out to help fight fire there.

"When the fire had passed, they came down the creek to Iron Mountain..."

In another article about the Cedar fire, the paper noted that "... the Amador and Kansas City companies used electric speeders (on the Amador track) as an avenue for escape... (others)

we're fleeing on foot..."

"Joe Gareau and William Lacombe escaped from death by a small margin and arrived in Iron Mountain yesterday with four horses remaining out of a total of 50 which they were packing into the Clearwater."

By late Monday $3,316.80 had been contributed to the relief fund for the fugitives by the Missoula County government, the Missoula Merchantile, Northern Pacific, businesses, individuals, unions and fraternal organizations.

But the cash could not erase the memory of the fanatic flames as the refugees walked from the Masonic Temple and to other Missoula shelters searching for friends and families -and to learn the fate of their homes and towns up the track. The paper estimated that as many as 1,000 people were crowded into Missoula. Most were from the bumed out towns but there were also the inevitable flotsam -thieves, con men and so on -that alarmed the citizens. In response 100 special police officers were appointed by the mayor to protect the public during those critical days.

And before the day was over, the Missoulian posted another list of names of some of the refugees and where they were put up. It included St. Regis residents Mrs. James Legard; Mrs. Tine Teare and three children; Mrs. M. Weiber; Mrs. L.M. Payne; Mrs. Laugh; Mrs. V. Ridley and two children; and DeBorgia residents Mrs. C.D. Mills and three children and Mr. and Mrs. "George Demers and two children. Many of the husbands stayed behind to fight the flames.

PERSONAL STORIES

As they moved from place to place gathering names and information, the Missoulian reporters heard as many stories as there were people in the city from the fire district, such as the following:

"In the Shapard Bar... three grimy, smokey-faced men stood at the counter drowning their sorrow in beer. They have arrived from Haugan where they were burned out of business, house and home. Everything gone, they said, save the money they had in their pockets.

"There is nothing left to indicate that a town rested on the spot," said one of the younger men. "O'Leary, Lamborg and Staves lost everything. Even the water tank went. Five bridges on the Milwaukee road are so damaged that new ones will have to be built, and miles of NP track is ruined."

"I had a h--l of a fine little dog," said George Woodard who ran a bar at Haugan, "but he is gone." Woodard was crying.

"I told everybody the fire was coming and advised them to get their women and children out, but forgot my little dog, my truck and suitcase. Poor Chippie... he burned in my room where I locked him."

"We had about 50 people in Haugan," said the last man to leave town, "and everyone got out. The fire struck at two o'clock in the afternoon and swept through by five."

Russell B. Jones, laborer on bridge work gang for the Milwaukee, "was unable to take the first train out from East Portal where he was working, and was penned in by the terrible fire... He took refuge in a "coyote" hole on the hillside and from that vantage point lay half-suffocated until the fire swept past.

"The wind was blowing a fearful gate," he said. "The fire swept along the mountain with a roar... from where I lay I could see nothing but a solid wall of flame as much as 50 feet in height... embers and burning bits of wood... flew like driving snow... Near me 12 tons of dynamite which we had buried on the hill went off. The fire burned within ten feet where I lay and the glare and heat were almost too great to describe. Finally the fire passed and with some other men I made my way to the railroad and safety."

IN WINDFALL

Trout Creek did not escape the flames, either, according to Frank D. Brown, a well-known pioneer who worked a claim in Windfall gulch, a tributary of Trout.

He rode into Missoula with a tale he feared no one' would believe. He said: "I tell you the absolute truth, gentlemen, when I say that I have never in all my 45 years in Montana, seen anything to approach it.

"Last Saturday, in company of A.M. Stevens... I set out for the Cedar Creek region. From Quartz, a little railway station, we took the Windfall trail, which lies along the north fork (of the Clearwater) range, where most of the gulches head on a north and south line 30 miles long.

"The trail from Cedar intersects all these gulches... the only one known to be open is Windfall... The Cedar Creekfire had already cut off the Trout Creek trail...

“Windfall is about 11 miles from Quartz. When we crossed the Sunrise divide about 4 o'clock- Saturday afternoon I realized the fire might become serious for us...

