 As Dodge reached point 7 at 5:53 p.m., this is what the gulch have looked like - the place where Dodge ordered the men to drop their tools. IMPORTANT NOTE: The image does not include smoke. With strong southwest winds fanning the blaze up the gulch, the fire would be upon them within minutes. According to Bill Schneider in Hiking Montana, the fire was what is known as a "blow-up". It exploded in size from thirty acres to two thousand acres in just ten minutes. "The air temperature was 100 degrees, the grass had dried to the consistency of hay, and the young Ponderosa and Douglas-fir were dried to the consistency of kindling. Lightning struck and the whirling winds did the rest." |
