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Smoke may have been our enemy this summer, and we can take cold comfort from knowing that smoky skies also plagued the Rogue Valley in the late 1800s. “Fires were common in the late 1800s and into the 1900s,” said Jeff LaLande, a consulting archeologist and historian. “We know there was a fair amount fire.” The valley has seen smoky days off and on for two months since a dozen fires broke out after lightning strikes hit the region on July 15, ushering in one of the longest periods of unhealthy air in recent memory. LaLande has pored over archives from newspapers in the 1800s that describe the fires and the impact on tourism. On Sept. 4, 1874, the editor of the Democratic Times remarked that it seemed “as though no year shall pass but what .... the country (is) deluged with smoke ... the fire (this year) is as bad as ever and the sun can hardly be seen for the smoke.” That could have been written about this summer. The Ashland Tidings, in its Aug. 24, 1883 edition, reported the smoke was so bad in August 1883 that “tourists ... traveling through ... (to) complain bitterly of the smoke, which prevents them from gaining any conception of the scenery. On Sept. 27, 1889, the Tidings editor remarked that “fires are still burning in almost every direction in the high mountains.” The fires generally coincided with periods of low rainfall, and LaLande said data from the Applegate River drainage suggests a drought during the late 1880s and early 1890s. The foothills of the eastern Siskiyous also had widespread fires during the summers of 1883 and 1885. LaLande said miners in the Applegate and ranchers also intentionally set fires in the woods. The miners did it to expose the dirt to make it easier to find gold, while the ranchers attempted to improve the landscape for cattle grazing. By the late 1800s, the native Americans had been largely pushed out of the area and were no longer starting their own fires. “The fires the Whites set tended to be much larger and more destructive,” LaLande said. “And there was, of course, the lightning fires.” He said active wildfire management began around 1910. LaLande said there are many reasons behind the wildfire problem that has plagued the region, but one of the biggest problems is also the area’s biggest attraction. “It’s the hottest and driest part of Oregon west of the Cascades,” he said. “The Agate desert (near White City) deserves the term desert.” Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @reporterdm.