Early Days in the Forest Service Volume 4

FROM THE VIEW POINT OF A LOOKOUT
June 6, 1938

Do you like to fish in a cold mountain stream
or camp by the side of a creek?
Do you appreciate the vastness of a forest, green
And the wild game that its shelter seek?

Does it occur to you what might happen when you
Throw cigarettes from an automobile,
Or leave a campfire when it's only half out,
And return to your post at the wheel?

Do you think it is fair to be careless as that
In timber that's not only yours,
But the property of millions of other folks
Who also enjoy native lores?

Please folks, remember, it's not any fun
To watch a blue curl of smoke
Arise from a prize piece of nature's White-Pine,
And I really mean, it's no joke.

To assemble a crew of brave fighting men,
And rations, and pack strings, and tools,
And send them to work on a hot fire line
That is fast getting out of control.

They battle the flames and the dirt and the heat;
Discouragement drags at their heels.
In spite of their efforts the giant trees fall
In the path of the great monster's zeal.

At last, at the end of a long weary time
The fire is finally out,
We have a charred blackened mass of debris
Where once God's great masterpiece stood.

So please, won't you think, when you picnic or camp
In this wonderful timber of ours,
It's your duty to watch your campfire and pipe
And be sure, when you leave, that it's out?

Is it too much to ask that you remember these things?
The forests are really yours you see.
So please make your watchword from now on, henceforth
"From Fire We'll Protect Our Trees!!"

Bernice Williamson
Hudlow Mountain Lookout

LOOKOUT TREEON HORSE BUTTE POINT Gallation National Forest from 1963 photo by W.E. Steue