"This giant white pine snuffed out
the lives of three men
when it fell across a clearing where they had taken shelter."
Camp debris on ground. Photographers bag on log.
Museum of North Idaho Photo.
Upton Smith was one of three homesteaders at the Beauchamp
homestead in upper East Fork of Big Creek where the fire fighting crew of John
W. Bell
sought refuge. The other two homesteaders were Roderick Ames and J. E.
Beauchamp. All three homesteaders lost their lives in the forest fire as
did seven members of Bell's crew.
Coeur d'Alene National Forest Supervisor William G. Weigle in
a report on June 24, 1911, to the regional forester at Missoula,
had these notations about Upton Smith:
47. Upton B. Smith.
Address Mansfield, Ohio. Body shipped to father. Father X. X. Smith, 220 West 3rd St. Mansfield, Ohio. Killed by falling tree at Joseph Beauchamp's cabin. Father communicated with.
Time.
July 29 - 6 hours 13 - 12
30 - 12 14 - 12
31 - 12 15 - 12
Aug. 1 - 12 16 - 12
2 - 12 17 - 12
3 - 12 18 - 12
4 - 12 19 - 12
5 - 12 20 - 12
6 - 12 270 hours, $67.50 due.
7 - 12
8 - 12 Amount paid to father.
9 - 12
10 - 12
11 - 12
12 - 12
The Burial Record of the
Mansfield Cemetery in Mansfield, Ohio gives the age of Upton Smith as "24".
It indicates that he was "Burned to Death" and that he was single and identifies
his cemetery plot as N1/2 99 B3.