History of the Fremont National Forest

PERSONNEL 1930-1940

Personnel Sketches

T. Phelps. Mr. Phelps was transferred from the Chelan to the Fremont on March 1, 1928, as fire control officer. He built up an efficient fire protection system, and through earnest study and real effort materially bettered the protective improvement plant. He built houses at Fremont point, Slide and Bald Mountain lookouts, and rebuilt Round Pass and Drakes Peak houses.

The Cox Creek fire in 1931 demonstrated the need for trained overhead—principally straw bosses and timekeepers—in the fire line organization. As a result, Phelps trained a group of forty-five "Minute Men" among Lake County cooperators. These men had had experience in fire fighting and were motivated by their desire for fire protection.

On March 1, 1932, Howard was transferred to the Deschutes. The Fremont personnel had a going-away dinner party at Hunter's Hot Springs Hotel in February. The snow was deep and drifted so much that it was necessary to hire a team and hay rack to haul the guests from the highway to the hotel. Supervisor and Mrs. Campbell traveled from their home in Goldmohr Terrace to the hotel on skis.

In 1935 Phelps was promoted and transferred to the regional office as administrative officer in the Division of Operation, handling regional allotment and budget control; in 1943 he was promoted to assistant chief, Division of Operation, in addition to continuing his duties as budget officer. Because of his outstanding work in leadership in administrative management, he was given a Superior Accomplishment Award in 1947. In 1951 he received the Secretary's Honor Award for outstanding skill in public administration as it applied to Forest Service job load analysis. He retired March 10, 1952.

William O. Harriman. Supervisor William O. Harriman of the Ochoco National Forest at Prineville was transferred to the Fremont as forest supervisor on April 1, 1934, upon the transfer of Supervisor John F. Campbell to the regional office.

William O. Harriman was born at Neilsville, Wisconsin, on February 16, 1880, and was a graduate of Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin. He began his career as a forest guard on the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana, August 4, 1909. He came to Oregon in 1910 as assistant ranger on the Deschutes. He served as ranger on the Paulina forest, as assistant supervisor on the Deschutes, and as supervisor of the Ochoco for five years.

During his term of office on the Fremont, many important projects were completed, including the Bly ranger station buildings, the Paisley ranger station buildings, and the Hot Springs shop and warehouse. Most of this construction work was done by CCC labor and financed by CCC funds.

After almost eight years as supervisor of the Fremont, Mr. Harriman retired and left Lakeview on December 8, 1941.

John C. Scharff. John C. Scharff was born at Monument, Oregon, went to Oregon State College, and spent most of his early life in Grant County.

He entered the Forest Service first in 1921 as a lookout on Fields Peak in the Malheur National Forest. His first permanent appointment was on the Siskiyou forest late in 1921. He returned to the Malheur National Forest in 1926 as ranger in charge of the Logan District.

He transferred from assistant supervisor on the Malheur to the same position on the Fremont April 8, 1932. He replaced Lawrence Frizzell and was in charge of range management work on the Fremont.

On August 1, 1935, Mr. Scharff transferred to the Biological Survey (later the Fish and Wildlife) in charge of the Malheur Bird Refuge. His outstanding administration of the Malheur Bird Refuge for thirty-six years is widely recognized.

"Adios Amigos." Saturday evening, July 27, the Fremont clan, or so many of us as were not out on fire suppression, together with our wives or husbands, if any, forgathered at the Hunters Hot Springs Hotel at a farewell dinner ("supper" to me) in honor of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Scharff on the occasion of their being transferred from the Forest Service to the Bureau of Biological Survey. It is understood John's headquarters, temporarily at least, will be the famous old "P" Ranch on the Malheur Migratory Bird Refuge.

In addition to Forest Service personnel, there were present a number of our leading citizens who joined us (while we had the victims at a disadvantage) in giving them the lowdown on what we really thought of them, and expressing most hearty good wishes. John seemed to take on an additional shade of tan—electric lights are bad that way.

However, it was not B-randy and S-oda being dished up. We all know John Scharff; know that he has what it takes; that he is fully familiar with and keenly interested in the work he is undertaking; that the new job means immediate financial advancement with a promising future, and we predict that he will fill the position like a bathing beauty does her one-piece suit, so—adios amigos y buen suerte. (Walt Perry, "Six-Twenty-Six," September, 1935).

Lawrence D. Bailey. On November 30, 1934, three rangers were transferred from the Fremont: Assistant Ranger Lawrence D. Bailey of Bly to the Logan District of the Malheur; Ranger Lawrence K. Mays of Silver Lake to the staff of the Umatilla, and Ranger John D. Moffitt to the Sumpter District of the Whitman.¹ On November 27 these rangers, their families and friends were honored at a banquet at Hunter's Hot Springs Hotel, with about forty attending. At the dinner, Dan Brennan of the Bank of Lakeview and former deputy supervisor of the Fremont read this poem:

Your Forest Supervisor
   Called me up the other day,
And told me that Bob Bailey
   Would be transferred to John Day.

He rather intimated
   That if I would write some stance,
That he - your Supervisor
   Would either sing or dance,

At this banquet that we're giving
   To God-speed on their ways,
Three well-liked members of the force -
   Bailey, Moffitt, and Mays.

My subject is BOB BAILEY,
   We'll include his wife as well;
For a Ranger's wife shares all of the life
   From pleasures to fires that are hell!

To our thriving town of Lakeview,
   Which no longer views the sea,
Came a Ranger named BOB BAILEY,
   Who's well known to you and me.

Now, why he came to Lakeview
   Is a reason I don't know;
There's so many other forests
   And places one may go.

But Bob came to us smiling,
   With his genial slap-stick way;
And we couldn't help but like him,
   And hoped that he might stay.

To the Dog Lake Ranger Station
   Bob was sent to work and rule,
Among sheep and cattle owners -
   Mostly men of the old school.

Men who pioneered this country
   When times were much more tense;
Men who believed in college training
   When it's mixed with good horse-sense.

Jim Heryford, Reed, Phil Barry,
   To mention just a few;
Ask them how's Big Bob Bailey,
   And I know that they'll tell you:

That his station was a "home" for all,
   Not just an office space;
That Bob showed neither greed for power,
   Nor yet undue pride of place.

Not forgetting Missus Bailey,
   Who, when Bob had gone to fires,
Helped the author of this classic
   To put chains upon his tires.

Bob brought along his camera,
   And his "magic" focus cloth;
I say "magic," for his pictures
   Much fame to him have brought.

But methinks his pictures sometimes fib,
   There's one that made me smirk;
Some lads leaning on their shovels,
   And it's labeled "MEN AT WORK"

The Forests are our playgrounds,
   This point we should not forget;
The Baileys made Dog Lake attractive;
   We remember those boat rides yet.

We wish Bob health and also wealth,
   We wish him many joys;
We hope they'll have a girl or more
   To tease the two small boys.

I was asked to write a "poem,"
   Blame Melva Bach for that;
Well, she can't call this a "poem,"
   So THAT'S THAT!

Dan F. Brennan

L. Colvill. Mr. Colvill, who had been on the Deschutes for six years, replaced Howard Phelps [fire control] on March 1, 1932. Les is a self-starter and one of those boys who isn't happy unless he has plenty of work to do. The Fremont is fortunate to have him. So through our tears of regret at losing Howard, bursts our smile of welcome to Les. (John F. Campbell, "Six-Twenty-Six," March, 1932)

As fire assistant on the Fremont staff, he was in charge of fire planning and activities, including the building of lookout houses at Lookout Rock, Bald Mountain, Rodman Rock, Skookum Butte, Strawberry, Sycan Butte, Horsefly, and Canyon.

Les was leader of a 4-H forestry club of sixteen boys. Each year the first and second-year boys planted about 2,000 trees in the Crooked Creek burn. The third-year boys ran compass and estimated the volume of mature trees. Lee was chairman of the Reforestation Committee of the Lakeview Post of the American legion for 1923-1933.

In March 1935 he was transferred to the Olympic as assistant supervisor. Fremont friends attended a dinner at the Hot Springs Hotel in honor of Beulis and Les Colvill to wish them success in their new assignment. Supervisor Campbell gave the following farewell:

We will all miss Les, miss him a lot. Particularly we will miss his thorough acquaintance with this forest, coupled with his planning, organizing, and executive ability just now when we are right under the gun of this much heralded NRA program—sometimes referred to as the "If and When Program." However, there will be just as much "If and When" on the Olympic—and Les will land on his feet! Les, we congratulate you. ("Six-Twenty-Six," March, 1932)

On May 21, 1957, Mr. Colvill received an award from the Department of Agriculture at the honor awards ceremony at the Sylvan Theater on the Washington Monument grounds in Washington, D. C. It was for "pioneer and imaginative leadership in developing methods and administration of forest fire control in the Pacific Northwest." He retired in April 1958. (Walt Perry, "Six-Twenty-Six," May, 1935)

John (Jack) F. Campbell. "Jack Joins the Yankees." Jack Campbell, our well-known and well-liked chief of Fire Control, has been promoted and transferred to the New England Forest Emergency Project as associate director, to be first assistant to L. S. Bean, director of the project. While we all regret to see Jack leave Region 6, we are delighted at this very real recognition of his abilities.

