Woodland author releases book about Yacolt Burn

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An author from Woodland recently released a book focused on the life of fictional character Thomas Merriman as he attempts to save his neighbors and friends during the historic Yacolt Burn of 1902.

The book, “Hero of the Yacolt Burn,” was published by Douglas Maynard on June 23. It’s the second book Douglas has written.  “I wrote a book a few years ago called "Three Summers”. “When I was done, I wanted to write another book and I was looking for a topic. The topic that seemed to stand out a lot to me was something that I knew about as a Washington State History Teacher and living in the Lewis River Valley.”

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Growing up in the valley, Douglas would often look beyond the hills and see the scars of the burn. Even with his experience as a History Teacher, Douglas said he needed to undertake a thorough research process to expand his knowledge of the fire before he started writing his newest book. 

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“I didn’t realize when I first started, the fire actually began in Oregon and then blew across to the Washington side of the Columbia River, it then raced north toward Yacolt”. Douglas said it took about three months’ worth of research before he wrote his first manuscript. The book’s protagonist, Merriman, is meant to be a “conglomerate of a lot of different people,” he said.

“Thomas Merriman starts out in Missouri, and after listening to people talking about the need for people to move to the Pacific Northwest to claim it for the United States, he decides that’s where he wants to go,” Douglas said. “At the time, he decides he is a little bit too young to go, so he works very hard for the next couple years” as he builds himself up and becomes strong. 

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From there, Merriman joins the Peoria Party, which is the first party that started on the Oregon Trail. Merriman eventually reaches the Lewis River Valley where he decides to live. Merriman is supposed to embody the first men who embarked on the Oregon Trail, taking on their characteristics, Douglas said. He’s also supposed to be one of the first men to travel north of the Columbia River, because at the time, the land was claimed by a British company that sought to protect their fur trading interests.

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“I think in most times, we think that forest fires just ravage everything. But in most cases, forest fires like the Yacolt Burn, there were pieces of property that were never even touched and pieces that were totally destroyed. And that’s kind of the way it was in the Lewis River Valley,” Douglas said.