#8: Noble Trygg: Wildland Firefighting, Past and Present

*Noble Trygg after the 1936 Kabetogama Fire*.

Today wildland firefighters operate with the aid of heavy-duty equipment, extensive training, and well-developed fire management plans. They can end up working long days in extreme, potentially hazardous, conditions, so they are required to take training and pass both knowledge and physical tests to be certified.

In the early 20th century, before advances in technology, battling wildfires posed an even more grueling and dangerous challenge. One such dedicated firefighter was Noble Trygg, a foreman and a forester with Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 724, stationed in what was then the Kabetogama State Forest.

Fire on the Kabetogama Peninsula

In 1936, Trygg led crews in the fight against the devastating Kabetogama Peninsula wildfires, a series of blazes that burned for three relentless months from July through September and affected over 18,000 acres. Trygg’s leadership was instrumental in organizing the CCC crews, composed of young men enrolled in the New Deal program to provide employment and conservation work during the Great Depression. Without modern firefighting technology, by Trygg’s own account these men relied on, “just shovels, grub hoes, ax, saw, and these little forestry squirt cans and water pails,” in addition to sheer physical endurance to combat the flames.

A local teacher and a summertime historian for the park, Mary Lou Pearson, recorded and preservedTrygg’s retelling of the exhilarating experience:

“Alex Gerber arrived by boat and announced another fire had broken out southwest of Cruiser Lake. This was not very good news. I selected twenty-six men. We started out the next morning, hiked into Cruiser Lake, we could see this fire. It was a tremendous thing; it looked like an atomic bomb exploded in thewest. We set up camp on the north shore of Cruiser Lake where there was a set of camps owned by Mrs. Coleman. We suspected that the fire would reach us before too many hours because it was traveling at a good rate so we decided we would try to build a fire line around this set of camps there and try to salvage the buildings. The cook’s name was Tony Clark. I told Tony to cook a big stew because there was a camp range in the old kitchen, and there was plenty of firewood and the buildings were open. He started a fire in one of the big ranges there and put the stew on. He had a big kettle, about a twenty-quart kettle, a big cast iron, and he was making the stew. He put a whole ham in there, a lot of vegetables that we carried in. The rest of us were out putting this fire line and wetting the area around the buildings. I thought we had it well under control, we started backfiring from this line and the fire that we had started burned back about a hundred yards. All of a sudden, we had a northwest gale, and the main fire came down on us. It went right over our fire line, right over the buildings, cleared off everything. In the meantime, we had all run down and gotten in the lake. In about twenty minutes the fire was long past gone. The buildings were smoldering. I remember that stew kettle was sitting on top of that camp range just steaming. The building had burned away from it, but the camp range was still sitting out there in this field with this stew kettle on it. It had boiled dry by then.”

A Lasting Influence

Trygg’s legacy lives on in the principles and practices of modern wildland firefighting. Today, the National Park Service Wildland Fire Program deploys specialized teams, including helitack crews, engine crews, and hand crews, to respond rapidly to fires. Fire ecologists, dispatchers, and training specialists work year-round to prepare for and mitigate fire risks. Contemporary fire management strategies incorporate controlled burns and ecological research to maintain forest health and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires.

Beyond fire suppression, the work of Trygg and his CCC colleagues helped establish a precedent for conservation and emergency response. The Civilian Conservation Corps, which played a crucial role in forest restoration, continues to inspire modern programs like AmeriCorps and the Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa, which engage young people in environmental stewardship and disaster response.

Honoring the Firefighters of the Past

The efforts of early wildland firefighters, like Noble Trygg, remind us of the determination and bravery required to protect natural landscapes. While firefighting technology has advanced, the fundamental commitment to safeguarding forests and communities remains unchanged. By preserving the history of the CCC and recognizing the contributions of past firefighters, we gain a deeper appreciation for the evolution of wildfire management and the park service’s ongoing mission to protect America’s wildlands.

To learn more about the legacy of the Conservation Corps in Minnesota and how fire management has evolved, explore these resources:

Check out the full list of our 50 legacies!

This year, we’re celebrating 50 years of Voyageurs National Park by sharing 50 inspiring stories of the people who shaped its legacy—from the visionaries who established the park to those protecting its beauty today. Raise a canteen and celebrate this historic milestone with us at our 50th anniversary website. Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for more inspiring stories and updates!

50 Years, 50 Legacies: Noble Trygg

50 Years, 50 Legacies: Breanna Trygg

April 2025 Night Sky Calendar