Hikers to re-enact Pulaski crew's journey

Forty-five hikers will re-enact a 100-year-old historic flight to safety on Saturday as part of the commemoration program of the 1910 Fire Committee.

It was Aug. 20, 1910, when U.S. Forest Ranger Edward Pulaski gathered 45 firefighters on a ridge above Lake Elsie near Kellogg. He intended to lead them to safety from the great fire down the west fork of Placer Creek to Wallace.

Upon meeting fire coming up from Wallace, he directed the men to reverse direction and hasten to the Nicholson mine, and saved all but six of his crew.

The route Pulaski and his crew followed is registered as the Escapeway on the National Register of Historic Places.

The re-enactors will gather at Wallace Jr./Sr. High School for transportation to Lake Elsie.

The public is invited to witness and encourage the march into town along their route, at the hospital site and at a reception at the Wallace Northern Pacific Depot.

The seven mile re-enactment hike is one event in a series commemorating the 1910 fire.

Other up-coming events include a speech at the Wallace Elks by Stephen Pyne, author of Year of the Fires on Thursday, Aug. 19; a speech by Rocky Barker, author of "Scorched Earth" and a film by George Sibley "Ordeal by Fire" on Friday, Aug. 20 and a parade and dedication of the 1910 Fire Fighters Memorial and a speech by Tim Egan, author of "The Big Burn" on Saturday, Aug. 21.

Information: www.firecoop.org