"About five the wind began to blow and it was so strong that night that no one could sleep... the next morning Stevens told the miners that they had better get the women and children out of there. He added that the men could escape, when they got ready, but... I did not see any place that I could go if the situation became dangerous.

"The smoke grew thicker hour by hour-.. you couldn't see 100 feet from you, yet we saw no flames. By Sunday night... the wind was blowing a gale... In the camp were two old men, two women and two children and a half dozen or more young fellows...

"About the middle of Monday afternoon we got a shock that almost made my hair stand on end. Charles Dickson, the hero of that region, sent a courier from Quartz to warn us of our danger. The Dicksons, Charlie and his father, Dave, put men on horses and hurried them into the forests to warn everybody.

"From Quartz I could see the glow of the fire. The smoke was dense, arid all around dark, but every now and then the sky would lighten. I will never forget the flight... Oh, those falling things!  The air was full of them."

DEBORGIA LOST 

Fred Wence, the Northern Pacific section foreman at DeBorgia, also had a story to tell: "When I left DeBorgia, the flames were on the edge of town… I stayed until the last as we probably would have saved the town if it had not been for the wind…. I can't describe the wind.

"The dust and cinders and sand went through the air like snow and I couldn't keep my eyes open on the street. The wind didn't come from any one direction, it blew first this way then that, whirling everything around and around. The fire jumped across the ditches almost before the men could get out of the way and came down toward town with a roar."

	Deborgia after 1910 fire

One of the men warned by Wence was Joe Mayo whose father ran a hotel in the lumbering town. Mayo recalled the fire in "Notes by Joseph A. Mayo," which he wrote more than 50 years after the fire. He wrote:

"The morning of August 21 I was awakened by a loud banging at the front door of the Hotel at DeBorgia. I hurried to the door and Mr. Fred Wence... was very excited and said, 'Joe, the whole country is afire.' The ranger had telephoned to the section house to alert everybody in town and for someone to go to Bill Magee's ranch and tell him to ride up Big Creek and warn a crew of 200 men who had a camp in there fighting fire as he thought (they) might get caught and not be able to get out safely.

"Dave Cromie had a bicycle that he loaned to John Gates to ride back and forth to Henderson where he worked. I took the bicycle and rode it to Magee's place... and told him of (ranger Frank) Haun's message.

"He disliked to ride in but finally said he would go if I would help him catch a horse. We went to the pasture but could see no horses on account of smoke but by walking around finally heard a horse moving and managed to catch one. We saddled one and he took off."

Mayo said the camp was just stirring when Cromie rode in and warned them. The men went down to the Milwaukee tracks and caught the last train out of the fire zone.

"I went back to DeBoreia" Mayo continued, “and notified the women and children to get ready to move out as they were sending a train from St. Regis to pick them up. They packed their valuables and clothing in cases and got to the box cars. There was no agent, at the depot so I checked all their belongs with checks I found at the depot (which)... saved a lot of trouble when it arrived in Missoula...those whose baggage was not checked had a lot of trouble finding their things and some never did.

"Meantime, the men organized and got all the equipment they could ready to fight the fire as it approached from the west. There was a terrific lot of slashing and small timber just north of the town and they figured that if they could set a backfire and burn it off, it would help save the town. At about 5 p.m. the fire showed up on the hills and the backfire was set and was doing a nice job of buring. Later on the wind turned and on warning the men all ran for their lives.

"The second train from St. Regis arrived and started to toot its whistle continually and everybody went down to the train. We were informed that the train had to pull out at once as there was fire down the canyon and the track was burning so most of the men left...

"On arriving at St. Regis we took on a lot more people and the train was routed by Paradise over Evero hill as they were afraid to use the route from St.Regis to Missoula. In a few days we returned to DeBorgia (where) 68 buildings (were lost)... and four spared on account of freakest winds."

The group of lumberjacks from Henderson who rode the Mann Lumber Company's logging train to safety at St Regis through the inferno, came through with singed whiskers and eyebrows and scorched faces and hands, Mayo said.

CAMPERS FOUND

Mrs. Charles Derry, her mother, Marie Lalonde, and friend Mrs. Richard Daxon, all of Saltese, and some others were camping in the vicinity of the Bryan mine up Packer Creek when the fire blew up. An attempt was made to rescue teem but no word had been heard of them or their rescuer.

