The photo above is my last pair of Whites boots.
Here is the story of my first pair.
Back in the old days, before 2015, Forestry Technicians had to pay for their own boots. During my second year with the Forest Service, my initial year on the El Cariso Hot Shots, our first large fire that year in 1970 was the Safety Harbor Fire at Lake Chelan, Washington. After flying from Southern California in a Forest Service DC-3 we were hauled on a bus to a boat launch on the west side of the lake. From there we got on a sightseeing boat usually used for tourists, which took us across to the other side, where we were the initial attack on the fire. (Yeah, I KNOW. From Southern California, we were the first Forestry Technicians on the fire. Needless to say, there were a bunch of fires burning in the area and the locals were a little busy.)
After two or three weeks we had a day of R&R. Some of us, including myself who had found that our boots were inadequate for Hotshot work, were taken to a shoe store in a nearby town. It was early in the season and most of us had very little money, and no credit cards. Our crew Superintendent, Ron Campbell, worked with the Finance Section to arrange for a Commissary-like process for us to buy new boots and for the funds to come out of our pay.
We all proudly walked out of the store wearing new, shiny Whites — which at the time was the preeminent footwear for firefighters and loggers. I think I paid $65 for mine, a week’s pay.
Later I heard that when the paperwork was being processed, one of the clerks in the office wondered why firefighters were buying white boots. “Won’t they just get dirty?” she said.
I wish they were $75.00. However that is a great story
Steve Harrison jogged my memory with the history of “Egley’s” Chicago Clothing in Yakima. I listened to the “Grant Mac” show on KIT radio every morning. In grade school we learned about moving the original Yakima to North Yakima.
I’ll post a little more about my experience with whites. In 1973 the Whites I bought in 1968 were ready for a rebuild. Chicago Clothing Was still in business although the history article says their last year was 1968. They would ship customer’s Whites to Spokane for rebuilds. I left mine off at Chicago clothing and he said it would take about a month to get them back. After a month my wife was going to town so I asked her to check to see if my boots were back yet. He said they had come back but when he looked he couldn’t find them. After a few days I went to town again and checked. Mr Egley said they must have lost them so gave me a new pair for the cost of a rebuild.
A few months later I found out about the rest of the story of the lost boots. Back then there were two ranger districts and ranger stations west of Yakima. I worked and lived at the Naches Ranger Station on Chinook Pass The Tieton Ranger Station and office was on White pass. An employee of the Tieton District had sent a pair of his Whites in for rebuild at the same time as I. His wife went to Chicago cClothing and told them her husband worked for the forest service and his boots should be back from Spokane. He gave her my boots…same size. A few day later they called him to tell him his boots were back from rebuild. He did’t tell them he already had them.
In 1984 I was working In Oregon on the Heppner Ranger District on the Umatilla NF. I Drove to Spokane and bought a new pair of Whites from the new store out in the valley east of Spokane. After a few weeks the soles started delaminating. When I called and told them, he said they had gotten some bad glue and that when worn on fires the soles would do that. I hadn’t worn mine on a fire yet. A few months later the crew foreman at Heppner had the same thing Happen. I switched to Nick’s and haven’t looked back. I’ve been retired in 1999, worked until 2012 as an AD and I still have two pairs of NicK’s. Hotshots and Rancher’s with the smooth sole so i don’t track bud in the house.
I grew up in Yakima and my grandfather, Al Egley, ran Chicago Clothing until early seventies. My day took it over and renamed it Egley’s Mens Wear. Reading the comments above made me smile.
My dad was Sid Egley. He had the best eye for quality clothing, furnishings, everything. He was a man of wealth and taste for sure.
I’ll post here as the other post is way over the top.
I bought my first pair of White’s in my first USFS season, 1975. I was working at Sullivan Lake on the Colville and went down to White’s Shoe Shop in downtown Spokane. Got all measured up and fitted and a couple weeks later they came in the mail. The cost was $75. They fit tighter than a tight glove, at first. Most of the locals on the District had White’s and told me they’d eventually stretch a bit. And they did. I had that pair until 1997. After a few rebuilds they were done. By then I had learned about, and met, Nick Petrilli and Nick’s Boots. Nick still knew someone at White’s and had a new pair made up for me with the old measurements. That pair was $300. Nick’s are way better than even the old original White’s, by far!
Oh, but like many, after a few seasons I bought a second pair of White’s, so as to always have a dry pair. Bought the second pair in 1982, just before Otto White sold out. This pair was $150. I still have that pair today, though haven’t had need to wear them in years.
Like Tom Jones, I grew up in Yakima. I remember Chicago Clothing, in the Lund building at Front Street and Yakima Avenue. That goes back a long long time. On KIT radio, Grant McDaniel alway’s referred to it as Egley’s Chicago Clothing, as it was owned by Mr. Egley. You can read about the building here: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/34270517-7a19-422d-a0a6-3070adf1befa
Went on last fire in 2002 and became a BLM surveyor. Still wore the same boots daily. Even got my cheapskate boss to get a pair of Nick’s boots. He loved them!
