Edward Pulaski

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Ed Pulaski in 1910

Edward Crockett "Ed" Pulaski (born February 9, 1868 in Green Springs , Ohio , † February 2, 1931 in Coeur d'Alene , Idaho ) was a ranger of the United States Forest Service .

He is best known as the namesake of Pulaski , a tool used to fight forest fires.

Life

Edward Pulaski was born on February 9, 1868 in Green Springs, Ohio, to Celia (1840-1918) and Rudolph Pulaski (1840-1928). He is considered a descendant of Kazimierz Pułaski , a war hero of the American War of Independence . He grew up on a farm with his brother and three sisters. In 1884 he dropped out of school and left Green Springs. First the gold rush drew him to Murray , Idaho , until he settled in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho in 1889. On February 7, 1900, he married Emma Zenobia Dickinson (1867-1948). The couple had no children of their own, but adopted a daughter named Elsie Celia (1902–1972).

Pulaski had odd jobs in mines and ranches before joining the United States Forest Service on July 15, 1908. There he was responsible for the River District of the Coeur d'Alene National Forest until his illness-related retirement in February 1930.

Ed Pulaski died on February 2, 1931. He was buried in Forest Cemetery in Coeur d'Alene.

The great fire of 1910

The Great Fire of 1910 in Idaho played a special role in Ed Pulaski's life . After weeks of drought, 1,000 to 3,000 individual forest fires had formed in an area of ​​12,140 square kilometers in Idaho, Montana , Washington and British Columbia . On August 20, 1910, strong winds caused these fires to spread suddenly. The resulting fire inferno cost the lives of over 90 people (mainly fire fighters).

Ed Pulaski was stationed in Wallace , Idaho, at the time and was instructed that day by the Coeur d'Alene National Forest supervisor to run from camp to camp and directly coordinate the firefighters. When the fires and smoke threatened to lock the men in, Ed gathered 45 men and tried to get them to Wallace to safety. When the fire cut them off, he remembered an old mine nearby, which he saw as the last possible shelter. On the way to the mine, a man in his group was killed by a falling tree.

By the time they reached the mine in the evening, the forest around them was already on fire. After a while, the mine shaft slowly began to fill with smoke and one of the men wanted to flee into the forest. Pulaski eventually threatened to shoot anyone who left the mine with his revolver. When the fires subsided, the men were able to leave the mine. However, five of them did not survive the night.

The death of the six men preoccupied Pulaski for years, and he fought for twelve years to get them a memorial. He also tried to get the state to pay his men’s hospital costs. In retrospect he was celebrated as a hero for his actions, but he did not see himself as a hero. Within the US Forest Service, his actions are considered exemplary:

“Mr. Pulaski is a man of most excellent judgment; conservative, thoroughly acquainted with the region, having prospected through the region for over twenty-five years. He is considered by the old-timers as one of the best and safest men to be placed in charge of a crew of men in the hills. ”

"Mr. Pulaski is a man of excellent judgment; reserved and intimately familiar with the area he has explored for over twenty-five years. Old hands consider him one of the best and safest men who can be entrusted with the responsibility for a team in the mountains. "

- William G. Weigle, Forest Supervisor : Edward Crockett Pulaski: A Short Biography

Pulaski - tool for fighting forest fires

Pulaski's head with a fiberglass handle

The 1910 Idaho forest fires had revealed the need for specialized forest fire fighting equipment. In 1911, in response to this shortcoming, Ed Pulaski introduced a tool to the US Forest Service that combined the functioning of the ax and adze . In 1876 a comparable tool had already been presented by the Collins Tool Company, so that it is unclear today whether Pulaski invented the tool named after him or just made it popular. Until the 1920s, the Pulaski was only produced in small series and was known almost exclusively in the Rocky Mountain region. However, it continued to spread and eventually became a standard tool for the United States Forest Service in 1930.

legacy

Near Wallace, Idaho, a 1,670 meter high mountain, Mount Pulaski , was named after him.

The Pulaski Tunnel Trail is a US Forest Service hiking trail and leads to the entrance of the mine where Pulaski and his men took refuge. The mine was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 as the Edward Pulaski Tunnel and Placer Creek Escape Route .

The collection of the Wallace District Mining Museum at the Smithsonian Institution in Wallace Idaho includes a Pulaski with the initials "EP" that supposedly belonged to Ed Pulaski himself.

Web links

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  1. ↑ a b United States Forest Service: "Edward Crockett Pulaski: A Short Biography" (English; PDF; 48 KB) at www.fs.usda.gov, accessed on October 27, 2016
  2. ^ Edward Edwin Crockett "Big Ed" Pulaski at www.findagrave.com, accessed October 27, 2016
  3. ↑ a b c E. C. Pulaski: "Surrounded by Forest Fires" ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; PDF; 628 KB), from www.foresthistory.org, accessed on October 27, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.foresthistory.org
  4. ↑ United States Forest Service: "Edward Pulaski" (English; PDF; 188 KB), at www.fs.usda.gov, accessed on October 27, 2016
  5. ↑ a b United States Forest Service: Fire Management Notes - The True Story of the Pulaski Fire Tool (English; PDF; 1.38 MB), pp. 19-21, at www.fs.fed.us, accessed on 27. October 2016.
  6. ↑ Idaho Forest Products Commission: "The Pulaski Project" ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) at www.idahoforests.org, accessed October 27, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.idahoforests.org
  7. ↑ Stephen J. Pyne, "Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910"; Mountain Press Publishing Company; Missoula, Montana; 2nd edition from March 15, 2008; ISBN 978-0878425440
personal data
SURNAME Pulaski, Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pulaski, Edward Crockett (full name); Pulaski, Ed (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American firefighter and ranger for the US Forest Service
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Green Springs , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1931
Place of death Coeur d'Alene , Idaho