By Thursday, August 25, a fellow stranded at Saltese during the fire stopped at the paper office on his way home to Butte with the following news of the campers' fate: "The party, with Mrs. Anno and son Dave Bobart, George Brusack and the Protestant Kid, spent two days and one night in the Bryan tunnel about five miles from Saltese...They had to beat the door down to get to the tunnel, and keep the fire out by the means of buckets. A water pipe delivered water at a convenient place for them. They took some supplies with them and the women made coffee while the men kept back the flames..."

Several Haugan men survived the fire's onslaught by lying in the St. Regis River for 18 hours, the paper reported. The Tarbox Mining Company plant was completely destroyed at a loss of $6,000 and the Polleys Lumber Company near Saltese suffered some damage but all the men and horses survived.

West of St. Regis, it continued, three burned human bodies and 14 dead horses were.discovered. It speculated that the men were Italian laborers.

Four days after the blowup heavy rains began, according to reports the Northern Pacific received from its St. Regis operator. And to the mountains snow was falling onto the scorched earth and forests.

Within a week of the fire, the hundreds of evacuees returned to their homes or began rebuilding. Some sifted through the ashes for lost treasures while others dug up caches quickly stashed before leaving on the relief trains. Some were helped to resettle with cash from the total $5,188 relief fund raised in Missoula. Others took seed, tools and food with them as they headed home.

RECRIMINATIONS

Relieved as most were to have survived the fire, there were those who were bitter about the losses to their property.

Mrs. R.J. Wiley, who along with her husband operated the large cattle ranch near Haugan, wrote to the paper complaining that even though her husband had traveled to Savenac station and begged for someone to help him fight the flames on his ranch, no one came. She also said that Haun had told them to get out on the rescue train.

"There are no criticisms against any only the forestry department to refusing to allow settlers to backfire to save their property, and not sending help when it was needed... many of (the men) sent to to fight the fires were green... unfamiliar with the country and knew nothing of the topography and were unable to accomplish anything..." she added.

Wiley did note that those ranchers who stayed and fought for their property were partially or entirely successful. She hinted that the Forest Service was to blame for her ranch being destroyed because of Haun's insistance that they leave for their own safety.

Taft saloonist Roy Nuras also registered a complaint with the paper. He said the report of a "debauch" taking place in the town as the flames approached was incorrect.

"After the crowd left," he explained, "the six of us who stayed were busy. My saloon was wide open and nobody entered it. The barrel that was rolled to the street was a barrel of paint and not whiskey."

And apparently the fight to save Saltese was not as noble in all aspects as first reported. “When the fight began,” wrote one Saltese man, "it was necessary for (Constable Ed) Hill to draw his gun and keep some of the unwilling ones (stranded there) to the fighting line.

"Not all of the old guard left when the Northern Pacific's rescue train pulled out. Hill stood at the train with drawn revolver and would allow only those who had women and children to leave. In the ranks of the fire fighters were the old guard of the town- Dillingham, Conde, Wolfe, Brenton, Linn, Peterson and particularly Lajeunnesse. All were active and worked hard. The firefighting forces were strengthened by the reinforcements which came with the arrival of forestry men under Haun, Breen and Clifford."

Constable Hill continued his vigilance throughout the fire. He discovered six men looting the buildings in the threatened town. After the fire had been extinguished, he hauled the looters before the local justice court where they were fined $50 each and sentenced to 60 days in jail.

Among the structures saved in Saltese was "the baseball park wtth its grand stand, clubhouse and big fence," the paper reported. "Not a board was scratched or scorched and when the fire was at its height Sunday night, the flag that floats above the grand stand flapped its folds in the stiff wind... around it surged the smoke and all about it showered the blazing brands..the flag was there when the fire had swept past..."

In all six people died in the flames within what became the borders of Mineral County during the 1910 fire. Haugan was completely destroyed as was most of DeBorgia. Saltese and Taft had some buildings at the edge of their towns burned, but Henderson and the Mann Lumber escaped completely unscathed as did St. Regis.

The End…………

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