Douse the Flames and Climb Aboard
“The whole twenty-five miles of railroad…between Avery and the Taft Tunnel was swept by a consuming blast of fire, so hot that pick handles lying in the open beside the track were utterly consumed.” - Elers Koch, Forest Supervisor
With fires raging in Idaho and Montana and seemingly closing in on all sides of numerous towns, the railroad was the lifeline for escape. Engineer John Mackedon and his fireman rode west toward Avery surrounded by fire and worried they would not make it out alive.
Suddenly the emergency call came in. More fires sent men, women and children fleeing from their homesteads and logging camps to huddle on the railroad platform in Falcon, 64 miles northeast of Avery. They were begging to be rescued.
Backing the train into Falcon, Mackedon discovered buildings and railcars already on fire. Everyone rushed toward the engine in a panic. Mackedon spotted a boxcar that was not completely ablaze and told the frightened crowd to douse the fire and quickly climb aboard. After escaping Falcon, he stopped twice more to put out fires on the bridges in his path. Mackedon and his fireman finally saved the stranded refugees by taking them into a tunnel to wait out the fire.
Marker can be reached from Rainy Creek Road (Federal Road 506) 2 miles south of Exit 5 (Taft) (Interstate 90).
Courtesy hmdb.org
