Cycle of Fire Stephen J. Pyne "Cycle of Fire" is a suite of books that collectively narrate the story of how fire and humanity have interacted to shape the earth. "Cycle" is an apt description of how fire functions in the natural world. Yet "cycle" also bears a mythic connotation: a set of sagas that tell the life of a culture hero. Here that role belongs to fire. Ranging across all continents and over thousands of years, the Cycle shows earth to be a fire planet in which carbon-based terrestrial life and an oxygen-rich atmosphere have combined to make combustion both elemental and inevitable. Equally, the Cycle reveals humans as fire creatures, alternately dependent upon and threatened by their monopoly over combustion. Fire's possession began humanity's great dialogue with the earth. "Cycle of Fire" tells, for the first time, that epic story. "Cycle of Fire" is part of the Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books, published by the University of Washington Press under the general editorship of William Cronon. A complete list of Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books appears at the end of this book. World Fire: The Culture of Fire on Earth Vestal Fire: An Environmental History, Told through Fire, of Europe and Europe's Encounter with the World Fire in America: A Cultural History ofWildland and Rural Fire Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia The Ice: A Journey to Antarctica Fire: A Brief History FIRE IN AMERICA A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire Stephen ). Pyne With a Foreword by William Cronon and a New Preface by the Author University of Washington Press Seattle and London Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire has been published with the assistance of a grant from the Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books Endowment, established by the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation, members of the Weyerhaeuser family, and Janet and Jack Creighton. Copyright © 1982 by Stephen]. Pyne Originally published in 1982 by Princeton University Press Foreword and Preface to the University of Washington Press paperback edition copyright © 1997 by the University of Washington Press Paperback edition published by the University of Washington Press in 1997 10090807060504 76543 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. University of Washington Press PO Box 50096 Seattle, WA 98145-5096, U.S.A. www.washington.edu/uwpress Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pyne, Stephen J., 1949- Fire in America: a cultural history of wildland and rural fire / Stephen). Pyne ; with a foreword by William Cronon ; and a new preface by the author p. cm. —(Cycle of fire) Originally published: Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c!982. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-295-97592-X 1. Wildfires—United States—History. 2. Fires—United States—History. I. Title. II. Series: Pyne, Stephen]., 1949- Cycle of fire. SD421.3.P96 1997 96-49191 304.2—dc2l The paper used in this publication is acid-free and 90 percent recycled from at least 50 precent post-consumer waste. It meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. ©o "Where the Hayfields Were" and "The Danger in the Air," by Archibald Macleish, are reprinted with the permission of Houghton Mifflin Company from Archibald Macleish, New and Collected Poems 1917-1976, © 1976 by Archibald Macleish. "Fire and Ice" is reprinted by permission of Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Publishers, from The Poetiy of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Conneiy Lathem, © 1923, © 1969 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, © 1951 by Robert Frost. Two lines from "Little Gidding, IV" are reprinted with the permission of Harcourt Brace ]ovanovich, Inc., from T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets, © 1943 by T. S. Eliot. I started writing this book for Joe Alston and Richard "The Kid" Gonzales. I ended up writing for Paul "Gummer" Engstrom, Peter "The Ape" Griffiths, Jack Guinan, Donnie "Greenback" Hackney, "Pinyon Foot" Kent Rethlake, Ralph "Rastus" Becker, Mike Gilbert, Tom Achterman, Tim McGann, Eric Brueck, Dana Tally, Randy "Go For It" Seeliger, "Uncle Jimmy" Owen, Ted Burke, Mark "Dash Riprock" Wright, Ken Castro, Jonathan "John-Boy" Lee, Jim "Hambone" Boone, Bruce "Pferd" Pferdeort, Lenny "The Dancing Pole" Dems, David "Ralph" Stiegelmeyer, and the "New Hampshire Hotshots" Rich Greer and Dan "The Man" Barter. The other North Rim Longshots had a lot to do with it, too. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix FOREWORD BY WILLIAM CRONON xi PREFACE TO THE 1997 PAPERBACK EDITION XV PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION: HISTORY WITH FIRE IN ITS EYE xix ABBREVIATIONS xxii PROLOGUE: THE SMOKE OF TIME 3 1: NATURE'S FIRE 6 Electrical Fire: A Natural History of Lightning Fire 8 The Fire Environment: Principles of Fire Behavior 20 Fire and Life: Principles of Fire Ecology 34 The Burned-Over Districts: A Fire History of the Northeast 45 2: THE FIRE FROM ASIA 66 Our Grandfather Fire: Fire and the American Indian 71 These Conflagrated Prairies: A Fire History of the Grasslands 84 Paiute Forestry: A History of the Light-Burning Controversy 100 3: THE FIRE FROM EUROPE 123 Prometheus Bound: Fire and Europe 126 Our Pappies Burned the Woods: A Fire History of the South 143 Fire Wolves and Smokey Bears: A History of Fire Prevention 161 4: THE GREAT BARBECUE 181 The Dragon Devastation: Fire and the Counterreclamation 184 Sky of Brass, Earth of Ash: A Fire History of the Lake States 199 From Fire and Axe: Private and Early Government Fire Protection 219 viii CONTENTS 5: THE HEROIC AGE 239 1910: A Fire History of the Northern Rockies 242 The Forester's Policy: A History of Fire Policy in the U.S. Forest Service 260 A Moral and Legal Charge: A History of Fire Policy in the Department of the Interior and Interagency Organizations 295 6: A CONTINENTAL EXPERIMENT 322 Fire and Water: A Fire History of the Northwest 327 Cross Fire: Fire Protection by the States 346 Under Fire: A History of Manpower in Fire Control 360 7: THE COLD WAR ON FIRE 387 Firepower: Fire and Warfare 390 A Burned-Out Case: A Fire History of Southern California 404 The Best Tools: A History of Fire Equipment 424 The Red Menace: A History of Rural Fire Defense 450 8: FIELDS OF FIRE 462 The Thermal Pulse: A History of Wildland Fire Research 467 Fire and Frost: A Fire History of Alaska 497 Fire on the Mountain: A Fire History of the Southwest 514 EPILOGUE: THE FORBIDDEN FLAME 530 BIBLIOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS 534 NOTES 535 BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY 618 INDEX 627 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Unless otherwise noted, all illustrations are courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service. 1 . Evening satellite photo of Europe and the northern half of Africa, January 4, 1975. Produced from U.S. Air Force, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program film transparencies archived for NOAA/EDIS by the Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 41 2. Charles Russell, Crow Burning the Blackfoot Range, 1905. Courtesy Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming. 73 3. Alfred Jacob Miller, Prairie on Fire, 1836. Courtesy Public Archives of Canada, C-432. 77 4. A. F. Tait, The Trapper's Defence, 1845. Courtesy Harry T. Peters Collection, Museum of the City of New York. 77 5. Grass fire suppression, Oklahoma, 1908. 93 6. Coastal redwood forest converted to pasturage, California, 1936. 106 7. Louisiana pinery converted to pasturage, ca. 1920. 150 8. A James Montgomery Flagg poster for the national fire prevention campaign begun in the late 1930s. 173 9. The exodus from Peshtigo, as reported by Harper's Weekly, 1871. 207 10. The aftermath at Hinckley, 1894. Reproduced from Rev. William Wilkinson, Memorials of the Minnesota Forest Fires . . . (Minneapolis, 1895). 209 1 1. The War Eagle mine, 1910. 249 12. J. B. Leiberg, map of Bitterroot Forest Reserve, 1898. Reproduced from U.S. Geological Survey, Twentieth Annual Report (1900). 253 13. Mather Field Conference, 1921. 269 14. The Tillamook fire in eruption, 1933. Courtesy Oregon State Department of Forestry. 325