Early Days in the Forest Service Volume 3

By Albert N. Cochrell
(Retired 1957)

This little story might well be entitled "Early Day Safety." In the spring of 1917, the late Clyde D. Blake, Ranger, Fish Lake District, (Clearwater) and a portion of his crew were camped at the mouth of Lake Creek. On Sunday morning, Clyde announced that he had a little job to do and asked if I would mind coming along to help. On the way down the trail he explained that when the trail crew finished work in the fall of 1915, they had thrown up a small cabin and stored tools, camp equipment and some dynamite there. It wasn't safe to leave old powder around like that and our mission was to destroy it.

When we arrived at the cache some three miles below camp on the North Fork, (the present road probably passes over or near the spot), it was found that there was one full 50-pound box of powder and another partial box which was well deteriorated. After some discussion, the only way we could figure out how to destroy the stuff was to blow it up, but the question was, would it still blow? Anyway, we had to try, so we gingerly carried the full box out to the edge of the small clearing and placed it on some rocks. Next came the partially filled box, and it was handled even more carefully, as it could be seen, and placed on top of the other box. Another question arose; would one blasting cap touch off such old stuff? Probably not, so we tied six caps together with string and placed a good, long fuse in one of them. (I still don't know if that was any better than just one cap.) Next the caps were properly placed and some damp earth was piled over the bomb. There were still some misgivings about an explosion but the fuse was lighted, and we took off up the trail to a safe vantage point and waited for results.

This was before the days of block-buster bombs, but that boom must have equaled one, at least. We were almost afraid to go back to see what happened but did, and can truthfully report that all the powder exploded. There was a sizeable hole in the ground and the cabin, while still standing, was in a sad state. The door was blown off the hinges and lay out in the yard, the chinking was all gone from two sides, and the shakes on the one side of the roof stood up like the tail feathers of an old hen headed south in a strong north wind. Some patching was needed so the cabin could serve as protection for the other equipment and after that was completed we slipped back into camp and gave no one any explanation of our Sunday activities.

In all of Clyde's later work in safety, both region wide and on several different forests, I doubt if he ever advocated that particular method of destroying powder.

*****

The expression that "he can't tell a horse from a mule," is heard frequently in reference to a city-bred junior Forester in these times. There was a time when even a packer couldn't tell one horse from another. Here is a story which happened in 1913.

John W. Long, the ranger for the Chamberlain Meadow District of the Clearwater assembled his crew of 5 men at Pierce about July 15 for the trip into the district. The date was late because the water had been too high earlier for fording the North Fork at the Bungalow. There was a wagon road of sorts from Pierce to the old Oxford Mine but for the crew it was a pack and saddle horse chance all the way. Among the pack was a long-legged, lean buckskin that didn't seem able to pack much more than a couple of bed rolls.

The first night's camp was at Elk Creek Meadows, near where the Oxford Ranger Station was later located. The following morning the stock was wrangled and the number of horses and cross-buck saddles came out even. There was a buckskin horse in the string although he appeared to have fattened up considerably during the night on the lush grass. The remainder of the trip down the Orogrande and over the old Pot Mountain trail was made with only the usual mishaps and slowed up somewhat as we opened the trail while traveling.

Some two or three weeks later a messenger came through with word that the buckskin horse originally in the string had been misplaced at the first night's camp and replaced by another from the string of a fishing party camped nearby. The packer was William Zumwalt of Grangeville, but everyone in the crew felt some guilt. The days of hanging horse thieves was past but the Supervisor, Chas Fisher, bought the fisherman's horse to avoid further complications.

*****

I have always liked the beaver story that was told by George McKinnon, a trail foreman employed on the Clearwater from about 1919 to 1925. He was later a camp foreman for Potlatch Forests, Inc.

George was a-native of Nova Scotia and had a cabin on the North Fork not far below the mouth of Salmon Creek, in township 41, Range 6 E. (This may be the cabin which was taken over by the Ridge Runner many years later.) He trapped in season and ran cedar rafts to Lewiston and other points on the Snake River for sale to ranchers and others in the area.

One fall as he traveled a trap line up Isabella Creek, George noticed a colony of beaver had moved in and were busy working on a dam. The next spring high water took the dam out and they had to start all over again. The following spring the same thing took place and then there was a time when there were no beaver around. George naturally assumed they had given up and moved on, so he was very much surprised one spring to find the dam in place and all intact in spite of the high water. Being curious, he looked around and discovered a gray, wizened old stranger that the rest of the colony had gone way over on the St. Joe to get to come and supervise the construction of the dam that remained in place for many years.

