Catastrophic Fire: Settlers of Sanders County Montana: Vignette Vol.3 No.2

Vignette Vol.3 No.1
[Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]
Georgia Knott MacSpadden
1921. Heron. Excerpt--Throughout 1921, the Sanders County Independent Ledger continued to report mining news and local comings and goings, but for some unknown reason failed to report the worse wide-spread disaster in Sanders County, Montana, since 1910—the catastrophic fire that burned Heron, and surrounding areas that had not burned in the earlier conflagration. Georgia Knott MacSpadden wrote in her diary,

"In 1921, sparks got into a sawdust pile at the sawmill on Elk Creek. Fire got away and burned right up to the Heron Store. When the wind changed, firefighters were able to save the store by keeping the roof wet."

Georgia, a young girl at the time, had gone to get the mail in Heron. Returning to the Knott ranch near the mouth of Elk Creek she saw the fire begin growing up the mountain. By night, it had engulfed the entire hillside. Smoke hazed the sun for three months. The Knotts had gravity flow water from a spring, with little force to it, but it was the only place in Heron that had running water in the house.

Georgia's aunt Bessie had just purchased a new mattress, made in sections. The Knott family hurriedly took it out to the garden and spread green grass sod over it. Household dishes, silver, and everything they could bury were spaded under the garden soil.

"Heron stores and saloons burned," Georgia said. "The NPRR backfired at the wooden trestle to save it, and that kept the fire from reaching the Knott's ranch. On our front porch, at midnight, you could read a newspaper with the light from the fire."

Ruth Dettwiler said, "Our cousins were visiting from Plains. We saw the big black smoke from the fire across the river. There were coal storage buildings in Heron and they blackened the sky as they burned. Our parents weren't home, but they'd instructed us what to do in case of fire. Take all the furniture into the cellar. Put wet towels over our heads and get out into the fields away from any buildings that might burn."

The 1921 fire destroyed more than one sawmill, and thousands of acres of the finest timber standing. Flave and Jesse Lee lost 40,000 cedar posts. By the time the flames died in 1921, very little was left of Heron.

Sawmills were never rebuilt. The timber was destroyed, and many families left the area. However, the greater loss to 32-year-old Patrick Duffy was his wife.

Duffy's daughter, Katie, then a 3-year-old, clearly remembered;

"My mother was crying and screaming in the back bedroom when the last baby was born in 1921. It was when there'd been a forest fire. When I asked where the baby come from, he [Dad] said the poor little thing was out watching that fire. For years and years I believed him! Dad raised us nine kids but never remarried again. He had a wonderful sense of humor."

Due to the fires' havoc, the timber industry underwent drastic changes which in turn impacted young and old alike.

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