Fire of 1910
Posted by: 
TheBeanTeam
N 47° 20.923 W 115° 37.902
11T E 603346 N 5244824
Reported to be the largest forest fire in America....ever.
Waymark Code: WM4C5Z
Location: Idaho, United States
Date Posted: 08/04/2008
Views: 90
This waymark is accessible only by biking the 15 mile Hiawatha Trail. There is a fee to ride the trail.This is an overlook along the Hiawatha Trail with an interpretive sign detailing the fire of 1910. The plaque at this location reads:
The 1910 Fires
One of the largest forest fires in the history of the United States swept over Idaho and Montana on August 20 and 21, 1910 including the area where you now stand. The fire burned three million acres, destroyed eight billion board feet of timber and killed 86 people. Hurricane-force winds shot fireballs for miles across the mountains. The sky turned dark as far east as Colorado. An army on 10,000 firefighters made dramatic, but ultimately futile efforts to stop the blaze.....
Along the trail is the "Gandydancers Grave". The burial spot of one of the victims of the fire.
From idahoforests.org
Then, on Saturday afternoon, August 20, all hell broke loose. Hurricane-force winds, unlike anything seen since, roared across the rolling Palouse country of eastern Washington and on into Idaho and Montana forests so dry they crackled underfoot In a matter of hours, fires became firestorms, and trees by the millions became exploding candles. Millions more, sucked from the ground, roots and all, became flying blowtorches. It was dark by four in the afternoon, save for wind-powered fireballs that rolled from ridgetop to ridgetop at seventy miles an hour. They leaped canyons a half-mile wide in one fluid motion. Entire mountainsides ignited in an instant It was like nothing anyone had ever seen before.
Additional Links:
Big Burn of 1910
Eyewitness accounts from the 1910 fire
Big Burn - Popular Mechanics Article