Early Days in the Forest Service Volume 4

OLD PIONEER RANGERS' WIVES
By Leon L. Lake

Seemingly not very much has been written about how the old Rangers' wives helped their husbands in fire emergencies. And in those days compensation was out of the question.

We lived in the small mining town of Basin from June 1, 1935 to December 1938. The town had about 600 inhabitants with six or seven saloons. A few of the old mines were being leased and worked again. Nearly each night someone was hurt with plenty of drunks and fights, causing shootings or stabbing, sometimes. It was about 1936 or 1937 when I had three fires in the Elkhorn region where we fought fire all day from the 2nd of July to past the 6th of July, using CCCs from Helan, Burch Creek and our own Thunderbolt Camp. My wife, Gladys, acted as Dispatcher in the office. One day a local drunk came in and wanted to hire out as fire fighter. She told him he was in no condition to fight fire, but he insisted on saying that he was going to die tomorrow. She stated that he would die if he didn't quit drinking. Well he went on to say that if he didn't quit drinking he might die. He went on to say, "Now if I do die, I want you to sing at my funeral." She asked him what he wanted her to sing. "Just sing, Lay My Head Beneath a Rose." At this, she told him to get out.

One night as I was about to close up the office, which was in an old bank building, a French lady came in and she was dead drunk. She asked me to change a $100 bill and I tried to tell her that this wasn't a bank anymore, but it didn't register. She went on to say that she had a quarrel with her husband, as she partly talked in French and fluent English both in a drunken manner, and he had hid her money so she had to take some gold down to the liquor store to buy her liquor and then went home and found a $100 bill and wanted it changed so she could redeem her gold. I tried to get a few words in edgeways, but they didn't register. Finally she says "Maybe you don't believe I have a $100 bill:" Then she pulled up her dress clear up to her waist, pulled down her garter and out came a billfold full of $100 bills. Finally it dawned on her as I said again, "This is not a bank, and I believe everything I see and hear, but I cannot change your $100 bills." Out she went in a huff. My wife stood behind the stove and heard it all as it was rather amusing.

Many a time my wife made up lunches and kept the coffee pot going for fire fighters who were waiting the call to embark. This occurred at Basin, Philipsburg, Warland and Deer Lodge. One time an old gold mine at Sunrise, being leased by some Finns, caved in and caught one man. It took part of one day and one night for rescue miners to tunnel through the caved-in dirt fallen from the hanging wall. Well we went down to offer as much help as we knew how and again my wife kept the coffee pot going and made up lunches for the workers. The cave-in just flattened this man in a horrible style.

I firmly believe that a good many old rangers' wives helped out immensely during critical fire seasons and I, for one, appreciate their true blue help. Once in awhile my wife received a thank you letter from the Supervisor's Office and that was very much appreciated.

In 1945, my first year on the Deer Lodge District, we had an after Labor Day fire at Albicaulis Lake in the North Fork of Race Track Creek. However the fire was reported in one branch of Rock Creek which heads up toward the North Fork of Race Track Creek. World War II was in its final stages but manpower was scarce. The Forest Service had a contract with the State Prison to use their trustees on fires. I had sent in a scouting crew to locate the fire and send out a report for everything needed. In the meantime I asked for twenty trustees from the State Prison to be ready by 5 a.m. the next morning. We went in by way of the south fork of Rock Creek until we met my assistant on the trail. He stated that we would be unable to get to the fire as it was over the divide. We returned to Rock Creek Lake and radioed for transportation back to Deer Lodge. After arriving, my wife had sandwiches and coffee ready for all of us and then I sent the trustees with my assistant to Race Track Creek where they would camp at the old mining cabins called Danielsville. The next morning I rustled packhorses and a packer and went up to the fire and slept with that bunch of criminals at Albicaulis Lake. They worked better than a good many pickups that I have hired. Two of them were good smoke chasers so I detailed them to blaze in all the spot fires, make them safe and easy to find from the main fire.

All we had to eat were Class C Army rations until we could get a pack outfit a-working. This fire was in the 8,000 to 9,000 feet altitude and the trail up there was plenty tough. Later on we had a plane drop in a pump, hose and gasoline; also some supplies. Well, the Prison was harvesting and they yelled for their men to be brought back, so we had to take them in and all the way back to Deer Lodge. I was scared that they might jump out of our truck and I would be short of men and thus be held responsible. However upon arriving at the prison about midnight the guard counted noses and they were all there. I had taken along a supply of cigarettes and a few other items which they stole from my truck and which I had to pay for. We took inmates from the Warm Springs Hospital for a few days. Their Foreman had to watch them very carefully as they were inclined to keep the fire trench straight even though it hit a long finger of the burn, they would go straight through. Well, we let them go and finished up with a bunch of Mexicans from Thompson Falls. Several sources of manpower were used on this fire and none of them could be considered high class. That night as I sat around the campfire with those trustees at Albicaulis Lake, I heard the awfulest tales of how each convict was railroaded to prison and a few said they were going to kill off all the guards when they got out. A few were murders, a few in for burglary, attempted murder, rape and other crimes. The guard said to not wear any gun or they would take it away from me. So I trusted to luck that everything would be O.K., and it was.