Native American Use of Fire - Settlers and The Rich Prairies

Settlers and The Rich Prairies

Early explorers and fur trappers often observed huge burned over or prairie/barren areas with many dead trees "littering" the landscape, without knowledge of whether the fires were natural or Indian caused. Written accounts by early settlers remain incomplete, although many noted that there was evidence of burned or scorched trees and open prairies or savannas with tall grasses in every river basin. There are many other accounts of travelers in forest areas commenting on the ability to see through/around the trees for long distances – obviously lacking in shrubs, brush, and small trees. The abundance of open prairie areas was often thought to be the result of poor soils that would not support trees or even crops. This would not prove to be the reason for the openings – some of which ranged in size to millions of acres–it was fire.

However, a number of settlers/farmers saw that the prairies were potentially rich land (besides that fact that it was "ready for the plow" without having to clear the land). This grass-covered prairie land was one of the primary reasons for settlers to head west to the Oregon Territory and California, and later to homestead the Great Plains. In the late 19th century until today, the Great Plains of the U.S. and Canadian Prairies were to become the farming “breadbasket” for the two nations.

Through the turn of the 20th century, settlers often used fire to clear the land of brush and trees in order to make new farm land for crops and new pastures for grazing animals – the North American variation of slash and burn technology – while others deliberately burned to reduce the threat of major fires – the so‑called "light burning" technique. Since the uplands were still in government ownership (public domain), many settlers adjacent to the hills often either deliberately set fires and/or allowed fires to "run free." Also, sheep and cattle owners, as well as shepherds and cowboys, often set the alpine meadows and prairies on fire at the end of the grazing season to burn the dried grasses, reduce brush, and kill young trees, as well as encourage the growth of new grasses for the following summer and fall grazing season.