Jessie Colby and the Great Pine Creek Fire of 1910

Jessie Colby moved from Iowa to a homestead on the West Fork of Pine Creek in North Idaho. She hoped to make her fortune harvesting the timber from her claim. But danger was afoot. All during the hot, dry summer of 1910, fires were ablaze throughout the northwest. When the fires came close to Jessie’s homestead, she and her sister, Mary, were drawn into the drama. Her account of their experiences was documented in a letter she wrote to her mother back in Iowa. Now, more than one hundred years later, this letter has resurfaced, a gift from Jessie’s daughter to a community her mother once called home. It inspired this little story of the nearly-forgotten fire on Pine Creek and the brave young woman who was caught in its path.