302 Forestry Quarterly 



he sat down to light his pipe and rest, and incidentally to cuss 

 his double streak of bad luck. The day had been very hot, in spite 

 of the time of year, and "Lum" was feeling pretty tired and dis- 

 gusted, and was not much relieved by the thought of the 12-mile 

 hike to the valley. While lighting his pipe he noticed at his feet 

 a dead fir branch to which the brown needles were still attached, 

 and he just " 'llowed as how that would make a good blaze," so 

 he reached over and set fire to it. "Lum's" 'Uowance was well 

 fulfilled, for the summer having been an unusually dry one, every- 

 thing was like tinder and the fire started in this way spread and 

 burned for days and days until finally a snowstorm put it out. 

 "Lum" Williams has since passed away, but over 10,000 acres 

 of devastation remain as a tribute to his different " 'llowances" 

 on that day. 



Only a small part of the denuded areas in the Bighorn Moun- 

 tains can be attributed to "Lum" Williams, and his story, which 

 is vouched for by the "Old Timers," is here related partially 

 to show what little concern forest fires gave the pioneer settlers 

 in those days, as well as to explain the origin of thousands of 

 acres of denuded land. 



No real eflFort was made to prevent destruction by forest fires 

 until the creation of the Bighorn National Forest in 1905, 

 whereas, prior to that time, fires had been numerous, dating back, 

 in the main, to the time of the occupation of this region by the 

 Indians. 



In the early days the mountains were filled with game and 

 were favorite hunting grounds of the Sioux and Crow Indians 

 and many fires were undoubtedly set by them for the purpose of 

 driving out game. At the time the Indians were on the war-path 

 in Wyoming, they also set fires in order to prevent the soldiers 

 from following them and to otherwise harass the "whites." 

 Since not only fires originating from lightning were allowed to 

 burn until extinguished by storms or lack of inflammable material, 

 but many fires were deliberately set by man, it is not strange that 

 every acre of timberland in the mountains has been burned over 

 at least once and some portions many times in the past. 



By far the greater number of these fires occurred in the Lodge- 

 pole pine type, and since burned over areas are very favorable for 

 reproduction of that species, practically all such areas are either 

 now covered with satisfactory stands or contain sufficient young 



