Martial Law Declared, August 1931
(Abstracted from Helmer, Cheryl. -- Warren Times/A collection of news about Warren, Idaho. Henington Publishing Company, Wolfe City, TX., 1988.)
Governor Orders Martial Law, Idaho Daily Statesman, August 30
Four counties were declared Saturday to be in a state of martial law, in a proclamation by Governor C. Ben Ross. The counties are Boise, Gem, Valley and Idaho counties where the forest fire situation has been grave in recent weeks. The Governor said, "it has been made to appear to my satisfaction that many of said fires are of incendiary origin", after a conference of state officials, national guard and forest service officials at which the whole situation was thoroughly canvased.
Idaho Daily Statesman, September 1:
In a relentless campaign to prevent incenciarism, five rifle, a machine gun company and two medical units of the Idaho National Guards are patrolling roads in four Idaho counties.
The new unit will have the patrol of roads, particularly the North and South Highway in Adams County, with a station at New Meadows. In Idaho county, the posts are at Burgdorf, Warren and Riggins. In Valley County, they are patroling the highway through McCall and Cascade.
(Personal communication with author): During these depressed times, the men who are fighting the fires are employed by the National Forests, their jobs ending when the fires are put out. There have been many reports that fires are started in order to continue employment.
Martial Law Ends, Idaho Daily Statesman, September 17
Martial law in the timbered areas of central and southern Idaho was ended last Thursday and the troops were recalled from the seven counties in which they held sway for a ten day period.
Withdrawl of the troops followed a series of cold nights, showers and snow which reduced the fire hazards, particularly in the higher altitudes.
Counties included in the restricted area were: Idaho, Boise, Gem, Valley, Adams, Custer and Lemhi.
For more on the events leading up to the declaration, see Helmer's book.
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Cascade News, August 28, 1931:
"6 FIRE FIGHTERS LOSE LIVES
WHILE BATTLING FLAMES
Forest fires in Idaho are still racing and it is estimated that over seven thousand men are now on the fire lines. The total area of burned over timber lands in conservatively estimated at nearly 300,000 acres.
The situation in some sections is now considered almost hopeless without the aid of higher humidity and rains.
The Boise Basin holocaust which has razed over 55,000 acres of timberlands and a number of valuable mine plants Tuesday took the lives of two fire fighters on the Grimes Pass front. The men, Herbert Harvey, Boise, and Nolan Warner, Fillmore, Utah, were outrun by a withering mass of flame when they became panicky and fled away from the rest of their crew in the wrong direction.
Thursday the charred bodies of four men were found in the wake of
a big fire in the Lewis & Clark Forest in Montana. The bodies could
not be identified.
At last report the big fire on the South Fork Payette was under control on three fronts but was slowly moving toward Lowman. Over 1000
men are fighting this fire, among them being 200 national guardsmen ordered out by Governor Ross the first of the week. Tuesday the Golden Age Mine, a productive $260,000 plant was totally destroyed along with several ranches.
Thursday four man-set fires broke out shortly after noon on the range
west of High Valley and this evening was advancing toward the Valley
on a two mile front. 260 men are now on this fire and it is expected
that it will be under control some time tonight.
The cooler weather of the past two days has enabled the crews on seven major fires in Idaho forests to get in some good work and three of them are now under control. It is expected that the others will be gotten in hand in another day or two."
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Note from Coordinator
This gives me the exact date for a couple of my McConnel family stories. My Grandfather McConnel was employed as a "timber guard" and my grandmother went through an armed check-point going to Smith Ferry from High Valley to check mail. If your family was living in Valley County in 1931, this event undoubtedly impacted them, too. - s.mc
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