James 'Jim' Brown, 90

James (Jim) Brown, 90, of Dover, passed away on Thursday, May 31, 2007 in Sandpoint.

Brown was born in Bay City, Mich., on Jan. 23, 1917. After graduating from high school, he came to the Pacific Northwest and obtained a degree in forestry from Washington State College in 1939. He later studied on a graduate level at Michigan State College, the University of Idaho and the University of Alaska.

As an employee of the U.S. Forest Service, he worked as a fire lookout and firefighter, in addition to mapping and surveying in Washington, Idaho and Montana.

1940 found Jim working as an asbestos worker at the naval station on Kodiak Island in Alaska. He was a lifetime labor union member as well as a charter member of the Asbestos Workers' Local Union No. 97 in Anchorage and Plumbers' Local Union No. 375 in Fairbanks. He spent two years as a union official on the Trans Alaska Pipeline.

During World War II, he worked as part of the "Manhattan Project" in construction of the atomic bomb. After the war, for several seasons, Jim was one of the first "smoke jumpers," with the specialized U.S. Forest Service Fire Unit based in Missoula, Mont.

In 1964, Jim married Ruth Lally of Boston, Mass. Together they established Homestead Ranch, a 2,000-acre parcel in the Pack River Valley near Sandpoint. Jim spent the remainder of his life on this property that he so dearly loved.

While living in Idaho, Jim developed several irrigated farm units into an 800-acre complex near Moses Lake, Wash., under the Columbia Basin Project. The complex produced primarily hay and alfalfa seed. For two years of production, Jim was proud to have the highest alfalfa seed production in the state of Washington.

Land was Jim's passion. During his life, he amassed numerous, large holdings in Idaho, Washington and Alaska.

He loved flying. He owned and flew his own planes in Alaska for many years, exploring hundreds of lakes and streams in the interior of the state.

Jim will be fondly remembered by many for his love of and reverence for the land, his vigor for adventure and his good humor.

He is survived by Ruth Lally Brown.