Hm, boot stipend. I heard rumors of that back in the 90’s. I think it’s great. But in those old days nobody was about to buy anyone a pair of boots for work. But, the boots are required for fire work and the stipend would have been nice.
Hi Bill,
Believe it or not, you used to be able to buy White’s at Paul’s Clothing in good old Custer, SD. Most of the FS folks bought theirs there. I bought my first pair in 1972 and had to order them as Paul’s was no longer in business. I paid $85, had to draw around my foot and all. I loved those boots. Your feet were never sore no matter what the shift might bring. I had them rebuilt once and then bought a pair with higher tops.
June
On my first Shot Crew I bought my first pair of Whites, 1979. Size 3C. Before Whites made my boots, the nearest boot I could find was a mens size 6 Redwing. I had to wear 4 pairs of socks. At the bottom of a 30 mile hikeout of the Gila Wilderness, my feet looked like ground burger from sliding back and forth in those boots over that steep ground. A week and 375.00 plus shipping, I had my Whites. Best money I ever spent. They have been rebuilt a few times. Second pair. 3E…$425.00. Lots miles…
Cathleen, simply WOW!
I may have quit.
Speaks to my answer when people ask me about how women are fit for the job. I tell them that nearly every woman still in the job had to work twice as hard to be here and very frequently far outshine many of the men who can get through simply on natural abilities…
I got my first pair in ’93; my dad bought them for me as a leaving home to get a job present. I wore them until the mid- ’00s when I left the field; they were rebuilt may times.
It makes me happy to hear that firefighters get a boot stipend these days. This should have always been the case.
Great story Bill. I bought my first pair of Whites about 1985 and have had them rebuilt several times and they get more comfortable each year. I had one employee on a fire; he was in a spike camp for quite some time and his Whites blew out. Over the radio he ordered a new pair of Whites delivered to H7 and a few days later a helo delivered them which was nothing but amazing to me.
Coming from Colorado I had never heard of White boots. After I went through two pair of other boots in a California USFS fire season. I found the money for Whites. So I will date myself a bit here. Yes no money for boots but in 1960’s no PPE either. So we bought at our own expense cotton (Levis) pants and jacket. Things changed a lot over the years.
That’s a great story Bill and those White boots did get dirty! I got my first pair of Smokejumpers in ’79 at White’s on Main St. in Spokane. Carefully measured and notated on my “personal” card which they kept on file. Their storefront window in those days had a cobbler’s bench set up so people could watch one of the cobblers pull tiny nails from between his lips and nail them into the edge of the soles. They were $125/pair for 10″ tops. I ended up getting a second pair so I could rotate them during the season. Both pairs got rebuilt several times over the years. Truly the most comfortable boots without break-in time. No boot stipend in those days for a GS5 ground pounder getting….what? $5/hr straight time? That being said give Forestry Techs and Aids PPE funding and call them Wildland Firefighters with commensurate wages!
Great story, Bill, and funny about what the clerk said.
I clearly remember buying my first pair about two years into my FS career in 1991. I was in love. I remember wearing them to a U2 concert because they made me a little taller to see over the crowd AND I didn’t want my feet to get crushed by the masses. When I moved to FL to work for the USFS I had to spring for a second pair since our boots got wet all the time walking through the swamps.
I bought my first pair of Whites in 1968. I was working on the District Suppression crew on the Naches Ranger District. I don’t remember what I paid for them but my pay rate was $2.21 per hour. I bought them at Chicago Clothing, a men’s clothing store in Yakima. They felt so good I wore them home. That night we had a fire. I wore my new White boots all night on that fire and my feet never felt better.
A couple years later my wife was working on the District Brush crew and wanted to get a pair of Whites. We went back to Chicago Clothing. An old Gentleman, I think he was the owner, waited on her. She told him she wanted to try on a pair or White boots. He went into the back room and came out with a pair of women’s fancy slip on boots that were white. She explained what she wanted and he replied “Oh, those boots are way to heavy for a lady”. He tried to talk her out of getting the Whites but she insisted until he sold her a pair.
I remember when my first ex-husband had to buy Whites for a college class he was taking. I think they were about $75 which was an enormous amount of money when minimum wage was 50 cents an hour.
It is ridiculous that expensive, required safety equipment is not provided to all wildland fire fighters. You get a chainsaw and a parachute, but no boots?
First ex-husband, haha, I have one of those. Hope you’re having a great life Sandy!
It sounds like we should have been reimbursed for this safety equipment all along…. why wouldn’t we get reimbursed for an average pair of boots through a career ?
Or does that require a class action law suit ?
I paid $75 for my first White’s at a shoe store in San Bernardino in 72′, had Chippewa’s my first season. Still have 2 old pair up in the closet.