Archives West Finding Aid

A.B. "Bert" Curtis was born on a ranch near Salem, Oregon, August 1, 1903. His parents, Charles Garret Curtis of Independence, Missouri, and Elizabeth Ann Milne, who was born near Dundee, Scotland, were early pioneers. When the family moved to Orofino, Idaho, in 1912 Charles Curtis operated the Cottage Hotel for a time before he returned to ranching.

Having attended high school in both Orofino, where he was on the football team, and Plummer, from which he graduated in 1921, Bert entered the University of Idaho where he remained for one year. He then attended Lewiston State Normal School where he received his teacher's diploma after two years of study. He taught and coached athletics in Fernwood for a while, then returned to the University of Idaho for two more years. He married Alene Honeywell of Clear Lake, South Dakota, in Moscow on December 21, 1928. They have five children, four sons and a daughter.

In 1918 he began his 50 year association with the Clearwater Timber Protective Association when, due to the manpower shortage caused by the war, Theodore Fohl hired the 15 year old Curtis as a waterboy, carrying water to the firefighters. He spent his summers until 1925 working for the association, then in May 1926 he began full-time work. In 1927 he was appointed Assistant Chief Fire Warden for the association and a year later was appointed Chief. In 1945 he was made Chief Fire Warden and Manager of the Potlatch Timber Protective Association, and in that same year he became State Fire Warden. In 1966 the Clearwater and Potlatch Timber Protective Associations were combined and Curtis remained Chief Fire Warden of the new organization until he retired in August 1968.

In 1950 Curtis was elected mayor of Orofino, a position he held for 23 years, during which the city completed a large water and sewage treatment plant. In 1958 he tried unsuccessfully to unseat Gracie Pfost, the Democratic incumbent representing Idaho's First District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He was a strong supporter of Senator Henry Dworshak on the Bruces Eddy (now Dworshak) Dam issue, and was one of the primary figures in obtaining approval and funds for the construction. In 1972 he was awarded the Department of the Army Certificate for Patriotic Civilian Service for his assistance to the Corps of Engineers in building the dam. Among his other awards are the Idaho Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizen award (1968), and a 38 years of distinguished service award presented by public and private Idaho forestry associations in 1956.

He has been active in the Chamber of Commerce, Association of Idaho Cities, was an original incorporator of the Clearwater Economic Development Association, was active in the Idaho Municipal League, served on the Inland Waterways Association, and from 1965 to 1970 he represented the timber industry as a member of the Public Land Law Review Commission. His memberships in forestry organizations included the American Forestry Association, Society of American Foresters - Inland Empire Section, and the Western Forestry and Conservation Association. He was also a founding member of the University of Idaho Advisory Research Council, president of the Alumni Association, and a member of the Athletic Advisory Committee. He was president of two mining concerns, Orofino Lime Products and the Oxford Copper Mining Company near Pierce. His memberships in fraternal organizations included the Masons, Shriners, and Elks, as well as the Kiwanis Club of Orofino.

Curtis published a book on the history of forestry and forest fire prevention in 1983, "White Pines and Fires: Cooperative Forestry in Idaho." He passed away in Orofino at the age of 81, on July 6, 1985.