*****

NEW ENGLAND TIMBER SALVAGE*

*This was a talk prepared by Mr. Cochrell and delivered to the HooHoo Club in Missoula in the Spring of 1939. The salvage project was still under way at that time, and doubtless a report made following its completion would contain additional interesting information.

On September 21, 1938, following several days of rain, a wind too big for that small country hit New England and flattened a goodly percentage of the timber there. Other property damage was also severe, caused not only by the wind, but floods, and in some cases, fire, which followed. The maximum wind velocity at Boston was said to be 102 miles per hour.

The timber damage occurred in spots which varied in size from a few trees to several thousand acres. Damage was unusually severe along the shores of water bodies, although not confined there by any means. By far the greater portion of down timber was uprooted rather than broken off, the soft ground perhaps being responsible for this. White pine stands were the hardest hit, but only because they were greater in extent and no species escaped. The size of the timber made no difference and many of the worst damage stands were of pole size or smaller.

The volume of storm-damaged timber has been variously estimated from four billion down to a present figure of about one billion, 300 million feet of salvageable material. New Hampshire, with which I am most familiar, had about 600 million.

It is next to impossible to make any reasonable estimate of the amount of timber down on any particular tract unless one knew what was there before the blow. Estimates were usually very vague and were based on hopes or on the volume on which taxes had been paid. When volumes were discussed even our old friend, Jim Girard, would just look confused and shake his head.

With conditions as they were, it was obvious that a coordinated salvage program was necessary. Existing local facilities could not hope to take care of more than 30 percent of the storm-damaged timber. It became apparent that some outside assistance was necessary if this timber was to be salvaged. The Federal Government was asked to take a hand, and the Northeastern Timber Salvage Administration came into being. Whether or not it is what was wanted, I cannot say, but judging from remarks overheard over a period of several months, and bills introduced in Congress, I doubt it.

Several Federal agencies were involved, with the Surplus Commodities Corporation as the parent organization. They operated on money borrowed from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation; and the Northeastern Timber Salvage Administration, with Chief Forester F. A. Silcox as director, was responsible for carrying on the work. The Disaster Loan Corporation had a finger in the pie somewhere, but I could never learn just where. The financial end of the deal was strictly a business one, with the funds to be repaid in full, plus interest.

(Region One participated in this project through the detail of a number of men, among them A. N. Cochrell, Virgil Moody, William Guernsey, Fred Neitzling, R. L. (Roy) Space (now deceased), Ray Armstrong and George Stoltz. Carl Xrueger, then in R-2, also was detailed there.)

The organization was rather complicated since, in addition to salvage, fire hazard reduction work was involved and financed from an entirely different source. The central office was in Boston, with a state director located in each affected state. The states were further broken down into districts in charge of a supervisor, and this is where the actual salvage job started.

The first step in the program was the purchase of logs delivered at designated storage sites. No logging was being done by the Administration. Water storage was utilized wherever possible for white pine and spruce logs. Dry storage sites were used for all other species and also for white pine and spruce where water was not available.

The selection of sites was of first importance and led to many difficulties. Every timber owner wanted a site on his lot. Suitable sites were not always available where most needed and many desirable ones could not be obtained for one reason or another. We worked to a minimum of one-million feet for each site with a maximum hauling distance often miles. Before final approval could be given to any location, it was necessary to get a formal lease on any lands to be used.

In New Hampshire all bodies of water ten acres or over in size were under the jurisdiction of the State, and it was necessary to obtain clearance from the Public Service Commission and the Public Health Department if drinking water was involved in any way.

The Administration paid nothing for leases and in only a few cases did the landowners donate the use outright. When payment was demanded the towns sometimes took care of it, but usually the timber sellers formed an association and levied a small assessment per M to meet the cost. Land ownership was a troublesome problem. There were a great many undivided estates with the administrator long since discharged and the heirs widely scattered. Then again a man may have owned a lot but knew only vaguely, if at all, where the boundary lines were. It was an almost hopeless task to run down anything in those records that dated back 150 to 175 years.

With the sites established, we were ready to purchase logs for delivery to the receiving points. In the beginning the seller had to place his logs either in the water or on the ice, and in the case of dry sites, in decks. The pressure became too strong to continue this practice, and on January 13, 1939, the Administration took over this expense.

