Early Days in the Forest Service Volume 4

EARLY PANHANDLE AND KOOTENAI YEARS
By Charles B. Hand

When I was fourteen I went to work for Ranger Charles Dennis, Skinner's Pond, in the Troy area. Here there was no ranger station. He used his home for an office. My duties included a daily hike to Yaak Mountain to look for fires. Also I took supplies to Forest Service camps, by wagon and pack horses.

Being a Forest Service Guard occupied me during my sixteenth summer. At that time guards were required to furnish their own horses and food. I owned two horses: My diet did not include bread; I lived mainly on fish I caught near my camp sites, dried fruit, bacon cooked over a camp fire and hot cakes. The Forest Service furnished a tent. This was on Long Meadow, on Yaak River. There was no road, just a trail; neither was there electricity nor telephone. Nothing to read till I found an old gun advertisement. This I read every night. Was it ever lonely? For this I received $75.00 per month. It was only summer work.

That winter I made cedar posts for Earl Cowles, Troy. I gypoed the job and averaged approximately $1.00 per hour. I also worked at Meadow Creek, Idaho. I used a four-horse team and a sled to log. A day consisted of ten hours on the job.

The spring I was nineteen I almost lost my life while working on a log drive. It happened on the Kootenai River just below Troy. During the winter it was customary to dump logs over the steep bank of the river, where they landed on end, sideways, and criss cross. On a small island near the center of the stream Bill Walker with his team of horses and a heavy cable was holding the logs. I was out on the logs endeavoring to release the key logs that would break up the jam with my peavey. I heard an ominous creak. I knew the cable had let go and that the logs would soon be upon me. I jumped as far as I could but I could not clear that surging mass of logs that bore down upon me. Realizing there was no safe place to go I dove to the bottom of the river. The logs piled upon me. They were moving and I was sliding on my stomach on the slippery rocks on the bottom of the river. I felt I could do nothing to help myself further. If my life were to be saved it must be by a Higher Power. Then suddenly a big log came by and lifted me off the bottom of the river. It cleared the way for me to break surface and come up swimming. Throughout the ordeal I held on to my peavey. With it I climbed upon a log and rode in safety to the island.

During the next few years my life settled into a pleasant routine. I worked hard but found time to enjoy hunting and fishing with my friends.

My family was camped at the mouth of Yaak River. In February 1918 I hiked from there to Troy and enlisted in the 29th Company of 20th Engineers. I was in the war in France for almost two years. Throughout the most difficult times, my buddy, Lea Kensler, also from Troy, and I were sustained by the thought that when "it was over, over there," we would return to Troy and enjoy the excellent hunting and fishing there. Our dreams were fulfilled; we came back safely.

Alas for me: My gun and all my equipment had been stolen. I had to make a fresh start so to the woods I went. I worked first for Perry Wilson - logging at Moyie. Then, again, with Earl Cowles.

Wages continued to be $1.00 per hour. I also scaled logs for Bill Hewett in Bonner's Ferry for a time.

Work of an exciting nature lured me from woods work for a time. Bob Bakker and Charles Ordish were catching cougar alive. They worked out of Kalispell and Libby, Montana. I joined them. Cougar were in demand for zoos.

In 1921 and '22 I worked for Ranger Vern Collins, Grangeville, Idaho. I was assistant ranger. I owned my horse and I packed and built telephone lines. After three years I took the ranger exams. Supervisor Fallaway was in charge of the district.

On September 22, 1922, I married Miss Mabel Folden of Clearwater, Idaho. We were the first couple to be married in the new Lewis and Clark Hotel, Lewiston.

In October of that year I was assigned to Graham Creek ranger district. Charles K. McFarg was supervisor. Accordingly we set out for our new home. It was near Carter. It proved a difficult trip for my new bride and myself. We left Coeur d'Alene by boat, crossed over the lake to Harrison. Previously I had left the Forest Service speeder at Enaville, but a couple of other men had broken the lock and taken the little car. We had thirteen miles to go to reach our destination. What could we do? Pearl Bailey came along and took us in his car twelve miles to Coal Creek. There we met Oscar Hopkins with his speeder and he took us to our destination.

The house was large but there was no electricity or water in it. I bought myself a horse and one for my wife as she often accompanied me when I rode to the lookouts and camps. At that time we were allowed to keep a cow and chickens. These we bought. We also had a garden for our own use. My crew lived in small cabins and did their own cooking.

There were no roads to the lookouts at Grizzly, Cougar, Grassy and Graham Pk. We had 14 horses and 7 mules in our pack string. In the winter the packer took them to Salmon River. We had the government speeder and the logging train to take us the thirteen miles to Enaville. On the train we rode in the caboose. Here there were often prospectors going out with their rock samples. They were filled with hope and dreams. The return trip was bleak - no hope and an uncertain future. Still they were anxious to prospect again. During both winter and summer I made many trips taking sick people to the doctor. It seemed these errands of mercy were more often at night then otherwise.

Dozens of fires we searched out on foot. The pack string followed. I had a fine crew of efficient, dependable and trustworthy men. The Forest Service was not popular with the settlers but when they found I could ride a log or do other woods work as well as they, I was okay in their books.

While we were in this remote ranger station two daughters and one son were added to our family.

In 1931 I was transferred to Pritchard Ranger Station. In 1932 five camps of CCC's were moved in to work on trails, bridges and blister rust. In the winter of 1933 a great flood washed out the bridges near the station. To get our equipment across the river we built a raft of cedar logs.

In 1934 I was transferred to Cataldo. We lived in a tent close to a CCC camp. This was of short duration and we were moved to Kingston the same year. I had my office in a hotel there. A new Ranger Station was built near Kingston. Several winters I worked in the Supervisor's Office at Coeur d'Alene. I had a very reliable crew at Kingston. Wherever I had a crew I always found them to be the best. I am convinced one reason was that I always had the highest meal cost in the Forest Service in that area.

In 1942 I was transferred to Troy, Montana. Was it ever good to be back. Here I had charge of prisoners of war. There were fifty Germans and fifty Italians. Here again I found a fine bunch of men. Besides overseeing them I had charge of the fires and timber sales. I found life as a ranger versatile and interesting. I retired in October of 1952.