The Big Burn

Posted on by

On the afternoon of August 20, 1910, a battering ram of wind moved through the drought stricken national forests of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, whipping the hundreds of small blazes burning across the forest floor into a roaring inferno that jumped from treetop to ridge as it raged, destroying towns and timber in the blink of an eye Forest rangers had assembled nearly ten thousand men college boys, day workers, immigrants from mining camps to fight the fire But no living person had seen anything like those flames, and neither the rangers nor anyone else knew how to subdue them.Egan narrates the struggles of the overmatched rangers against the implacable fire with unstoppable dramatic force Equally dramatic is the larger story he tells of outsized president Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot Pioneering the notion of conservation, Roosevelt and Pinchot did nothing less than create the idea of public land as our national treasure, owned by and preserved for every citizen The robber barons fought Roosevelt and Pinchot s rangers, but the Big Burn saved the forests even as it destroyed them the heroism shown by the rangers turned public opinion permanently in their favor and became the creation myth that drove the Forest Service, with consequences still felt in the way our national lands are protected or not today. Read The Big Burn By Timothy Egan – kino-fada.fr In 1910, the US Forestry Service was in its infancy Teddy Roosevelt had put Gifford Pinchot in charge of the foundling agency But robber barons and local commercial interests used all their resources to try to smother the infant in its crib, using their control of media to lobby against and lie about the Forest Service, and using their money to corrupt public officials in order to deny the Service the manpower and resources needed to actually protect the growing quantity of land held in public In 1910, the US Forestry Service was in its infancy Teddy Roosevelt had put Gifford Pinchot in charge of the foundling agency But robber barons and local commercial interests used all their resources to try to smother the infant in its crib, using their control of media to lobby against and lie about the Forest Service, and using their money to corrupt public officials in order to deny the Service the manpower and resources needed to actually protect the growing quantity of land held in public trust Then, in a drought parched lands of eastern Washington, western Montana and northern Idaho, the greatest forest fire in US history sparked a major change in public consciousness Egan offers historical context for this story, writing about the politics of the day, the forces, personalities and motives involved As America saw its frontiers vanishing, a president took on the task of preserving some of the nation s wilderness for future generat...There was no damn horse fast enough in the country to keep ahead of that fire All the world was on fire flames overhead, flames to the left, flames to the right, the ground was alive.One August day in 1910, the largest wildfire in US history swept across Washington, Idaho and Montana The newly established and woefully underfunded Forestry Service struggled to combat the flames Firefighters were recruited from nearby mining towns They c...Over the long term, greed was the winner of this battle Some things never change We could use another Teddy Roosevelt here in the 21st century Progressive, outspoken, tenacious, and so gifted with words This book is a lotabout politics than it is about The Big Burn I agree with another reviewer who said the title is misleading, as the book is muchabout Gifford Pinchot than Teddy Roosevelt Also, it is never made clear how the fire saved America Still, there s much to learn of Over the long term, greed was the winner of this battle Some things never change We could use another Teddy Roosevelt here in the 21st century ...Better for a man to fail, he said, even to fail greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeatTimothy Egan, The Big Burn Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved AmericaA good history of Great Fire of 1910 the Big Burn and the fledgling years of the US Forest Service Act one covers most of the major players Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, Senator Heyburn, William Taft, Elers Koch, Bill Weigle,Joe Halm, and Ed Pulaski ActBetter for a man to fail, he said, even to fail greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeatTimothy Egan, The Big Burn Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved AmericaA good history of Great Fire of 1910 the Big Burn and the fledgling years of the US Forest Service Act one covers most of the major players Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, Senator Heyburn, William Taft, Elers Koch, Bill Weigle,Joe Halm, and Ed Pulaski Act two covers the fire Act three, the aftermath While the secondary title is perhaps a bit hyperbolic really, the Fire that Saved Americait certainly cemented the Forest Service and their rangers into the hearts and minds of America I remember, one summer when I was nineteen, volunteering in Grand Junction, Colorado to help the Forest Service carve th...Outstanding, highly readable history of the Great Fire of 1910 that burned 3.2 million acres in and around the Bitterroots National Forest in Idaho and Montana The author moves deftly between a the immediacy of the fire and the experiences of people caught up in it, and b the powerful business and political i...First off, let me start by saying that Teddy Roosevelt is the man Anybody who cares about wilderness conservation or has visited a national park should be thankful that he was our president Egan s book is not only about the great forest fire of 1910 the titular big burn , but about Roosevelt s efforts to set aside land for future generations There is plenty of backstory as Egan explores the kinship between TR and his appointed head of forestry Gifford Pinchot, a kinship which ultimately led First off, let me start by saying that Teddy Roosevelt is the man Anybody who cares about wilderness conservation or has visited a national park should be thankful that he was our president Egan s book is not only about the great forest fire of 1910 the titular big burn , but about Roosevelt s efforts to set aside land for future generations There is plenty of backstory as Egan explores the kinship between TR and his appointed head of forestry Gifford Pinchot, a kinship which ultimately le...This is a highly readable account of the August 20, 1910 raging forest fire, the largest in U.S history Egan gives a detailed account of the efforts of the poorly funded, poorly trained rangers who risked their lives to contain the fire for a country who refused to compensate the families of the dead or pay the medical bills of the horrifically injured Egan argues that the embattled backers of the nascent Forest Service was able to use this event to gain support and funding for this agency H This is a highly readable account of the August 20, 1910 raging forest fire, the largest in U.S history Egan gives a detailed account of the efforts of the poorly funded, poorly trained rangers who risked their lives to contain the fire for a country who refused to compensate the families of the dead or pay the medical bills of the horrifically inj...Compelling story about the Big Burn fire in the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains in Western Montana and the Idaho panhandle The fire itself was the catalyst and early justification albeit a tragic and land altering one for the need for a national Forest Service The book tells of the early conservationist triumvirate of Gifford Pinchot the first chief of the Forest Service and hisfamous partners, Teddy Roosevelt an...Timothy Egan writes great books as well as strong columns for the New York Times He tricks us a bit with the sub title Although there is much about Teddy Roosevelt the main character of this tale is really Gifford Pinchot, the nation s first forester and father of the US Forrest Service and the man most responsible for saving what s left of America s forests Another of the featured characters is Ed Pulaski, an original forest ranger who was so damaged by the The Big Burn that he never reall Timothy Egan writes great books as well as strong columns for the New York Times He tricks us a bit with the sub title Although there is much about Teddy Roosevelt the main character of this tale is really Gifford Pinchot, the nation s first forester and father of the US Forrest Service and the man most responsible for saving what s left of America s forests Another of the featured characters is Ed Pulaski, an original forest ranger who was so damaged by the The Big Burn that he never really recovered I spent a summer with the Forest Service on a fire crew wielding a pulaski on a daily basis It is a great tool for building trail and fire line It s been years but I can still close my eyes and see the yellow white heart of a tree root as I slice...As indicated by the title, this book is about a wildfire that occurred in 1910 that burned about three million acres in northeast Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana The book also details some of the political issues focusing on Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot the first Chief of the United States Forest Service from 1905 until his firing in 1910 The fire provides the impending drama in the book s narrative because the reader doesn t know until the end of the book which of As indicated by the title, this book is about a wildfire that occurred in...

The Big Burn
  • English
  • 09 September 2018
  • Kindle Edition
  • 349 pages
  • Timothy Egan
  • The Big Burn