Campbell received his first forestry experience in 1915-1917, when he served as guard on the Siskiyou. On November 1, 1917, he was given a probationary appointment as forest ranger on the Siskiyou, and on July 1, 1920, was promoted to ranger in charge of the Chetco District. In 1923 he was transferred to the Oakridge District of the old Cascade, where his talents in fire control took the spotlight during the difficult project of the building of the Natron Cutoff of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1924 he became assistant supervisor of the old Rainier, from whence he was transferred to the Deschutes in 1930. In 1931 came his promotion to supervisor of the Fremont, followed by his transfer to the Fire Control position on the regional office staff on April 1, 1934. This record, together with Jack's present promotion, is an inspiring example of progress through the various grades of the Forest Service.

This record is not an accident. It is the result of hard work plus sterling qualities. Jack's judgment was always dependable. He had the ability to think clearly in regard to any project. He thought through to a correct decision and then acted forcefully and decisively. The best wishes of Region 6 go with Campbell to his new assignment. (M. L Merritt, "Six-Twenty-Six," May, 1939)

Joe O. Lammi. Joe Lammi received a junior forester appointment April 10, 1935, for CCC and the proposed ERA program. He was assigned to various projects including road location, drafting, range surveys, recreation plans for Campbell and Deadhorse lakes, etc. With Melvin Burke and Clarence Baker he was sent to the Bandon fire on the Siskiyou from September 26 to November 2, 1935.

He left the Fremont December 24, 1935, to attend Oregon State University, where he completed his work for a master's degree in science. On April 1, 1937, he transferred to the Columbia Forest at Vancouver, for CCC work. (April, 1935)

In 1943 Joe was the ranger of the Bend District of the Deschutes. Since the Bend District was right in the midst of the Camp Abbott maneuver area, Joe had lotsa business with colonels, generals, etc. Then in the fall Joe joined the army. Bidding friends and family a fond farewell, he was off to see the world. And now comes the denouement, as the story writers say. Private Joe O. Lammi, GI, is assigned to Camp Abbott for training. Same old trees, same old hills, same old Joe; but a different uniform and a different rating. Joe, you should have joined the Navy. ("R-6 Administrative Digest," February, 1944)

Joe O. Lammi is a member of the United Nations staff in Geneva, Switzerland. He is with the economic unit of Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, and will edit English portions of marketing and commodity reports. ("R-6 Administrative Digest," April 20, 1955)

Walt Perry. I turned in my badge on November 1, after some twenty-six years of service, fourteen in Region 3 and twelve in Region 6. Much national forest history has been written during this period, and conditions have changed greatly since the old saddle and chaps days when everything was still in the raw and personnel requirements were in many respects considerably different from the present.

Some of my old compadres, when the going became more technical, wisely realized their limitations and pulled out to the side, some skidded on the turn, and some, a few, rounded the curve and by virtue of native ability came down the stretch to finish in the money. They were men, all of them, and each doing the job to which he was best adapted. I salute them.

Upon my retirement there was presented to me, among other things, a bound sheaf of letters from my Forest Service and ex-Forest Service friends, now widely scattered, which covers the period from 1911 up to today. There could be no reward that would be more highly appreciated and valued than this.

We should live not too much in the past; that is the quickest and surest way to grow mentally old. There is an urgent present demanding action of all who are not constitutional quitters; a future of great interest and promise for any who will explore it. I am sure that my many friends of the Forest Service wish me well in my future explorations, as I do them in the field we have worked together, and I offer them this toast and sentiment:

To the days that were; to the days that are; to the better days to be! (Walt Perry, "Six-Twenty-Six," December, 1936)

Lawrence Frizzell. "Another Pioneer Passes." After three weeks of illness in a Eugene hospital, Lawrence Frizzell died of influenza on March 29, 1937. He left a wife and two sons.

Frizzell first entered the Forest Service as a forest guard on the Fremont in 1909. The next year he received his ranger's appointment. After fifteen years of work in various ranger districts on the Fremont, in 1924 he was made a staff officer in the supervisor's office in Lakeview. In 1932 he was transferred to the Wallowa in a similar capacity. Early in 1936 he took over the very important Cascadia Ranger District on the Willamette in order to be closer to his two boys who were attending college. Although he had suffered various physical disabilities in recent years, he seemed to his friends to be once more on the way to his former strength and vigor.

Frizzell's record of twenty-seven years in the Forest Service was an honorable one. His sincerity, frankness, and fair-mindedness made many friends for the Forest Service in those early days when there was much opposition to the regulation of grazing and the restrictions on timber use and homesteading. Those who knew him best respected him most. His friends will miss his ready smile and will treasure the memories of their association with him. He loved Lake County and his friends there best of all, and so it is fitting that he was buried at Lakeview within sight of some of the pine-covered mountains he knew so well. ("Six-Twenty-Six," April, 1937)

Pearl Ingram. A joint farewell dinner for Ranger and Mrs. Pearl V. Ingram and Mr. and Mrs. Sherman H. Feiss was given Friday, July 14, at the Lakeview Hotel, and was attended by forty members of the Fremont force and their families. Mr. George E. Stevenson of the regional office was a guest.

Mr. Ingram will have completed thirty years of faithful service on the Fremont October 31, when his retirement is effective. Supervisor Harriman presented Ranger Ingram with a book of letters from his friends bound in a beautiful cover of incense cedar taken from the Warner District, where he served for many years. The cover was made by Henry Sarles. Mr. and Mrs. Ingram were each presented with a fine traveling bag, which we hope will make it more convenient for them to come back and visit us. The Fremont won't be the same without Pearl and Eva, but they are leaving with the best wishes of their many friends for a very pleasant and extended vacation. They are planning to sell their home in Lakeview and move to Medford. ("Six-Twenty-Six," September, 1939)

Slahal Club
(Forest Service Women's Bridge Club)

The beginning of Slahal Bridge Club, as I remember, was a going-away party given by the Forest Service ladies for Mrs. Everett (Dorothy) Lynch in February 1934.

The group continued to meet every two weeks to play bridge and to give going-away, wedding, and baby showers whenever there was an occasion. Because of the few employees, these special parties were few and far between. Quite often we invited outside friends to play bridge with us to make complete tables.

In April 1934, William O. Harriman came as forest supervisor. Some time after that, possibly in 1935, Mr. Harriman requested that the "Forest Service Bridge Club," as it had always been referred to, be given some other name. We never knew the reason for the request and did not ask.

As usual, when in doubt, the committee (Portia Sarles and Melva Bach) went to the Forest Service Handbook to look for a name for the bridge club. The handbook contained a list of the Chinook jargon words used by the northwest indians. From this list of indian words, the word "slahal," meaning a game or to gamble, was selected.

The members of the club greatly enjoyed the bridge games, and the name was selected because of its indication of fun and good times. Other members at the time the name was chosen, or shortly after, were Edith Harriman, wife of the supervisor; Alma Clouston (Mrs. John); Ceclia Schwarz, stenographer; Eunice Faris (Mrs. Dick); and Myrtle Mork (Mrs. Art). At this date the club has been in existence a total of twenty-eight years. (Melva Bach, January, 1962)

Depression Employment Policy

In 1931 and for some years following, as in most parts of the country, many serious conditions were present in Lake County and on the Fremont. The depression years caused severe economic problems resulting in limited appropriations for construction and maintenance. Jobs were scarce and many were unemployed. The population of Lake County was 4,833, and the forest receipts in 1931 were $18,739.30.

To show the national state of the economy, the following is quoted from the December, 1931, "Six-Twenty-Six" as reported in the U.S.D.A. Digest:

THE PRESIDENT CALLS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT AID. Machinery to collect $1,000,000 from government employees in Washington to relieve unemployment was set in motion on November 17 by President Hoover and Thomas E. Campbell, president of the Civil Service Commission and chairman of the special Government Employees Committee, appointed by the president to collect employment relief funds from government workers, according to the press today. The report says:

The President's letter was sent to each department, bureau and division, accompanied by a letter from Mr. Campbell outlining the forecast plan of having a collection chairman in each division. Organization for the drive to collect money was not haphazard. Each collection agent is to be equipped with the name and salary of every employee in his realm. Each is to be solicited for three days' pay, one day for each of three months, beginning with January....

