In the spring , the melting banks of snow in the mountain town meant the discovery of dead bodies , and allegedly during the final spring of 1909 , as many as seventeen bodies were found . Buildings in Taft had been hastily constructed of wood and were flimsy . After experiencing a few smaller fires , Taft was destroyed by the 1910 " Big Burn " forest fires that extended over much of the Idaho Panhandle and western Montana . As the fire approached Taft , the remaining residents ignored a call to join firefighters , drank up what they could in the saloons and hastily left on an evacuation train . The residents had mostly " squatted " on national forest land , and forest rangers suppressed any effort to rebuild the town . By this time , the railroad construction workers had moved on , and with them the money
Big Burn
Great Fire of 1910
St. Paul Pass Tunnel