Burke destroyed by fire 100 years ago
The 100th anniversary of the fire that demolished Burke, Idaho, on July 13-14, 1923, passed by mostly unnoticed last month.
Burke, 7 miles north and east of Wallace, was one of the earliest mining towns on the South Fork side of the Coeur d’Alene Mining District.
The blaze destroyed Burke’s townsite along with most of its wood-frame homes, the Hecla mine’s surface structures and part of neighboring Mace.
“All that was left,” said one report, “... of a score of business houses in Burke, the O.W.R. & N. and Northern Pacific depots was a smoldering heap of red ashes.” Miraculously, no fatalities occurred — despite the fire’s rapidity, its narrow canyon setting and high winds.
The fire started around 1:45 p.m. July 13, a Friday, and was not brought under control until 3 the following morning. Two hundred schoolchildren took refuge at the Catholic church in Mace. When dynamiting homes failed to stop the fire’s onslaught, they were again forced to flee.
When fire burned above-ground power lines, hundreds of underground miners were suddenly deprived of electric lighting and the services of the mine’s hoist. They made it out safely using ladders and cap lights. The morning after, said another report, “... little clusters of weary and sometimes disheartened mothers and children were grouped about pitifully small collections of household furniture and bundles of clothing, contemplating the blackened ruins of what only yesterday were their homes.”
Damage estimates ranged from $1 to $2 million. The leadership at Hecla gained stature on account recently securing fire insurance, noted historian John Fahey. The Northern Pacific Railway Company’s leadership, on the other hand, was soon carefully investigating the fire’s causes in anticipation of court suits claiming that sparks from one of their locomotives had triggered it.
Suits seeking damage compensation did indeed ensue. Three were filed in March 1925. A newspaper report in May noted that by then 30 suits had been filed. In June, the jury hearing the first trial found itself unable to reach a verdict. The high stakes in play meant that a retrial would follow in December.
By the end of August 1925, some 55 insurance companies had joined forces in a follow-up suit now filed in federal court at Boise with $1.4 million in claimed damages at stake. A corps of distinguished attorneys was retained to make the plaintiff’s case. Jury selection was completed on Saturday, Dec. 5, 1925, and the trial commenced in earnest the following Monday, Judge F.S. Dietrich presiding.
Like the plaintiffs, the Northern Pacific defendants spared no expense. A 7-foot-long scale model, in cross-section, of “a mogul type locomotive” was brought into court in order to show in detail how the engine minimized the risk of escaping embers. In the end, the jury required only 10 to 15 minutes of deliberation before returning a verdict exonerating the railway. The judge’s instruction that Northern Pacific should not be found responsible so long as the company exercised “ordinary care with the use of standard equipment” may have made the jury’s task easier.
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Longtime Wallace resident and local historian Ron Roizen will be making a presentation on the life and times of Harry F. Magnuson at the city’s annual Fall for History event in late September.
The Museum of North Idaho remains open daily through Sept. 5 and then Tuesday through Saturday until Oct. 29. In addition to permanent exhibits, MoNI is presenting a special exhibit on North Idaho during World War II. For information, see www.museumni.org.