To show the widespread effect of the Economy Bill signed in July 1932 by President Hoover, the following provisions are recorded:

Employees receiving $1,000 and over were required to take a thirty-day furlough without pay (two and one-half days per month), which was equivalent to an 8-1/3 percent reduction in pay. As one ranger said, "We wanted thirty days leave and we got it." The bill saved about $100 million of the total involved in the bill.

Automatic pay increases and promotions within grades were suspended.

Where married couples were employed in the federal service, the husband or wife was the first to be discharged.

No vacancies could be filled without written consent of the president.

Annual leave with pay was permanently reduced to fifteen days. The furlough plan made this inoperative for a year.

Workers reaching the retirement age were forced to withdraw from the Service unless extensions were expressly granted by the president.

For many years after this, the Forest Service employment policy was rigid with few promotions in grade or salary. On the Fremont, a number of valuable employees who worked as district assistants and fire control aids during the field season were furloughed during the winter. This not only caused a severe hardship on the men, but also a loss to the government of some trained and valuable employees who did not return to work the next summer. Some who could not afford several months without income had to get year-round jobs.

TIMBER MANAGEMENT

Sales and Timber Companies

In the spring of 1931 temporary restrictions of timber sales from the National Forest to relieve the lumber industry depression was ordered by the Washington office. Chief Forester Stuart ordered no sales to be made during this time where the value of the timber sold was in excess of $500, except for the needs of already existing sawmills, domestic paper mills, and the disposal of wind-thrown timber or other emergencies. Exceptions were made to avert unnecessary unemployment or hazard to the forest. No restrictions were placed on sales under $500.

In October 1931 the Underwood Lumber Company bought 5,700 MBF of fire-killed timber on the Cox Creek watershed. They established a logging camp and hauled logs twelve miles to the mill in Lakeview. Only dead and dying timber was marked. Ponderosa pine was sold for $1.00/MBF and all other species killed were not charged for. In view of the poor condition of the lumber market, it was fortunate that the forest was able to sell the timber before it blued. Several other sales of the burned timber in the amount of 6,400 MBF were later made.

W. H. Starbird and R. S. Adams have joined in taking over the Mill Flat burned area through contract with the Forest Service and will erect a new mill on the tract. They expect to clear the 5.5 MMBF before the first of July in order to harvest the crop before it blues. The mill will be set up at the spring in Mill Flat on the Paisley Mountain Road, and the lumber hauled to the railroad in Lakeview by truck. They will run two shifts of ten hours each with employment for forty men. With hauling crews the total men employed will be fifty.

The DeArmond brothers will locate a band mill in Lakeview. It will begin operating as soon as logs can be delivered to the pond. Logs will be supplied from tracts owned by Favell-Utley.

The Peterson and Johnson Mill will start within the next ten days. A. L. Edgerton will open the Drews Valley Mill within the next week. The DeArmond Brothers and Woodcock Brothers portable mills operating on the Cox Creek burned area are now in full production. The Woodcock brothers will put their operation on a double shift beginning May 10. (1932)

C. W. Woodcock, J. C. Clark, and Don McLean have formed a company to construct and operate a plant to cut 50,000 BF each eight-hour shift. The new corporation will take a lease from the Underwood Lumber Company. They will use a circular saw headrig and gang saw equipment, the logs being squared in the headrig and then run through the gang, cutting the entire cant into required thickness. They will employ twenty men per shift. (Lake County Examiner, May 12, 1932)

Two timber sales were recently made to the Peterson and Johnson Brothers Lumber Company. One was for .5 MMBF and the other for 1.3 MMBF. Walt Perry did the marking. The reasons for the sales were over-mature timber and bug infestations. ("Six-Twenty-Six," December 1933)

"Cap" W. D. Starbird will start his mill on Mill Flat by July 26. It has not run since 1933. Thirty-five to fifty men will be employed in the mill, woods, and logging. The Starbird Planing Mill near the Buzard Mill north of town has been operating steadily this summer with some eight to ten men employed. This plant turns out siding, ship lap, and other retail lumber items and does considerable custom surfacing for the market. (Lake County Examiner, July 25, 1935)

After a suspension of operations on government timber since the spring of 1932, during which time paragraph three of their contract had been modified various times, the Ewauna Box Company resumed cutting on April 28, 1936, with the avowed intention of cutting the remaining 2 MMBF or so right now. The timber was marked for them, and Ben Smith and Jack Hogan are caliper scaling as it is felled. We will be very glad indeed to see this area finally cut and cleaned up.

The Lakeview Pine Lumber Company, after laying off entirely in 1934 and operating only two or three months in 1935, plans to start falling about May 11. They expect to cut a minimum of 6 MMBF this season. That should take about all the timber on the area if the estimates are good.

It is probably that we will soon have underway two small fire salvage sales, one for 100 MBF on the Camas Prairie burn and one for about 250 MBF near Bonanza on the big Bonanza burn. (Walt Perry, "Six-Twenty-Six," June, 1936)

Everyone concerned with the logging and milling industries in Lake County is looking ahead to one of the county's biggest years: higher market prices, greater lumber production, increased wages, and better working conditions are assured.

The Underwood Lumber Company has placed two shifts in operation at the box factory. The Buzard Lumber Company intends to start its mill on March 22. Other mills in this locality will begin operations between April 1 and May 15. R. S. Adams, Sr., has begun construction of a new sawmill having a capacity of 40,000 feet per eight-hour shift. Approximately 10 MMBF feet of logs were decked last fall at accessible points by the local operators. It is believed that these logs will allow the mills to operate for about sixty days.

Logging will start as soon as road conditions permit getting into the woods. Based on the amount of snow and what has happened in previous years, it will be the end of May or after before 1937 logs can be delivered to the mills. (Jack B. Hogan, "Six-Twenty-Six," April, 1937)

The Division of Forest Products began field work this spring with a series of studies in Lakeview mills. Sawing time studies, which are used as the basis for allotting mill costs, were made at three mills all cutting approximately 60 M feet per day. A board by board analysis of nearly a thousand logs was made at one of these mills. The five mills now operating in Lakeview are quite similar in equipment, capacity, and in the way in which they handle their lumber. The production of the log is approximately 65 percent box lumber, all of which is air dried since there are no dry kilns in the territory. The select grades are sold usually rough or surfaced. The box lumber is sold rough or is manufactured into shook in the box factory. (J. Elton Lodewick, "Six-Twenty-Six," July 1938)

In spite of market conditions, wage cuts, and numerous rumors concerning impending shut-downs, logging and milling operations are fairly active in this locality. Log trucks are continually rolling into Lakeview and Bly. Five of Lakeview's six mills and one of Bly's two mills are sawing lumber. Recent developments indicate that a mill may be constructed at Lakeview for the primary purpose of sawing incense cedar into pencil stock and other products. The greater part of the timber being logged is coming from private land. Two national forest sales are in progress, one to Underwood Lumber Company at Lakeview, the other to Crane Mills at Bly. It is estimated that 11 MMBF will be cut on these sales this year. The estimated private cut is a matter of conjecture. It will probably be from 40 to 50 MMBF. (Jack B. Hogan, "Six-Twenty-Six," August, 1938)

Pine Beetles

The severe beetle epidemic on this forest as well as other forests of the Northwest was largely due to the drought conditions of the past fifteen years, according to A. J. Jaenicke of the regional office. The lowered vitality of some of the timber enabled the beetles to breed successfully in such large numbers that the beetles were able to kill large groups of thrifty trees even on north slopes and in deep canyons. On a sale made to the Ewauna Box Company in 1930, it was estimated there had been a 25 percent loss from beetles.

Insect control work was done on the McCarty Butte and Antelope Springs projects in November and December 1931. A "60" caterpillar was tried out to good advantage where the infestation was heavy. There the trees were cut, decked, and burned without peeling, which speeded up the work. Fifteen thousand acres of national forest timber and 9,000 acres of private timber were treated. The Forest Service expenditure was $9,000 and the timber owners spent $6,500.

In December 1932 and February 1933, extreme cold periods killed over two-thirds of the larvae of western pine beetles in the proposed control areas of the Fremont and other forests. Grubs of the mountain pine beetle in lodgepole were also hard hit. Sustained temperatures of ten to fifteen degrees below zero in the bark itself are necessary to kill the larvae of these two beetles. Because of this heavy winter killing of the beetle, control work was not done in the spring of 1933. ("Six-Twenty-Six," December 1933)

The first general pine beetle survey of Oregon and Washington ever undertaken was started early in August with an organization of fifteen men. Five crews of three men each experienced in western pine beetle spotting and control work will cover the major ponderosa pine areas by September 30. One crew each is working under direction of supervisors of Malheur, Ochoco, Fremont, and Deschutes and one is at large.

