The Big Burn

The Big Burn
2ft X4ft Acrylic and pencil on canvas
The Big Burn aka the Devil’s Broom fire of Aug. 20-21, 1910 was a wildfire in the western United States that burned in North Idaho and Western Montana, with extensions into Eastern Washington and Southeast British Columbia.
President Roosevelt enjoyed wrestling his male friends in their underwear. One such friend is Edward Crockett “Ed” Pulaski. Pulaski would be courted at the white house to help with the coming event. He is a hero that is created for the invention of a fire fighting tool still valued today. He is also credited with saving the lives of many townspeople almost killed in the event. How did he get there in time? Did he save them because he felt guilty for his part in starting the fires? You see in conspiracy circles he is credited with helping the white house in the largest unconstitutional land grab in history. Unfortunately, he would suffer for his help and be removed from history of the event as credit was split between presidents.
The town of Taft was on prime land in a beautiful surrounding but it was a source of shame to the new president Howard Taft from an affluent wealthy family. Several times worse than current day Las Vegas, the town of Taft was known for armed robbery, homicide, hookers, STD’s and gambling. Even the train yard had been repeatedly assaulted by the town’s drunken debauchery. Efforts to clean up the town were laughed away with violence and mockery. Even rangers sent to help in the area remarked of ugly hookers hanging around the station, they asked what should be done and the laughing reply was to maybe get prettier hookers. (pictured)
Then in the heat of summer, in areas where the forest floor was heavy with dry brush, and areas that were best served by the wind gust moving the flames into town… surprise fires sprang up surrounding the town and killing most of its inhabitants. The fire burned over two days after strong winds caused the smaller fires to combine into a firestorm of unprecedented size. It killed 87 people, destroyed manmade structures, including several entire towns, (pictured), and burned more than three million acres of forest with an estimated billion dollars in timber lost. It is believed to be the largest forest fire in U.S. history.
The fire was fought by regiments of black soldiers gathered together from previous military service experience, and those recruited nationally to fight the fire. Termed the Buffalo Soldiers some of the most valiant men in America came forward to be verbally attacked and have items hurled at them from the communities they were fighting to save, simply because they were black.
The lost crew of 28 may have seen who was starting the fires, we will never know because the entire group died at the two day event along with many of the Buffalo soldiers.
The Antiquities Act of June 8, 1906. The Antiquities Act enabled President Roosevelt and succeeding Presidents to proclaim historic landmarks, historic or prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest in federal ownership as national monuments.
Journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior. They wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service. On August 25, 1916
In the aftermath of the fire, the U.S. Forest Service not the Buffalo Soldiers received considerable recognition for its firefighting efforts, including a doubling of its budget from Congress. The outcome was to highlight firefighters as public heroes while raising public awareness of national nature conservation.
Pictured as well is the symbol for injustice and the hidden hand.