Memory Lane Memoirs
Many of you have been actively involved with Forest Service Reunion celebrations all over the country for many years. With so many good memories and beautiful pictures to share with others, this Web page was created at the suggestion of a committee member.We Invite You to Share Your Reunion Memories
If you have a picture or two and a great story to share, please feel free to e-mail both to the Public Relations Chair, Diane Mullins, at diane@2009forestservicereunion.net. After the story has been edited for size, spelling and grammar, it will be published on this page. Send your photo in jpeg format as an "attachment" to your e-mail.
We look forward to enjoying your memoirs.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Vintage Dodge Pickup Truck Favorite of Attendees Nevada's Desert Station Gets New Oregon Home Living History Performance Promotes Forestry
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Vintage Dodge Pickup Truck Favorite of Attendees
By Tom Hooker, R3
(Story reprinted from R3 newsletter, 2005)
Region 3’s 1925 Dodge Brothers Business Car is the oldest vehicle in the Forest Service that has always been owned by the Forest Service. Many people played a part in its salvage and restoration over the past 80 years. We should remember them. It was originally a part of the “fleet” of the old Crook National Forest in southern Arizona. In the early 1930’s, Ranger James W. Girdner salvaged it from sale at Klondike and drove and skidded it down a very steep wagon road with 40 percent grades to be used in the bottom of Rattlesnake canyon in the Galiuro Mountains. There it would stay for the next 30 plus years as Ranger Girdner could not get it out and was too stubborn to try. He wanted a new truck. He saved the Dodge Brothers! It was occasionally seen by a passing ranger, but was judged to be junk. Ranger Dick Johnson spotted it in 1941. World War II came and went and the heroes of Normandy that lived came home. One that returned and joined the Forest Service was “Chuck” Ames, a tough paratrooper and good horseman. Chuck, Jack McCombs, and Fred Galley rode horse back into Rattlesnake Canyon about 1958 and came across the old truck. A report of its sighting reached the Regional Office in Albuquerque. The RO decided that payment for all back use was due. The Forest Administrative Officer, Norm Wesden and Chuck, upon receiving the bill, decided that the best form of payment was to take the year’s supply of S&H Green Stamps collected from fuel purchases and send them along with a letter to the RO. This they did, paying the bill and the truck was now in good standing. In 1960, Chuck Ames along with Dan Williams, Jack McCombs and Arizona Daily Star Reporter Bob Thomas rode into Powers Garden to inspect the old DB truck. Thomas gave wide publicity to the unique vehicle after seeing it parked in the station orchard. In 1965, again led by Chuck Ames and with Cecil Sims, the old DB was helicoptered out of Powers Garden and taken to Albuquerque. There, Cecil Thompson, Mike Chavez and Lester Soncrant put her back into working condition. Regional Forester William D. Hurst supported the project when he arrived in 1966 and signed repair tickets. After restoration, the truck would be used for parades in New Mexico and Arizona while stationed at the Continental Divide Training Center in New Mexico. There, former Regional Foresters Arthur C. Ringland and William D. Hurst and Chief Edward P. Cliff, drove it. In 1981, Kaibab Forest Fleet Manager Tom Hooker saw it at Knob Hill RS and volunteered to take over its management. Robert “Doc” Dockerty and Fred “Perico” Avila helped. Doc and Perico painted the truck twice and Tom built wooden spokes, a new top and a steering wheel. Kaibab Forest Engineer Carl Winslow and Forest Supervisor Andy Lindquist supported keeping the DB. In 1991, with a new enclosed trailer, it traveled to Cody, Wyoming for the National Forest System Centennial. It was on display outside of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and at the Wapati Ranger Station and was seen in two parades in Cody. Later that year, it went to the National Forest Service Retirees reunion in Glenwood Springs, Colorado where Chief Dale Robertson went for a ride and former Chiefs John R. McGuire and Max Peterson could be found standing next to it for pictures. The 1925 Dodge Brothers has carried Smoky Bear more times than any other vehicle since its first restoration 40 years ago. Thanks to all the Forest Service people who over the years have helped to make this happen and are remembered during this Forest Service Centennial Year for this and their many other contributions.