The chief purpose of the survey is to define the boundaries of the larger pine beetle infestations, to estimate the extent of the beetle losses and to get some information on the present trend of these beetle losses. The immediate use of the information is to give the basis for locating the ECW and the ERA insect control work in Oregon and Washington for the period October 1, 1935, to June 1, 1936, on both the National Forest and private lands.

The present importance of the beetle problem in the ponderosa pine stands of Oregon and Washington is indicated by the fact that during the four-year period 1931-1934 nearly four billion board feet of ponderosa pine timber were killed by the western pine beetle in Oregon and Washington. (A. J. Jaenicke, "Six-Twenty-Six," September, 1935)

A general report on pine beetle losses in the ponderosa pine stands of all ownerships in Oregon and Washington will soon be issued. During the seventeen-year period 1921-1937 inclusive, the western pine beetle has killed a total of over fourteen billion board feet of ponderosa pine in Oregon and Washington. This loss is almost equal in volume to the ponderosa pine timber used by the pine sawmills in the region during the same seventeen-year period. The 1938 losses are somewhat greater than those of 1937 but even so, they are less than one-third of what they were during the peak year of 1932 when almost two billion board feet of ponderosa pine were killed. (A. J. Jaenicke, "Six-Twenty-Six," July 1939)

"Douglas Firless"

"Douglas Firless" is a term that can no longer be applied to the Fremont, known as the only forest in Region 6 without this gigantic tree. Under the Walker Rim in the northwestern corner of the Silver Lake District are some Pseudotsuga taxifolia. The area in which the trees stand was taken over from the Deschutes in 1932. (L. K. Mays, "Six-Twenty-Six," July, 1934)

FIRE MANAGEMENT

Fire Reports

1930. During 1930 the forest recorded a total of sixty-three lightning fires and twenty-six man-caused fires. A total of eighty-nine fires during the year.

1931. Although this was a very dry year, the forest recorded only ten lightning-caused fires and thirty-one man-caused fires, for a total of forty-one fires. The Cox Creek (woodchopper) fire was the largest for the year.

This was one of a series of dry years with a total of 8.31 inches of moisture recorded at the weather station.

("Climatography of the United States," No. 11-31, 1931 climatological data, Lakeview, Oregon)

Ranger Pearl Ingram and Fireman Al Cheney, upon arriving at a reported fire at the old mill site in Camas Prairie near Bowers Bridges on May 30, 1931, discovered moonshine operations. Sheriff E. A. Priday and Deputy Herb Carroll, in a search of the premises, found 275 gallons of mash, which they destroyed. Fire had apparently started in the grass at the mill site and spread to the sawdust pile. The sawdust was from an operation there several years ago conducted by Emil Hartig, though the mill and equipment had previously been removed. A search of the place failed to disclose a still, which was probably moved out immediately when the fire started. The owner probably did not have time to remove the mash, which he hoped might be overlooked. (Lake County Examiner, May, 1931)

On June 8, 1931, the Silver Lake Irrigation District Reservoir at Thompson Valley was set on fire by a carelessly thrown cigarette by a fisherman. The Irrigation Commissioner, George Marvin, and a forest service employee put the fire out with an old fashioned bucket brigade. About 1,500 square feet of the dam surface was destroyed.

On July 24, 1931, the Cox Creek fire started which swept over 10,500 acres. The fire started about 10:00 a.m. when Jody Arzner was hauling a truck load of wood from near the Sprague Ranch into town. While coasting downhill with the ignition cut off, the truck in some unaccountable manner caught fire. The timber loss was estimated at 25 million board feet, with an 80 to 90 percent kill, valued at $50,000. However, the loss was considerably more. If the 25 million board feet of burned timber had remained to be sold at a later price of $20.00 per thousand, the loss would have been over $600,000. The fire burned four days and nights with 650 men fighting it. More than half the burned area was timbered lands. One fourth of the land was privately owned. A large acreage of the lands burned over had previously burned in the Crook Creek fire of 1926. Reproduction estimated at values of $3.00 to $7.00 per acre added another $25,000 to the loss.

Cost of fire fighting exceeded $10,000, bringing the total loss well toward $100,000. It was the first major fire on the Fremont since the big fire of 1926. Supervisor Campbell directed the operations, being assisted by Assistant Supervisor Lawrence Frizzell, Rangers Ingram, Lynch, Bennett, and Cambers. F. H. Brundage of the regional office and E. W. Loveridge of the Washington office came by plane to inspect the fire.

Fire camp was made at the Dicks Ranch, with another one at Cox Creek. Ranger Chester Bennett was camp superintendent of the base camp at Cox Creek. On the third day the flying squadron from the Deschutes took over. Mills and the box factory were closed while the Southern Pacific section crew, county road crew, and other units quickly joined in the battle. Local business men and clerks, ranchers, mill men, and others quickly volunteered. The ranches in Crooked Creek Valley were saved.

1932. A total of ten lightning fires and twenty-four man-caused fires occurred within the fire protection boundaries during this year.

A second dry year in this series resulted in a total of 9.88 inches of moisture for the year.

("Climatography of the United States," No. 11-31, 1932 climatological data, Lakeview, Oregon)

1933. During the year, thirteen lightning fires and twenty-six man-caused fires occurred on this forest. We had a total of thirty-nine fires during the year.

Fire cooperation from stockmen shows notable progress toward a perfect record. Out of a total of thirty-nine fires, this forest reported two stockman fires, and but one of these was caused by a forest permittee. Assistance was given by stockmen on five fires during the summer. Following is the record of stockmen fires during the past three years:

(Grazing report, 1933)

The last very dry year in this series came through with a total of 9.32 inches of moisture.

("Climatography of the United States," No. 11-31, 1933 climatological data, Lakeview, Oregon)

1934. A total of seventy-nine fires occurred this season with thirty-two lightning and forty-seven man-caused, including three large fires:

Rose Creek started July 26 and burned an area of 319 acres, with damage to timber of $1,808 and cost to control of $1,924. A total of 241 men were employed on this fire.

Summit Prairie started July 29 by a smoker and burned over 156 acres, damaging timber in the amount of $1,750. The cost to control the fire was $1,633, and 220 men were used on it.

Antelope Canyon started July 29 at the well near the Edgerton Mill at the mouth of Antelope Canyon. It was evidently caused by a match dropped in dry bronco grass. The total area burned was 2,060 acres, with damage to timber approximately $18,833 and cost to control $9,954. The flying squadron from Bend in charge of A. G. Angell and 450 men suppressed the fire. The humidity ranged from four to thirty-three the first two days. The fire was not considered out until September 11.

During 1934 the Lakeview weather station recorded a total of 14.49 inches of moisture. The was an unusual year with higher than normal temperatures recorded during the winter months and very little snowfall.

This has been the wettest year since 1927 when 15.68 inches of moisture was recorded. ("Climatography of the United States," No. 11-31, 1934 climatological data, Lakeview, Oregon)

1935. A total of eighty forest fires were recorded on the Fremont national Forest. Of the total, thirty-five were caused by lightning and forty-five were man-caused.

Even though the cooperation received on fires was very good, we had more stockmen fires than are justifiable. There were eighty-one fires on the Fremont this season, and of this number 13 or 17 percent were attributed to stockmen. Only 25 percent of this number was caused by the permittees—the others by their employees. Five convictions were obtained, which is considered the best education among the sheepherders. (Grazing report, 1935)

1936. Forty-seven fires occurred, but only two were of class C; one was 155 acres, but largely in sagebrush. Twenty-six were caused by lightning, sixteen by smokers, three be campfires, and two by other sources. Hunters could be blamed for eight fires. None from logging.

1937. A total of 103 fires occurred on the Fremont National Forest during the year. Of this total, eighty were caused by lightning and twenty-three were man-caused.

During 1937 a total of 18.26 inches of moisture was recorded at the Lakeview weather station; almost double the amount received in several of the drought years.

("Climatography of the United States," No. 11-31, 1937 climatological data, Lakeview, Oregon)

1938. There were forty-two class A fires, ten class B fires, three class C fires, zero class D fires, and two class E fires in 1938. Nineteen of these fifty-seven were man-caused.

During the year a total of 14.21 inches of moisture was recorded at the Lakeview weather station.

("Climatography of the United States," No. 11-31, 1938 climatological data, Lakeview, Oregon)

1939. There were seventy-three class A fires, eighteen class B fires, three class C fires, zero class D fires, and two class E fires in 1939. Of these ninety-six fires, thirty-seven were man-caused. During 1939 a total of 10.44 inches of moisture was recorded at the Lakeview weather station.

("Climatography of the United States," No. 11-31, 1939 climatological data, Lakeview, Oregon)

WILDLIFE

Game Population

Thousands of eastern brook trout had been planted frequently in Dog Lake, but for various reasons they failed to mature and propagate. The native rainbow grew to large size, but they were fat and hard to catch. In 1931 through the cooperation of sportsmen, Chamber of Commerce, county and state officials, and the Forest Service, 8,000 black bass and bluegills were planted. These fish were salvaged from a dying reservoir and were from four to twelve inches long.

