Fire, the Old Engine, and Louis L'Amour
Near Chloride, Arizona
Fire was the terror of every wooden mining town, and Chloride was no exception. The town takes pride in what it calls one of the oldest all volunteer fire departments in Arizona, and among its treasures is an antique fire engine still kept in the town. That pride is rooted in hard experience.
Chloride burned more than once, as fires leapt from building to building through the dry timber and canvas of the camp. One of those blazes carries a famous name. The western author Louis L'Amour, who would go on to sell hundreds of millions of books, drifted through Chloride as a young man in the late nineteen twenties, working odd jobs and mining.
When fire broke out, he joined the bucket brigade, passing water hand to hand in a desperate line, an effort that, by his own account, ultimately failed to save much of the town from burning to the ground. L'Amour later drew on his years knocking around mining camps like this one for the gritty authenticity of his frontier novels. So when you see that old fire truck and the volunteer firehouse, remember that fighting fire here was not a hobby.
It was survival, and one of the young men in the water line grew up to become one of America's best loved storytellers.
