Students experience harrowing history with local field trip

WALLACE — The fourth grade classes at Pinehurst Elementary School recently took their annual field trip to the Pulaski Tunnel Trail as part of their Idaho History class unit.

The students spent the first portion of the unit learning about Shoshone County legend Ed Pulaski and the 1910 Fire.

Learning about Pulaski and the fire made the experience valuable for the students.

“After our lessons, the kids get to hike the trail and see the tunnel that Ed Pulaski used to save so many people during the fire,” said PES fourth-grade teacher Eli Bourgard.

Bourgard, along with teachers Michele McKinnon and Christina Derbyshire led the 100-strong group along the trail, but they had some extra help who left some of the students awestruck and made the field trip one that they would never forget.

“We also had a parent (Chris Myers) who brought along a crew of firefighters to hike the trail with us,” Bourgard said. “This made it very memorable for the kids, as many kids got to chat with the firefighters and even try on their packs. After the hike, most students had a greater appreciation for Ed Pulaski as he did the same hike under much more difficult conditions.”

The Pulaski Tunnel Trail is located just south of Wallace and traces part of the route that Pulaski’s crew followed during their escape from the 1910 fires.

The trail’s two-mile course brings hikers to an overlook across the creek from the Nicholson mine adit, also known as the Pulaski Tunnel, where Pulaski saved all but six of his 45-man firefighting crew in August 1910.