President Hoover on August 26, 1931, issued a proclamation reducing the duck season from three months to one month.

One of the more interesting projects of the Fremont CCC camps was their work with fish and wildlife management. During the summer of 1935, Donald M. Hatfield, a junior biologist, was assigned to the Fremont to make stream and lake surveys and assist in fish and game management. He found that most of the streams of Lake County, on account of low temperature, are better suited for rainbow trout than eastern brook trout. He noted that this forest has been receiving from the state hatcheries many more eastern brook trout than rainbow.

District Ranger Albert Arnst and Assistant Ranger Pearly Ingram set out in February 1937 on a planned four-day trip to count deer and antelope and visit with sheep and cattle permittees:

We found the game situation good. The sex ratio deer count was without bucks (ratio for the forest basis of a count of 419 deer to that date showed 1 buck to 4.6 does). However, local ranchers reported presence of bucks in other areas wintering in herds of bucks only. Deer were plentiful under Fish Lake Rim, in excellent condition, and bold enough to venture down to ranches in many instances. Browse was mostly juniper, of which there was an adequate supply.

Two bands of antelope, totaling 1,000 head, were counted on the benches above plus, their wintering grounds. California quail were having difficulty surviving the continuing cold and many cases of starvation were on record. (Albert Arnst, "Six-Twenty-Six," March, 1937)

Supervisor Harriman was greatly interested in fish and game matters. California bighorn sheep existed in several areas in Oregon in the days of the early settlers. Steens and Hart mountains were probably the last places inhabited by them, but by 1916 there were none left in Oregon. The Wallowa Mountains were the last area occupied by the Rocky Mountain bighorn, but they were gone by the mid-1930s.

Supervisor Harriman was one of the people who wanted to restore the bighorn, and he sold the idea to Lakeview sportsmen in 1936. Arrangements were made through Stanley Jewett and Ira Bagrielson of the Biological Survey to obtain Rocky Mountain bighorns from the National Bison Range in Montana, and twenty-three animals were finally obtained and released on the west face of Hart Mountain in 1939.

Although the initial transplant proved unsuccessful due to the poor condition and unadaptability of the sheep, the idea of restoration refused to die. In 1950 the Oregon State Game Commission did obtain some California bighorns from British Columbia which were successfully planted on Hart Mountain.

Back in 1910 Ranger Jason Elder of the Paisley District found a mountain sheep's horn driven into a pine tree. A section of the tree was sawed out at the time and a part of the block split off to expose several inches of the overgrown tip of the horn.

The butt end of the horn is thirteen inches in circumference, even now in its weathered and shrunken condition, and protrudes from the tree six inches. This portion has the typical appearance of a large rocky mountain ram's horn. Even with some inches evidently weathered off the tip, it still has an overall length of twenty-five inches.

The evidence indicates that in about 1701, the left horn of a great mountain ram became hooked around a small pine tree. This may have happened as some predator dragged the ram as its prey through the young trees, or, as there is some reason to believe, the animal became entrapped in this manner, and, after bruising the thin bark in its effort to free itself, died in that position. In any event the tree grew until it was bound within the curl of the spiral horn and commenced to exert pressure on the middle and tip portion of it, while the larger end was held immovable by a rock or other object...Strange that this old patriarch of the herd on his last journey down from his high wind-swept summer home to his open winter range should meet this tragic fate. (Walt Perry, FN Perry not actually specified August, 1936)

Beavers

Then and Now. Ranger George Everett Lynch of the Bly District, in preparation for the junior forester examination this year, submitted a thesis on erosion control in Cox Flat as follows:

In June, 1930, a slight ridge of earth about 200 feet long was found crossing the valley at right angels to the channel. No wood was found showing beaver work but the position of the ridge would suggest they constructed it. . .Possibly the removal of beaver has contributed to the condition found there.

He is discussing Cox Flat, on the headwaters of Thomas Creek, now dry in summer, covered with sagebrush and cut with channel erosion. The Fremont recently installed several erosion dams there to check further damage.

As I read there is awakened a flood of memories, for it was in Cox Flat where my brother and I went each year to camp and fish after the haying job in August. That was over twenty-five years ago, but it might have been yesterday-so vivid are the details in memory. Up before dawn to collect grasshoppers in the hay field at the old Seven-Up Ranch; assembling the camp outfits and provisions; the journey in a rattling old buckboard up Augur Creek over rough roads and finally down into Cox Flat, skirting the marsh and beaver dams to the lower end of the flat where we made camp. The horses were hobbled out (grass was plentiful then), and we fished down the canyon until about sunset. Then came the big event of the day—back up the flat to work the big holes in the beaver dams with the sure knowledge that we would find the "big one" there.

Yes, Everett, your deductions are correct. A sizeable beaver colony once worked in Cox Flat and stored up the waters of Thomas Creek in dams built of mud and willows. Since then a lot has happened. We like to believe that commendable progress has been made in the protection and management of our natural resources; otherwise, there would be scant justification for our myriad of resource plans. But, there are no beaver in Cox Flat! The marsh and meadow have disappeared, and in their stead we have a dry sagebrush-covered area, on which destructive erosion is taking place and because of which the Forest Service has found it necessary to resort to erosion control methods. (Walt L. Dutton, "Six-Twenty-Six," June, 1931)³

The closing of the beaver trapping season by the State Game Commission resulted in the trapping and removing of live beaver to other suitable locations. A survey was made to determine which ranchers wanted beavers planted on their lands and which wanted beavers removed. Rangers Karl Langfield and Pearl Ingram transplanted unwanted beaver to cover thirty suitable areas with an abundance of willows, aspens, cottonwoods, and mountain birch to build up the water table. For some time the Warner, Dog Lake, and Bly districts had been building brush dams in streams in mountain meadows to raise the water level to bring back grassy meadows which had been replaced by sagebrush. (1931)

Ranger Leo Quackenbush and Administrative Assistant Les Colvill made a recent field trip into Dairy Creek and Ingram Station via skis and snowshoes. The snow conditions were not as encouraging as we were led to believe earlier in the season. Most of the south slopes and exposed flats were found bare. At Ingram Station they found forty-eight inches of snow with a water content of 31 percent.

One of the two beaver transplants made on the Fremont last fall was visited and apparently the beaver liked their man-made home, since they were living in the house which was provided for them. On account of weather and road conditions, these beaver were held about three weeks and were not liberated until bad weather had arrived in earnest. Judging from the success of this plant, they could be moved almost any time of year that didn't interfere with their young. ("Six-Twenty-Six," March, 1935)

Loggers dread a "long skid" - more labor and higher costs. So also the original loggers and drivers, the beavers. Not that the additional labor bluffs a beaver, but it may cost him his life to get so far from deep water, what with coyotes, bobcats, cougars, etc., possibly lying in ambush, and he so clumsy and helpless on dry land.

But along about the old ranger station on Thomas Creek there has been a beaver colony for centuries, at least off and on. That's why there is a deep-soiled grassy valley instead of merely a rock-bottomed creek bed there.

Thirty years or so ago the beaver put in an aspen dam and created a pond on the then creek channel on the south side well below the present dams. This pond eventually filled with silt and was deserted, and the beaver moved upstream and turned the creek into another channel. There are no aspen trees or stumps in or near the immediate valley. Whence the aspen in the remains of the old dam? Up the 15 percent slope under the rimrock are a few aspen under ponderosa and white fir. Trailing this up, I found much beaver cutting at about 800 feet and up to an extreme distance of 900 feet (paced) from what had been the nearest point on the water or "towing canals." This is much the longest beaver skidding I have ever noted. Of course "W.O.R.K." are the beaver's middle initials, but it must have been dire necessity that compelled these naturally very timorous animals to venture so far from their element of refuge, the water. Moreover, these aspen poles had been cut low, meaning that the ground was bare of snow at the time, and had all been "logged off" without the customary waste, and then skidded over the bare ground to the water.

Additional evidence that the animals were hard pressed for food is the fact that near the pond many young pines two to four inches in diameter had been cut and completely utilized. Of these, thirteen were lodgepole, which were scarce, but the greater number ponderosa. Many larger ponderosa poles had been "marked" but not felled. It must have been hard times!

At this time the extensive meadow is heavily grown to willow, furnishing an abundance of food and building material for the colony. (Walt Perry, "Six-Twenty-Six," November, 1936)

During September a colony of seven beaver, comprising three generations, was trapped for transplanting purposes from Crane Creek on the Warner District. These beaver, which had been giving farmers irrigation trouble, were taken from Will Vernon's property by A. R. Williams, trapper, working under Fred Sankey of the Biological Survey and assisted by the ranger.

