LITTLE CANYON FIRE, 1934

Excerpts – letter from Ina Dobson to Vance Dobson, her son:

[The fire started on a Sunday afternoon (August, 1934).] The men fought it over two weeks day and night up and down the canyon. It destroyed a lot of pasture for the Dieterle boys and got Aunt Maud’s timber. [Maud McCoy – not a relative.] It got the house, barn, 15 tons of hay, a lot of harness and farm machinery on the old John Shod farm about west across the canyon from us. It spotted across the canyon onto the side of the bench on which stands “the old crag” and was into our hay before we knew it. [Neighbors were alerted.] Well, in a very short time cars were coming and men spilling out with sacks, buckets, shovels, etc. At least a dozen cars came and they fought it out of the gulch leading up behind June’s hen house and from Shockley’s and John Boehm’s. It might have got June’s buildings had it come up this gulch. . . .

[They fought the fire all Sunday night.] They dug a trench down the canyon side to the old road that day and back fired along it for there was danger of the fire crossing the canyon and coming down on our side and it would have just swept us clean if it had. You see, the grass is awful thick over west and this old fence row running through to the west from the “green grove” is a rod wide at least and a regular fire trap, so with a west wind I don’t think we could have saved the house after this grove got afire. [She explains that despite prior back firing on this side of the canyon to the creek to make a fire break], it spotted across and came up here after all. . . . Monday night they [the firefighters] slept on the fire and put in most of Tuesday down there watching the back fire principally. Everything was so awful dry. It was surely an awful time and the danger great. It went up the canyon and they had a terrible time with it up there and finally Lewis County sent a deputy sheriff with an experienced fire fighter to direct matters, and men rallied enough to put it out. . . .