Pack Train in the Bitterroot Mountains 



trical storms and almost incessant high 

 winds. By the fifteenth of July serious 

 fires were burning on nearly every For- 

 est west of the continental divide, and 

 many more starting every day. 



EMERGENCY FORCE AND EQUIPMENT 



By the middle of July over three 

 thousand extra laborers were employed 

 on the fire lines in Northwestern Mon- 

 tana and Northern Idaho. This force 

 had been secured, equipped, and organ- 

 ized for work in the space of from two 

 to three weeks. The labor markets of 

 Missoula, Spokane, and Butte had been 

 called upon, and furnished the bulk of 

 the men. Tools, thousands of mat- 

 tocks, shovels, and axes, were drained 

 from the mercantile stores wherever 

 available, until their supplies were ex- 

 hausted and special orders had to be 

 rushed through in order to complete 

 the equipment of the men. 



The country had been scoured for 

 pack animals, and trains of from 5 to 

 40 horses each secured to transport the 

 supplies and equipment of the fire fight- 

 ers into the hills. The heavily tim- 

 bered country afforded practically no 

 feed for the horses, and the packing of 

 horse feed, besides the supplies and 

 equipment, had to be provided. Expe- 

 rienced packers had to be obtained to 

 handle these trains in the hills. Any 

 one familiar with western mountains 

 will appreciate the importance of this 

 one item alone. 



The inaccessibility of the territory 

 lying immediately contiguous to the 

 Idaho-Montana divide in the Clear- 

 water and Coeur d'Alene Forests made 

 it necessary to equip the pack trains in 

 Montana and have them drop over the 

 divide on to the Clearwater and St. Joe 

 River drainages. Trails from the Mon- 

 tana side were accessible, but when the 

 top of the divide was reached, in most 

 cases trails had to be cut to get the pack 



With this done and 



635 



horses through 