The catch for three nights consisted of three kittens in the fifteen-pound class; a pair, which weighed some thirty pounds; and the grandparents, which would boost the scales up to fifty pounds or better. Unfortunately, the latter were not taken alive, one having been killed when struck by the trap jaws and the other drowning when he worked the trap loose from anchor and tipped it sideways under water.

The remaining five—two males, three females—were transplanted on Willow Creek, where it is hoped they will establish themselves and where their engineering efforts will give appreciated results.

In addition to the trapping on Crane Creek, two pair of large beaver were taken from private land on Cottonwood Creek and transplanted to a new home on Burnt Creek. Beaver surveys of the past month indicate that most of the main creeks on this district are stocked with from one to three colonies of various sizes. The dams and ponds at the head of Dismal Creek are something worth seeing. (Mike Bigley, "Six-Twenty-Six," October, 1937)

Hunters and Trappers

Ranger Everett Lynch in cooperation with two state policemen waylaid two market hunters returning homeward with eleven mule deer nicely dressed and loaded in a wagon. It was necessary to chase them for some distance through the timber with a car before an opportunity presented itself to halt them. The unlucky culprits are spending ninety days as guests of Klamath County. Rumor has it that a good share of the meat was ordered by our neighbors right here in Bly. (Lawrence D. Bailey, "Six-Twenty-Six," February, 1934)

Approximately 6,200 hunters entered the woods, judging from the 2,030 campfire permits issued. Ration of deer taken was about one to four and one-half. Check of the rangers shows that about 1,400 deer were taken in the 1936 hunt, indicating a pretty healthy supply of deer. (Lake County Examiner, 1936)

Lake County's long-to-be-remembered winter of 1936-1937 has proved to be below normal in amount of total snowfall. Measurements recently made at established snow stakes on the Paisley District have indicated an average snow depth two feet less than last year's average at the same time. At Ingram cabin the depth this year was about thirty-three inches in the middle of February. High drifts have piled up along the Summer Lake Rim; moisture content of measured snow depths averaged 30 percent.

Several trappers were encountered on this trip made by Ranger Quackenbush and ERA employee, Tom Osborn. Because of the season's high prices on pelts, trapping is taking on a boom, and may local residents are making the winter profitable by running trap lines in the back country. One ERA employee succeeded in trapping a bobcat, which caused some consternation until proper disposal was made of the "varmint." (Albert Arnst, "Six-Twenty-Six," April, 1937)

During the 1938 hunting season 9,500 hunters visited the Fremont National Forest. These hunters averaged three people per car which would mean that 3,166 cars traveled on an average of 300 miles, including the incidental travel in addition to the round trip. With an average of fifteen miles per gallon of gasoline, this would be twenty gallons of gasoline at $.25 per gallon and more than likely an oil change at $1.00, for a total of $6.00 per car.

The majority of hunters use 30/30 or similar ammunition and the average hunter will take two boxes at $1.20 per box, which would be $2.40 per hunter.

From the amount of "hard likker" one observes in each camp, a conservative estimate of $1.50 per hunter is thought to fill the bill.

Counting resident licenses only at $3.00 per hunter, and there are several non-resident hunters, we have:

The above figures do not take into consideration red hats and shirts and other special hunting equipment.

The forest receipts for the 1938 season were as follows:

It is estimated that 1,900 deer were killed and taken out during the hunting season, with an average of seventy pounds of meat per carcass at $.20 per pound and $1.00 for hide and head, which would be $28,850.00.

If 9,500 hunters paid $84,546.00 to kill 1,900 bucks worth $28,500.00, it looks as though demand, even though a luxury, would tend to make our game crop quite a valuable asset. (Leo D. Quackenbush, "Six-Twenty-Six," May, 1939)

LIVESTOCK

Allowances

Ten-Year View of Allowances and Use

Reductions in permitted numbers for various reasons, including drought, have been large. Although there have been two large additions to the forest within the past ten years, there is an actual reduction in use. Records for 1927 compared to those for 1936 show the following:

Use In Animal Months

A large part of this reduction in use has come through the shortening of seasons due to drought conditions. Due to the additional acreage, the number of stock run under paid permit runs practically the same for sheep and 1,000 less for cattle comparing the same two years. it is our opinion that the reduction in use has kept pace with the reduced carrying capacity of ranges due to drought. Contemplated reductions prior to 1941 will materially aid the situation, particularly in the light of better moisture conditions. (Grazing report, 1937)

Wool and Livestock Sales

Approximately one and one-half million pounds of wool were shipped out of Lakeview and an unknown quantity from Bly, Klamath Falls, and Bend. The weight of fleece this year was greater than last with a tendency toward a longer and better staple, which compensated in a measure for low prices received for wool.

Wool prices ranged from $.18 to $.21 per pound. Lambs brought from $.04 to $.06 per pound while beef sold from $.045 to $.06. The average weight of lambs was sixty-six pounds and the weight of two-year-old beef steers about 1,000 pounds. Few sales of stock cattle took place, so we haven't reliable price figures. Ewe lambs have been retained by the producers to a greater extent than last year. (Annual grazing report, 1930)

Eighty-nine Lake County sheepmen disposed of 23,034 old ewes and fifty cattlemen disposed of 409 drought-relief cattle. A total of $52,578 was received for both the sheep and cattle. Grass steers brought from $.03 to $.045 per pound, with fat cows quoted at $.02. (Memorandum to annual grazing report, 1934)

Beef prices on the average showed about a $.03 increase this year over last, which meant approximately double the returns of last year. Even though prices increased slightly last year, this is the first year since 1931-1932 that $.06 to $.07 has been paid for steers.

Following are prices received for sheep:

These are an average of sheep weights and prices received this year.

One lot of 1,100 February lambs shipped in late July averaged ninety-two pounds and sold at $.065. Another lot of 600 head of April lambs shipped in late August weighted only fifty-six pounds and sold at $.0475.

Prices received for cattle: steers in good condition got as high as $.07 with the bulk selling at $.06 and $.065. Average weight on those sold was 800 to 1,000 pounds. Fat cows averaging 1,000 to 1,100 pounds brought $.05. Stock cattle sold at $30 to $40 per head. (Memorandum to annual grazing report, 1935)

Wool sold early in the year for $.27 to $.35 per pound. Most permittees sold, probably under urging by their creditors, and realized a neat profit on their sales. At the present time, wool is quoted at $.16 with practically no demand. (Annual grazing report, 1937)

Livestock Industry

Practically all sheepmen and some cattlemen have lost money this year. They are going into the winter with a short hay crop, facing the problem of buying $15 to $25 hay, which is prohibitive for range stock under present market conditions. Banks have taken over some stock but, in many cases, are carrying stockmen, who cannot turn their stock without a loss since they are mortgaged for more than they are worth (sheepmen especially). (Annual grazing report, 1930)

The sheep industry has made financial improvement during the past year. As a whole, the wintering expense was much less, as was the winter loss. Very few sheep operators failed to make at least a small payment on their indebtedness, and one man running 2,600 head on the Fremont paid $6,000 on his mortgage this fall. This man, however, is an excellent operator, has a good grade of sheep, well cared for at all times. Cases like this are rare, of course; nevertheless, local sheepmen are doing better.

Sheepmen are practically all operating on a budget, have disposed of their old ewes, and have either ewe lambs or yearling ewes to take their places. The local banks are again taking over a good many of their customers who were forced to go to the regional or seek other methods of financing.

The cattle industry has shown very little improvement. A large number of stock cattle were liquidated by the financing institutions owing to the shortage of winter feed. Practically all the cattle liquidated came from the Warner Valley section, where the hay crop was about 80 percent short of normal. Before the cattle industry can show any improvement, it will be necessary to get the wild hay meadows back into production and to receive a better price for beef and stock cattle. (Memorandum to annual grazing report, 1934)

As a matter of information, the following financial condition of a local bank shows a comparison between 1934 and 1935:

This, of course, is not entirely due to the better financial condition of the stock industry, as there are other factors that affect the general financial condition of the community.

Taking all factors into consideration, the financial condition of the sheep industry has improved slightly over 1934. There is, of course, a marked evidence of improvement over 1931-1932, when operating prices were quite out of line with the receipts of the business.

The cattle industry has made a very decided improvement over the past year. Cattlemen are encouraged, and a majority of them will be able to liquidate their mortgages if prices remain at their present level for a few years. (Memorandum to annual grazing report, 1935) p 385-86

In general, the stockmen, both cattle and sheep, are in a much improved position over previous years in this locality. Debts per head have been reduced to a general maximum of $3.50 for sheep and a correspondingly low amount for cattle. There have been practically no foreclosures in the past ten months. While the banks look for a year of lower prices in 1938, they feel that for the most part the stockmen will be in a position to withstand them. (Annual grazing report, 1937)

Grazing Reports

Grazing Season of 1930. The range this fall shows effect of past dry seasons. We had plenty of moisture in May, but range dried severely through the summer until late September, when we had light showers which revived the feed appreciably. Feed on the whole was a little better than last year, and stock came off looking well. On a large portion of our range, stock were forced off before the close of the grazing season due to drought and scarcity of feed. Water drying up on some of our ranges caused excessive grazing and trampling on watered portions of the range.

