On Monday, July 2, we drove 75 miles east to Wallace, Idaho. From there we hiked The Pulaski Tunnel Trail along Placer Creek. This historic trail, just west of the Montana border, is four miles round trip with an elevation gain of 800 feet. There are many interpretive signs along the path explaining the events of August 20 & 21, 1910.
In the summer of 1910, drought, sparks from trains, and lightning touched off wildfires in the West. These fires ultimately scorched three million acres of forest and darkened skies as far away as Boston. Most of the devastation occurred in two days in August that became known as "The Big Burn". Gale force winds of up to 80 MPH whipped small fires into a violent inferno.
Ed Pulaski, a fire fighter for the U.S. Forest Service, led 45 fellow firefighters down a draw to safety inside an abandoned mine tunnel until the fire passed.
This special tool, "Pulaski",
was named in honor of its inventor,
Ed Pulaski. It is still in use today.
There were six bridges and numerous
boardwalks as we followed Placer Creek.
We had unseasonably cool weather, great
day for a moderately strenuous hike.
The trail ends at this mine tunnel where
Ed Pulaski and the 45 men
took shelter as the fire roared
around them dropping ash and huge trees.
