Book Review: The Big Burn by Timothy Egan

Teddy Roosevelt

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan is a wonderful book about the history of the US Forest Service and how it came to be. The book not only details how the US Forest Service became so important but also how conservation and our national parks  came to be. President Theodore Roosevelt loved the outdoors and championed the idea that our national parks should be preserved for future generations. It took a huge forest fire for the Forest Service to be recognized as necessary.

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan is a fascinating history of how conservation, our National Parks and the U.S. Forest Service came to be, and almost never made it because of politics and the worst forest fire in U.S. history.

One hundred years ago, there were few National Parks and barely a US Forest Service. The Big Burn takes us back to a time when some thought our forests were only good for one thing, the cutting down of all the trees, mining and the building of railroads through the forest.

The book is set mainly in the states of Idaho and Montana at the start of the 20^th century. Before 1900, President Grover Cleveland was trying to decide what to do with huge areas of the Western United States. He sent Gifford Pinchot and John Muir (the founder of the Sierra Club) out west to survey the land. 

 

Ten days before his presidency ended, Grover Cleveland surprised and aggravated many when he set aside millions of acres for forest reserves. As soon as William McKinley became the next president, he suspended this act. The political fight for the forests was just beginning.

When the new century began in 1900, William McKinley was president. His vice president was Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, who the Republican Party thought would finally fade away in the office of vice president. 

 

Teddy Roosevelt had some ideas that were slightly different than what the main Republican Party wanted, he had the strange idea that the forest of the United States belonged to the people and not just a few large corporations, and that they should be preserved for future generations to enjoy.

Teddy Roosevelt had a tragic day in 1884, on Valentine’s Day of all days, when he lost both his mother and his wife within hours. He went out west to become rejuvenated again and that is when he fell in love with the land and forests of the Western United States.  

 

Roosevelt became close friends with Gifford Pinchot and John Muir; together they had ideas of how to preserve the land for future generations, an idea far ahead of its time, conservation.

The book can be a little slow in the beginning with some of the background information but you will be glad you read this information about the characters and politics involved as the book moves forward.

Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir in Yosemite

Unexpectedly Teddy Roosevelt became president in 1901 when President McKinley was assassinated. And the fight was on for the use of the public lands. The Big Burn details the politicians and corporate leaders of the time, a time when senators weren’t elected but chosen by congressmen. 

 

During the time he was president, Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot start the US Forest Service, hiring men right out of college to watch over hundreds of thousands of acres per ranger, some of who would soon become heroes.

President Taft was elected president in 1908, the president who hated to make decisions, let the corporations and senators take away funding for the forest service, to the point that forest rangers had to pay the crews out of their own pockets.

One of the worst droughts anyone could remember was happening in the Northern Rockies during the spring and summer of 1910. The forest rangers and their crews battling each little fire before it could grow. And then the winds started to blow causing all of the fires to merge into one huge forest fire.

Wallace, Idaho after the forest fire

With flames heading west to Spokane, north to Canada and east to Missoula, the corporations thought this would finally put an end to the Forest Service and the idea of conservation once and for all. The Forest Service Rangers and their crews thought otherwise, battling the fires wherever they could. 

 

Forest rangers had to decide what to save, the forest, the towns, their crews or their families. Could they save it all? The author details how the forest rangers tried different and unique ways to try and save their crews and families while towns were evacuated and politicians screamed one thing and the newspapers another.

The Big Burn is full of first hand accounts of forest rangers and crews as they battled the fires, their own fears and the people in every small town and is an excellent historical narrative of how President Roosevelt with his conservation plans and the newly formed US Forest Service battled politicians, business tycoons and the worst forest fire in history to save the forests we have today.

Avery, Idaho today

Timothy Egan is best known for his book, “The Worst Hard Time” that detailed the lives of people who lived through the Dust Bowl, a book intense enough to make you feel the dust in your eyes. While reading the Big Burn you will feel like running away from the flames or turning to fight them.

Copyright © 2010 Sam Montana