By the end of World War I cigarette smoking gained in popularity. In 1920s, advertisers promoted as stylish among other traits. On the flip side carless cigarette smokers routinely threw their lighted cigarette butts out of the car window. By the early 1920s the California made it a law to prohibit tossing lighted objects from an an automobile, but citizens ignored it. By the mid-1920s it got out of hand and was a major cause of forest fires.

On June 11, 1925 the first forest of season, locally occurred at Eagle Lake’s Gallatin Beach. Luckily, it was quickly contained as group of forty men, composed a campers and day visitors, quickly extinguished the fire. The fire’s origin was a caused by a discarded cigarette.

Menacing problem of cigarettes igniting forest fires continued for decades. Locally, for instance, on July 17, 1951 a 760-acre fire consumed the majority of timber on Gallatin Peak. The cause a careless cigarette smoker.

Tim