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Colorado's first recorded forest fire, as nearly as I can tell, was started by three negligent federal employees on July 14, 1820.
A military expedition headed by Major Stephen F. Long
had departed that June from Council Bluffs, Iowa, and after
crossing the Great American Desert,
they explored
the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
Three members of the expedition -- a Lt. Swift, a French
guide named Bijeau, and the botanist Dr. Edward S. James --
decided to climb the Grand Peak
described by Capt.
Zebulon Pike, who failed to reach the summit on his 1806
effort.
They did not travel light as they began their ascent on
July 13. Each man carried a gun, along with one blanket,
a small kettle, 10 pounds of bison meat and three gills of
parched corn,
according to the report by Dr. James. (A
gill
is a unit of volume equal to half a measuring
cup.)
At sundown that night, still far short of the summit,
they camped in a small cluster of fir trees,
where
they of course built a campfire.
When they started uphill again at dawn, they hoped to
reach the summit and return to this camp. But they didn't
get to the top until 4 p.m. on this first recorded ascent
of Pikes Peak. They headed down an hour later, and soon
we perceived we had missed our way.
When darkness
fell, they had to bivouac with neither provisions or
blankets,
since those were at their first camp, which
they despaired of finding.
At daybreak the following morning ... we quitted our
camp as soon as the light was sufficient to enable us to
proceed, and had traveled about three hours when we
discovered a dense column of smoke rising from a deep
ravine on our left. As we concluded this could be no other
than the smoke of the encampment where we had left our
blankets and provisions, we descended directly toward
it.
History does not tell us that this careless trio was punished for starting a forest fire by leaving a campfire unattended, but it does show that wildfires were not uncommon, even if the blazes could not then be blamed on environmentalists or greenhouse gases.
Consider this report from John C. Frémont in 1842. On July 10, his expedition had come up the South Platte to St. Vrain's Fort, a trading post (and future site of a nuclear power plant) near present-day Platteville about 35 miles north of Denver.
The piney region of the mountains to the south was
enveloped in smoke, and I was informed had been on fire for
several months. Pike's peak is said to be visible from this
place, about one hundred miles to the southward; but the
smokey state of the atmosphere prevented my seeing
it.
From this account, it would appear that the smoke came from fires in Douglas County in the Black Forest along the Palmer Divide, rather than up in the mountains to the west. However, Frémont did not investigate. Instead of continuing up the South Platte, on that trip Frémont went north from St. Vrain's Fort to Fort Laramie, Wyo.
He traveled through the Palmer Divide region a year
later. Frémont observed that it was covered in
pines,
but made no mention of any burnt zone from the
fires of the preceding year.
The most dynamic pre-Gold Rush fire account comes from George F. Ruxton, an English gentleman adventurer who camped near Manitou Springs in the summer of 1847.
Exhausted one day, he fell asleep by the springs.
When I awoke the sun had already set; but although
darkness was fast gathering over the mountain, I was
surprised to see a bright light flickering against its
sides. A glance assured me that the mountain was on
fire.... A dense cloud of smoke was hanging over the gorge,
and presently, a light air springing up from the east, a
mass of flame shot up into the sky and rolled fiercely up
the stream, the belt of dry brush on its banks catching
fire and burning like tinder.
The mountain was already invaded by the devouring
element, and two wings of flame spread out from the main
stream, which, roaring along the bottom with the speed of a
race-horse, licked the mountainside, extending its long
line as it advanced. The dry pines and cedars hissed and
cracked, as the flame, reaching them, ran up their trunks
and spread among the limbs, while the long, waving grass
underneath was a sea of fire.
He managed to escape by spurring his horse through the
flaming brush, and his pack mules quickly caught up. He
noted that This fire extended into the praire, toward
the waters of the Platte, upward of forty miles, and for
fourteen days its glare was visible on the Arkansas, fifty
miles distant.
He was sure how it started, since he had seen a band of
Arapahoe near his camp. I had from the first no doubt
but that the fire was caused by the Indians, who had
probably discovered my animals,
and had taken
advantage of a favorable wind to set fire to the bottom,
hoping to secure the horse and mules in the
confusion...
Others may be able to learn more from Colorado's first three recorded wildfires. The main thing I learned, though, is that fires have happened, and they likely will again.
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