We have too great variance in opening dates on some of our ranges between sheep and cattle in the same altitudes. Sheep go on to the same type of range as cattle forty-five days later and come off fifteen days earlier. We know that range vegetatively ready for cattle is also ready for sheep. Sheepmen have control over their flocks and can use public and leased private lands at low altitudes that cattlemen cannot use on account of not being able to hold their stock on those lands. Sheepmen lamb and shear before going on the forest in the majority of instances and are not ready to go on the forest until June 1 or later. Cattlemen are faced with the problem of getting their stock out of their fields, with no place to go, and keeping out of trespass except the forest. (Grazing report, 1930)

In the spring and fall drives, a total of 80,000 sheep are trailed over the driveway, and forage and supervision charges are made. Twenty-eight thousand sheep go over this driveway to and from their respective allotments along the route: this is done without charge unless they are on the forest two or more days.

The total cost of supervision for orderly routing on the driveway, spring and fall, is approximately $700. Sheepmen agree that supervision is a legitimate charge on the driveway and must be kept up for the proper handling of the sheep. They think the forage charge unjust in that the first eight or ten bands get all the feed and the rest get nothing. Fire guards cannot be used to supervise the driveway. They are either not on or not available at trailing time. (Grazing report, 1930)

Range improvements during the past season consist of erosion control dams, water development, salt trough construction, ground squirrel and gopher extermination, poison plant eradication, drift fence building and grasshopper control.

Erosion is occurring at a rapid rate in a great number of the alluvial bottoms on the forest. A noticeable washing is occurring in old stream courses. Drought, rodents, and heavy grazing are aggravating the erosion problem until it is becoming a menace to some of the best mountain meadows and lower bottom lands on the forest. (Grazing report, 1930)

Grazing Season of 1931. Drought conditions were almost the worst in history. Lakes, springs, and creeks were dry that had never failed before, necessitating the drilling of deep wells. Hay crops were about three-fourths short of normal. Very little snow fell on the desert, resulting in a shortage of feed and poor stock.

Some stockmen had to haul water to stock on the forest ranges. The Wickiup Spring sheep allotment on the Silver Lake District contained about 27,000 acres of good bitterbrush, with twenty-five miles of road traversing the area. The permittee bought a tank truck of 700-gallons capacity, and twenty troughs with a total capacity of 1,400 gallons. He established watering camps at two-mile intervals along the roads. Three thousand ewes and lambs were watered at the camps, and 2,800 gallons of water were consumed at one watering. (1931)

Grazing Season of 1933. For the past several years, climatic conditions have been unfavorable for grazing during the first six weeks after the close of grazing season on the forest ranges. The past practice of most of the permittees has been to graze their sheep on the open public land for a period of six weeks to two months before winter feeding them in pastures. This fall's being exceptionally dry forced practically all sheepmen directly from the forest ranges to winter pasture where they started feeding hay. The abundance of hay grown this year, plus that carried over from last year, warded off what might have been a serious situation.

Rainfall up to and including November is 0.56 of an inch below last year's fall. The moisture this year is in the form of rain and has soaked the ground to a depth of from eighteen inches in the mountains to four feet in the valleys.

Vegetation in 1933 did not make as rapid growth during the spring and summer as was the case in 1932. This was caused by a lack of moisture in the ground prior to winter snow storms and by a cold spring and summer. Conditions look much brighter for the 1934 season due to the fact that the ground was well soaked with moisture before the snowfall. (Grazing report, 1933)

Grazing Season of 1934. Lake and Klamath counties are enjoying a snowless winter. The ground is free of frost, and winter logging is at a standstill. More than normal precipitation has fallen and forage is better in the low country than at the time stock were turned on last May. Stockmen are divided as to prospects for a good season this coming summer. (Lawrence D. Bailey, "Six-Twenty-Six," February, 1934)

The 1933-34 winter was mild throughout with very little snow and practically no run-off. The irrigation water in Drews Reservoir was all gone by July 1, and a number of small reservoirs had no water. Creeks were low and gone out early. Sheep were forced off the desert about four weeks ahead of normal and by the same token onto their summer range. A large number of sheepmen were forced to haul water for lambing purposes. One permittee had a breakdown with his water truck and lost over 400 lambs. So many of the lambs saved were bums that over 50 percent of 975 lambs weighed less than forty-five pounds.

The growing season was good early and forage made an excellent growth with stock taking on an early fat. The total absence of moisture during July and August did not give the forage at higher elevations a chance to attain maximum growth, and consequently, with the bulk lacking, feed did not hold out. The palatability was also lower due to the dearth of precipitation. As was to be expected, stock water was short and trough water had to be depended upon more than usual.

Prospects for 1935 are much brighter, however. November brought 3.09 inches of rainfall and 1.35 for December so far. At one time the Warner range of mountains had from one and one-half to two feet of snow with no frost in the ground. This practically all rained off, and a new coat has now replaced it. The creeks are all running, and there is assurance of some spring and reservoir water for 1935 at least. According to past weather records the big snowfall usually occurs in January, so generally the 1935 irrigation and stock water prospects are much brighter.

As a whole, the ranges on the Fremont are in fair to good shape. There are two serious over-utilized areas on the forest—the Chewaucan-Sycan cattle division and the Dog Lake common use area. (Grazing report, 1934)

Grazing Season of 1935. The Lake County stockmen have suffered considerably since the alfalfa froze out in 1932, but some of these areas have been reseeded and hay production was better this year than for several years. An abundance of irrigation water this season made possible better alfalfa crops. Wild hay was the best since 1927. There was little hay held over last winter, but the crops this season were sufficient that considerable hay should be held over. The Chewaucan Land and Cattle Company of Paisley, besides stocking approximately 6,000 tons, have sufficient hay bunched and left on the ground to winter their stock.

The hay crop of Lake County varies considerably from year to year, but under average conditions there is sufficient holdover to take care of any one-year shortage. The following tabulation of hay production from what is considered a good hay ranch in the Warner section is indicative of a variable hay crop over a period of years in that locality:

This is an average picture of hay production in this area. There were few ranchers who produced no hay last year, but with few exceptions all had good crops this year.

The early rains started the feed on the deserts, and feed is reported to be fair this winter. Recent storms have made feed available that could not be reached before due to lack of water. The stockmen feel that watering on the desert will be successful this winter. Few sheepmen try to winter without the use of some form of concentrates. (Grazing report, 1935)

As a whole the ranges on the Fremont are in fair to good condition. There are two areas—the Chewaucan-Sycan cattle division and the Dog Lake common use—on which serious over-utilization is in evidence. These areas are both in much better condition than last year. A period of such years with better moisture conditions, together with improved range management, better range improvements, and reduction of numbers, would soon rehabilitate our ranges, but such cannot be expected with only better moisture conditions. The other allotments are in good condition, and a few of them are excellent.

Chewaucan-Sycan Cattle Division

This division, even though in deplorable condition, shows some improvement over last year. The moisture conditions and late entering added materially to this range's condition. Through the cooperation of the stockmen concerned, 1,785 head of cattle were held off for ten days at the beginning of the season. In addition, the gathering of this stock started about August 31, and 488 head were removed by this date. This unit contains some 157,000 acres and is all overgrazed.⁶

The following recommendations are offered to correct this situation:

1. Reduce all permits to the maximum limit.⁷

2. A grazing reconnaissance was made of all G-3 and G-4 land within this division in 1931-1932. Now that it is known that the carrying capacity is less on the entire unit than has previously been estimated, it seems advisable to raise the acreage requirement for G-4 lands. All land within this division will now be under G-4.

3. The construction of interior drift fences to aid in distribution will be of material value. A portion of one such fence was constructed this season. With the continuing of the ERA camp and barring unforeseen delays, it is expected to complete this fence prior to the 1936 grazing season.

4. There are a number of sheep allotments north of this division and on Chewaucan Mountain Range to the south that have considerable old forage left at the end of each grazing season. By using this area as common use, relief could be given the cattle division. These sheep ranges are building up an abundance of grass species less palatable to sheep than cattle, and in many places extreme fire hazards are existing.⁸ (Grazing report, 1935)

Dog Lake Unit

The Dog Lake unit is used in common by cattle and sheep. This unit has been subject to heavy use for several years, and many areas are become overgrazed. There was a marked difference this season on the area adjacent to the west and south boundaries. The construction of the west boundary drift fence and the state line drift fence practically eliminated any trespass. Approximately 4,000 acres of this unit is overgrazed. This unit is carrying an excessive number of stock, and it is difficult to control the distribution without cross-fencing.

