Ralph Morse died on September 28, 1926 while acting as a volunteer fire fighter in Clark County outside of Carson City. The fire, which started in Clear Creek Canyon near the Jack Smith ranch durning the night made its way up the canyon crossed the King’s Canyon road at Swift’s Station and was bound for the Lake Tahoe country. Morse and the rest of the volunteers were working against the blaze in the vicinity of the “Double Barrels about six miles from Carson on the road to Glenbrook. They were on the western side of the road when a sudden turn of the wind sent the flames at their heels as they ran for cover in the ledge of rocks up the hillside. Some of the volunteers made it to safety however, Morse was among those who did not. He was working as a Native American section hand employed by the Virginia and Truckee railway.
” The loss of the prisoners Mitchell and Brown and the faithful Indian Morse is of no lesser gravity. These men volunteered for the work and cheerfully did their part. The trusties cancelled their debt to society and in the end society is in their debt.”
– Govenor Scrugham