Early Days in the Forest Service Volume 4

It is with pleasure that we present to you this Volume 4 of "Early Days in the Forest Service" to coincide with our Nation's bicentennial observance during 1975-1976. Coincidentally, 1976 also marks the 100th anniversary of the concept of forestry as is now practiced in the United States.

This volume is the fourth in the series to appear. These volumes have been published roughly one volume each decade, beginning with Volume 1 back in 1944. In all of these volumes we have utilized the memoirs, letters and articles written and given to us by retirees and former employees of the Northern Region of the Forest Service. In some cases, we have used material by long-time employees who are still employed by the Forest Service. We are indebted to these faithful and interested "alumni" of the Forest Service for the material, which has gone into these four volumes.

The stories or accounts in each volume are not in chronological sequence. Neither are the volumes themselves. The reason for this is apparent: various accounts and reminiscences continue to surface and come to light as the years go by. So we must assiduously preserve these earliest accounts as they come into our hands. Thus, this volume, as do the preceding three, represents a well-rounded collection of activities representing Forest Service activities dating from the earliest years down through more recent times.

Both this volume and the others, retain the language and speaking style and writing style of its contributors. We feel that this adds to the color, flavor, and individuality of each of the contributions. This variation in "style" of each item helps to show and preserve the personality and character of each of these "oldtime" foresters, rangers, smokechasers, lookouts, and all the others who have contributed material. Consequently, editing of material contributed was done with that objective in mind rather than trying to achieve flawless grammar and sentence construction. We think you, too, will agree that that was "the way to go."

Historians, students, and writers who are researching various source material in order to obtain firsthand accounts of how things were done in the Forest Service "back in the old days", will find this and the preceding three volumes informative. The casual reader will also enjoy it. The informal presentation of this material, too, will add to the interest since this gives a sense of reader participation and identification with the characters and situations. The value of this information will, obviously, increase as time goes by.