Volunteers help restore historical site

HAUGAN - Participants with the Passport in Time program, a volunteer archeology and historic preservation program through the Forest Service, were in Mineral County last week to help repair and maintain a facility that helped restore the area’s forests after a legendary fire destroyed them.

Dozens of volunteers came to the Savenac Nursery near DeBorgia to restore buildings, tend to seedbeds, remove debris from last winter and generally do whatever was needed to maintain what the Forest Service considers a historical landmark. Beth Kennedy with the Forest Service said PIT volunteers are vital to maintaining the site.

“What they do here at Savenac is historic restoration and preservation,” Kennedy said. “The site was on the verge of being abandoned. So much of the site was overgrown when the PIT project started. One of our volunteers also planted irises around the memorials to the firefighters who perished in the 1910 fire.”

In 1910, an event in Mineral County known as the Great Fire of 1910, the Big Blowup, the Big Burn or the Devil’s Broom Fire, changed the face of the area.

Established in 1907, everything at the Savenac Nursery burned to the ground when the 1910 fire came through Mineral County except for the seedbeds.

In the aftermath, Mineral County and other areas needed trees so the nursery was quickly repaired and the facility began to supply millions of seedlings to reforest the area. By 1915, the Savenac Nursery was the largest in the Forest Service’s network of nurseries. By the 1930s, it was the largest tree nursery in the Northwest, providing up to 12 million trees per year.

Things changed however in the late 1960s. The site was closed and the operation was moved to Idaho. The facility fell into disrepair and was in danger of being overgrown and completely abandoned. That’s when the PIT program stepped in to help.

One of the volunteers said she traveled all the way from Maryland to participate in the Savenac restoration. And it’s not the first time Kathi Jones has made the trip.

“We learned about the Passport in Time project many years ago,” Jones said. “We’ve gotten to know the people involved with the Savenac project over the years and it’s just a great group. Everybody works hard and it’s extremely rewarding to give back. We’ve done a lot of these over the years but this is the one we love the most.”

Lolo National Forest Archeologist Sydney Bacon said she was in her 15th year working with PIT volunteers at the nursery. Bacon said without the help of the PIT program, the Forest Service would not be able to maintain a part of Mineral County’s historical heritage.

“If it weren’t for the volunteers, most of whom are returnees, this place would be a shambles,” Bacon said. “The buildings would be collapsed. The grounds would be overgrown. These people are amazing. These people take time out of their lives and work to help us. The friendships we’ve developed over the years I find very rewarding.”

Bacon said restoring and preserving the Savenac site was important because of the role it played in the history of Mineral County. She said the nursery was just getting started when the fire of 1910 nearly wiped it out and without the nursery in the aftermath, Mineral County may have been much different than the one residents know today.

“This place has had a huge impact on Mineral County history, Forest Service history and maybe national history with the fire,” Bacon said. “I still talk to people who worked here at Savenac back when it was running. A lot of people in Mineral County worked here. A lot of people’s families and grandparents worked here. It’s a huge part of Mineral County.”

The fire of 1910 that nearly destroyed the Savenac Nursery started as several thousand smaller fires burning in Montana, Idaho and Washington and turned into something much larger when on August 20 a cold front blew into the area bringing with it hurricane force winds.

The smaller fires were whipped into one blazing inferno and from Aug. 20 to 21, three million acres, approximately the size of Connecticut, including Mineral County burned to the ground.

According to an article published in Popular Mechanics magazine as part of a series called the “10 Worst Disasters in the last 101 Years,” smoke from the blaze could be seen as far east as New York state. It was reported ships as far out in the Pacific as 500 miles could not navigate by the stars because of the smoke.

The fire killed 87 people, mostly firefighters. It was the deadliest event in the country for firefighters until the September 11 attacks. Haugan, Henderson and DeBorgia in Mineral County were wiped off the map.

At the time, the Forest Service was only five years old and unprepared for the size and intensity of the fire. Before the event, there was debate as to how the fledgling organization should handle forest fires. After the fire, it was decided the Forest Service should prevent and fight fires aggressively.