Early Days in the Forest Service Volume 4

LIGHTENING ON MOUNT EMERINE
By Leon L. Lake

It was about 1932 or '33 that we decided to build a new lookout tower on Mt. Emerine on the Philipsburg District as the old tower was rather unsafe to occupy. I had hired a carpenter and helper plus the lookout man as it was in July. Mt. Emerine is about 8,640 feet in altitude and in a bad lightning zone.

M. E. Skillman, Assistant Ranger, and his son-in-law, hired some pack stock and made a trip up to the mountain nearly each day carrying loads of cement, sand, and gravel for the footings of the new tower. It was about a seven-mile pack from the old West Fork Ranger Station. The trail near the top was very steep and a No. 12 gallon wire telephone line paralleled the trail practically all the way.

One day while the packers were up on the mountain a bad looking storm was looming up from the west so Skillman said, "Let's get to h—l out of here" as he was afraid of lightning. It seemed to affect his arms and legs from past experiences.

Well they had gotten down the mountain trail about one-half mile and just past the steep grade, when all at once the thunder rolled and a lightning flash came down the telephone line knocking out both men and all seven horses. No one knows exactly how long both men and horses were laid flat. However Skillman "came to" first and found one arm paralyzed, but rolled over and looked over at his buddy who laid unconscious on the ground with blood oozing out of his mouth. Skillman finally got to him and found that he was breathing, and then one horse got up and before long each of the other horses came to their feet, but what a predicament they were in. Finally Skillman's buddy came to and in a course of time they managed to get the horses together, but all were minus some halters, ropes and lead straps, and helped each other on their saddle horses and made the last 62 miles into the West Fork Ranger Station. Jim Templer, new Supervisor of the Deer Lodge Forest, said they looked like a couple of ghosts riding in and hanging desperately to their saddles, Skillman had a partial red cross on his back and his buddy had five or six teeth knocked out as he fell on the rocks.

Needless to say that we rushed these men to the Butte Hospital, where they were for about a month recuperating. They had to hook up a bleeder to Skillman to drain off the electricity. His buddy had to have several false teeth made and installed in front.

The horses all survived but one or two had strips of hair taken off their backs. For about one-half mile that No. 12 grounded telephone was all burned up, then a few pieces were found welded together in the most fantastic irregular shapes, then a few short pieces were found on the ground, and lower down longer pieces until finally the wire was found without being broken but wavy and brittle. For about five mile's that entire line was rendered useless.

After the men came into the West Fork Ranger Station I sent a reliable man back up to Mt. Emerine, in the night, to check on those remaining up there. He found them in the old cabin dazed and somewhat shocked but no other injuries. It seems the lightning had struck the old tower and a heavy flash went down the telephone line. It made a shambles of the old tower so the new one had to be pushed as fast as possible and a new telephone line put in, using #9 wire this time; and ground wires every three or four per half mile were run up tie trees.

I called for #9 wire but they sent out No. 12 from the Supervisor's office, so I received No. 12 instead. I called the office up about it and was told by the Chief Clerk who took over most of the Supervisor's duties to use what was sent to me as it was No. 9. Then I cut off one piece of No. 12 wire and one of No. 9 and sent them in for reference and asked again for No. 9 wire. At last it was sent out. Only two men remain alive that worked on this project. All others have passed away, even the Supervisor and Chief Clerk. However, the recovery of the men and horses from that lightning flash was practically a miracle.