Nevada's Desert Station Gets New Oregon Home
The High Desert Ranger Station structure was moved in June 2008 from central Nevada to the High Desert Museum south of Bend, Oregon. Region 3 is now developing and restoring the facility into a world-class museum. Stay tuned, more to come.
Living History Performance Promotes Forestry
By Michelle Rich, staff writer
(Reprinted with permission, Leavenworth Echo, July 9, 2003)
Knee-high lace-up boots, wool jodhpurs and a campaign hat were prerequisites for Forest Service rangers in the early 1900s. When Steve Coady began performing as the early 20th century ranger, C.B. McFarland, he knew he had to find the right gear.
“Trying to find uniforms from that time period is next to impossible, but I’ve got a small museum of period artifacts that I take along with me, Coady said. He slips into his boots and his character at the Wenatchee Lake Amphitheater during summer performances. He has been involved in the Sweet Home Ranger District’s Heritage Expedition hikes along the Santiam Wagon Road in Oregon as well as other campfire programs, but he does not usually travel this far from his home, working as an information receptionist for the Willamette Forest Service.
“ I was hesitant about driving that far since I do this pretty much on my own time and dollar.” he said. “I think I kind of surprised [them] when I invited myself up this time.” Coady said one of the main reasons he wanted to perform at Lake Wenatchee was to spread the word about the Forest Service’s upcoming Centennial.
“There really hasn’t been any kind of event geared towards promoting the Centennial in 2005. I figure it’s kind of my job, since I’m the only one in the Forest Service actively doing living history presentations [at this time], to try and get the word out at least in Oregon and Washington.” He became involved in the living history presentations seven years ago when he saw a couple of guy he works with perform. “It was way too much fun, so I talked to them to see if I could get involved, and there was a real life character that I fit the part for really well.”
The role he was cut out for was that of C.B. McFarland, a ranger who began his 37-year career in 1909. McFarland passed up numerous opportunities for promotion because he and his wife Ruth did not want to leave Oakridge, OR. Coady said it was unfortunate that he never met McFarland, who passed away in 1969, but he did meet his son and grandson at the performances in the Oakridge area.
“His son looked at me the first time I met him and said I was only a Shetland pony compared to his dad. He was 6 foot, 6 inches and 260 pounds. I’m only 6 foot, 1 inch tall.” Coady said. Although McFarland’s boots are hard to fill, Coady has done his research. He confidently gives a first-hand account of life in the early 20th century. At that time, America’s history was marked by change. The horse drawn wagon gave way to cars, pioneers became settlers and custodial forestry became intensive management. In 1905, the Forest Service was born out of the idea that government agencies should care for the land, not own it. Coady said that before the Forest Service was established, nepotism was rampant in the General Land Office.
“One of the goals that President Roosevelt and our first forester Gifford Pinchot had was to get rid of that system of hiring and have a type of agency that was open and above the board.” Coady said. “The Forest Service was created as the land stewards and manager of the national forests.” He added this aspect of his performance ties in with the current issue regarding privatization of Forest Service jobs.
“It’s almost like we’re returning to that era of handing the national forests back to private interests. I want to talk about those kind of practices, that way when people read the articles about contracting out forest service jobs, they’ll be able to think to themselves, ‘That’s just like what I heard the ranger character talking about.’”
When Mac was hired in 1909, there were only 27 forestry trained foresters - all in Washington D.C. Mac didn't see one of these men until 1934. The "practical" rangers like Mac were teachers, soldiers (Spanish-American & plains) at least one veterinarian, a dentist, cowboys, miners, loggers and anyone else willing to work through harshest conditions in all kinds of weather.
They were paid $60 per month, $900 per year. They had to furnish riding horse, pack animals, food, shelter, uniforms and the only thing the agency gave them was a cruising axe and a Use Book. If it hadn't been for the many married
ranger's, the men would've had a harder time gaining ground in the small communities. When the Civil Service exam was discontinued in 1929, the agency learned that men from the East didn't know how to ride a horse, pack a mule, cook their own meal (mulligan stew), shoot a gun and accept all of the strange night noises. At Wind River, WA, in the 1930's, the agency began a boot camp of sorts using "old-timers" like Mac to teach the basic field training techniques. Mac was also a member of Forest Service employees who were at Timberline Line in 1937 when FDR dedicated the lodge to the people, which was the largest CCC project ever done.
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