The following log grading rules and prices were established:

a. Northern white pine; 3 grades - prices-$12 - $14 - $16.

b. New England spruce; 1 grade and 1 price - $14.

c. Eastern hemlock; 1 grade and 1 price - $12.

d. Norway pine; 3 grades and 3 prices - $12 - $14 - $16.

e. Hardwood; 3 grades and 3 prices - $12 - $16 - $22. Beech-white ash and paper birch carried a price $2 lower per M. Species purchased were yellow birch, sugar maple, red and white oak, yellow poplar, basswood, black cherry, paper birch and white ash. Later black birch and butternut were added. Soft maple and elm were accepted, but only as Grade 3.

f. Pulpwood - prices ranged from $8 - $11.50 per cord, peeled, and from $7 - $9.50, rough. There were only nine receiving stations established for pulpwood, but provision was made for delivery on truck roads at the above price, less trucking costs.

The International Rule was used for all scaling. There were various rules in use locally, such as the Scribner Decimal C; Saco River; Holland or Maine; Blodgett; and the Humphrey or Vermont. Logically, only one could be used so the International was selected as being the best adapted.

Before logs could be delivered each seller was required to sign a timber Purchase Agreement. This was a participating contract which provided for immediate payment of 80 percent of the scheduled prices to the seller. Upon completion of the project he could get all, a part, or none of the remainder depending upon the financial success of the venture. On January 20, 1939, the percentage of immediate payment was raised to 90 percent. The scale for each individual was turned in each week and payment was usually forthcoming in about two weeks.

Now that they had the logs something had to be done with them, and that was the second step in the program. It was hoped that most of the water-stored logs could be sold to existing mills, and that white ash could be sold in the log.

The dry-stored logs had to be sawed into lumber early in the summer of 1939. This put the Administration squarely into the sawmill business, but so far only on a contract basis. Milling contracts and specifications were so rigid that mill owners were hesitant about entering into agreements, although some were willing to give it a try.

Where permanent mills were suitably located and contracts could be arranged, log-receiving stations were established there. At other sites portable mills were arranged for and the contractors in each case took care of all expense from the time the trucks were unloaded to the finished lumber piles.

New Hampshire had the greatest volume of storm-damaged timber and in progress was up among the leaders. Data, however, showed that up to February 15, with 40 percent of the available time gone, only 10 percent of the timber had been delivered. Subsequently there was a material increase in deliveries, and for one district the figures showed that with 50 percent of the time gone, 34 percent of the purchases had been made. Maine, with a relatively small amount of timber, was the only state which, at that rate, would be cleaned up by the July 1, 1939, deadline.

The reasons for lack of adequate progress were slowness in establishing storage sites; suspicion on the part of the natives that a representative of the Government could be there for no good purpose; loss of time while they tried to find a Santa Claus in the set-up somewhere; their habit of resting all winter and wanting nothing to interfere; selfishness on the part of the recreationists in that they were opposed to the storage of logs in many ponds and in many cases even objected to the noise of a mill or the sight of a pile of sawdust; difficulty of financing the operation. This applied particularly to the smaller owners. Our slowness in making payments for logs was of no help in this.

Then, too, time was wasted while we became accustomed to each other's language. Logging terms were entirely different, i.e., all timber both standing and down was "lumber;" they didn't skid logs - they "twitched" them; they didn't use a dray or a go-devil - they used a "scoot;" they were "lumber surveyors" in place of log scalers, and they "measured boards" rather than graded lumber; they used "choppers" in place of sawyers.

Progress was impeded also because of shortage of men experienced in woods work. Teams too were in short supply, and tractors were practically unknown. The sight of oxen working in the woods was not uncommon. There were very few trucks, except the small farm type and these were mostly short-wheel base. They had no modern equipment for handling logs. Everything was done by the main-strength-and-awkwardness method. As far as logging was concerned, they weren't living in the horse-and-buggy days - they hadn't progressed even that far.

Charles Jack, Forester for Potlatch Forests, Inc., had this to say about the salvage project: "Probably the most disturbing factor in the whole situation is that the Federal Government may be forced into the retail lumber business. I do feel, however, that this salvage timber, if manufactured into boards and placed on the market, will have very little effect on our Idaho white pine, due to the short lengths; and the low grades which will be produced."

Picture taken at the Old No. 1 Dwelling on the Middle Fork, which was headquarters for the Middle Fork District. April 1911. 1, Ed Thenon 2. Lou Fitting 3. S. Radcliff 4. W.B. Willey 5. McGee 6. F.A. Silcox 7. Agnew 8. Ashley Roche 9. Adolph Wehcit 10. Frank Tompkins 11. James S. Garrison 12. Rene McPherson 13. Johnny Durant 14. Frank Rogers 15. Roy Monroe 16. Major Fenn 17. Frank Smith