The following recommendations are offered to assist in correcting this situation:

1. Reduce all permits to the protective limit.⁹

2. Since G. B. Wilcox has only small holdings in Oregon but has vast holdings in California, it seems that, as soon as negotiations could be made, his permit should be transferred to that region.

3. That initial steps be taken to determine the feasibility of advancing the opening date for cattle from May 16 to June 1. There are a few areas which are ready to graze by May 16, but much premature damage is done on other areas. Even if some areas were allowed to go to waste prior to use, it is believed that additional growth and no premature use would more than offset any such areas. (Grazing report, 1935)

Undoubtedly the Fremont is carrying more stock than can be supported under the best range management practices. There is no marked variation between carrying capacity and authorization. Our authorization, at present, is slightly under the estimated carrying capacity. It is not deemed necessary to make any drastic changes, but as soon as a technical range reconnaissance can be completed for the entire forest, no doubt adjustments will be necessary. Since authorization is less than the carrying capacity and considering all factors affecting utilization mentioned elsewhere in this article, it appears that distribution is our greatest problem. (Grazing report, 1935)¹⁰

Grazing Season of 1936. Prospects for the winter season look good at present. Ample precipitation and unseasonably warm weather have held losses and feeding requirements to the minimum. To date there has been practically no feeding, and the stock are going into the winter in fine shape. Fall ranges have been the best in a number of years. A good growth of grasses occurred, making prospects for early spring range look favorable. While hay crops have been short of normal, there is no danger of a real shortage of feed. This again is due to the open fall and good range conditions. (Grazing report, 1936)

The communities of Paisley and Silver Lake are altogether dependent upon the livestock industry. Within the vicinities of Lakeview and Bly, during the past two or three years, there has been an increase in the activities of logging and milling, with the result that the livestock industry ranks second in the effect on social and economic conditions.

Considering the entire area surrounding the forest, production of livestock has been the principal industry until the past two or three years. If cutting continues at the present rate, the lumber industry will be in the lead for the next twenty years or more. If a sustained yield policy is put into effect, the amount of timber cut will of necessity be reduced, and the livestock industry may rank with or ahead of the lumber industry in importance. As a source of taxes and wealth, the lumber industry ranks first, and the livestock industry ranks second.

There are still a number of "squirrel ranches" located inside and adjacent to the forest boundary. A few of the owners have been forced out of business and their ranches are being rented for grazing purposes or have been purchased by other stockmen, who in some cases are permittees and own commensurate property. There are a few instances of claimants trying to prove up on homesteads within the forest, where the qualifications are questionable. This has been stimulated to some extent by the demand for grazing lands.

There has been an improvement in breeding, to some extent better care of animals and better products sold. The activities of the county agents have had considerable to do with bringing about these changes. The government stock reduction program resulted in large numbers of cull stock being killed off and a consequent betterment in the livestock produced. Care of animals and adjustment of breeding periods are the things most in need of attention. The majority of the stockmen in the Silver Lake and Paisley communities have given very little consideration to these phases of the livestock business. (Jack B. Hogan, Memorandum to accompany annual grazing report of 1936, January 13, 1937)

Grazing Season of 1938. One of the chief movements toward the rehabilitation of overgrazed ranges made during the past year was the elimination of the old Dog Lake common use area by placing the cattle from there in a fenced allotment to themselves with the exception of one permittee's stock. This was made possible by selling this idea to all the permittees concerned and moving one sheep allotment. . . There is still some improvement work to be done in the way of fencing, trail building, and water development on this cattle range to obtain full utilization. However, it is only a matter of time until this can be done.

The Chewaucan cattle and horse unit has been aided in the past two seasons by the division fence which holds the stock to the lower elevations until mid-season and also by reductions, transfers, and non-use. Fencing on the forest boundary has eliminated much early spring trespass while the discontinuance of a majority of the early lambing ranges has aided materially in the attainment of proper seasonal use. One entire sheep range and parts of two others were closed to grazing as a rehabilitation measure.

The shifting of ranges between cattle and sheep to secure more uniform utilization has received much attention in the past two years. Discussions have been held with the association using the Chewaucan cattle and horse unit and most of them are now favorable toward moving their stock to the sheep ranges this year. Some little fencing and water development must be done before this range is ready for cattle but it is planned to do this work during the season of 1939 so that the change may be made for the season of 1940.

The problem of separating roads from stock driveways is indeed a difficult one on this forest. In the first place, a large percentage of the present driveway mileage within the exterior boundaries were inherited in the 1935 boundary extension. These largely, of course, followed roads. Also they cross perhaps more privately owned land than public. Moving them off these roads or to the tops of ridges will necessitate some very careful planning and field location work. In some cases the solution will be the relocation of roads instead of driveways. (Grazing report, 1938)

Grazing Season of 1939. It is felt that considerable progress has been made during 1939 toward the rehabilitation of ranges within the Fremont Forest. Through taking advantage of the allowed reductions on transfers of stock, the planned reductions for protection, the removal of national forest lands from illegal enclosures, lapse of preferences through non-use, private lands coming under G-4 supervision, and the cancellation of lambing privileges, stocking and distribution have been bettered. Some examples follow:

Dog Mountain sheep and goat allotment was enlarged and a drift fence to prevent cattle trespass constructed.

Long Valley sheep and goat allotment was enlarged and opening date delayed fifteen days.

Permittee on Deming Creek sheep and goat allotment leased 6,820 acres additional land and used it in connection with allotment without increase in numbers of stock. Same condition on Arkansas cattle and horse allotment with 2,130 acres.

Horsefly cattle and horse allotment increased by 6,000 acres without added numbers of stock. The association has developed several springs on private land within the allotment.

Ten illegal enclosures were discovered during the past year, involving 764 acres of land, a considerable proportion of which is meadow forage of high-carrying capacity. The total number of cases for the past two years is fourteen, with a total acreage of 1,102.

On the Horseshoe cattle and horse allotment a non-use by Grohs for 150 head allowed better distribution of the other stock thereby lessening use on the allotment as a whole, especially the Horseshoe Creek area. Improvements this year included the development and betterment of five springs and the maintenance of two others. In addition, two miles of drift fence were constructed, and all fence on the west side of the allotment was maintained. Stock trails (one and one-half miles) were brushed out on the west side to permit accessibility to formerly little-used areas.

The employment of a full-time rider by Reeds and Bernard Estate provided good distribution and salting of the stock.

The Moonshine Spring fire of July 1939 burned 608 acres, most of which had a dense fir and brush understory and was inaccessible for grazing. One hundred sixty acres of this burn was reseeded this fall with crested and slender wheat and should aid in providing additional range area in the future.

Through G-4 procedure, 1,400 acres of private land were acquired as available range, including 320 acres in Young Valley which had, in previous years, been used by Stockburger's sheep and which had caused difficulty in way of trespass.

The Big Cove sheep and goat allotment was divided among four surrounding sheep and goat allotments, thereby relieving the crowded conditions in that area. The lapse of preference on this allotment reduced the number of sheep in this area by 600. The result is that satisfactory stocking has been made on the Salt Creek, Abert Rim, Bulls Prairie, and Porcupine Creek sheep and goat allotments.

On the Crane Lake cattle and horse allotment, stocking was reduced by forty head by transfer of this number to the Barley Camp cattle and horse allotment where a temporary permit for forty head to Peterson had been cancelled.

On the Cottonwood Creek sheep and goat allotment crowded conditions were relieved by the addition of 3,480 acres of G-4 lands leased and waived by Holmes and Wing.

A drift fence along the national forest boundary south and west of Silver Lake has eliminated early spring trespass.

Through salting and riding, much more even utilization was secured on the Chewaucan-Sycan cattle and horse division.

Development of thirty-four springs on the north end of the Paisley District was completed in preparation for changing class of stock to cattle and horse instead of sheep and goat. (Memorandum to accompany annual grazing report of 1939, December 28, 1939)

Stockmen and Stock Organizations

In general, our relations with the stockmen are most gratifying. They are sincere in their praise of the Forest Service management and very few, if any, criticisms are heard.

The Central Fremont Cattle and Horse Association purchased material for twenty plank salt troughs. The Forest Service made the troughs, and range riders and rangers placed them on the range. This makes forty serviceable log and plank troughs on the Chewaucan-Sycan cattle division. The association plans on continuing this cooperation at the same rate until an adequate number of troughs are on the range.

The ZX Company furnished $60.00 in cooperation with the Forest Service to cut the logs out of the Currier Trail Driveway, which was done under the supervision of the Forest Service.

The Central Fremont Cattle and Horse Association continue to cooperate in range management and have purchased and distributed 50,000 pounds of salt on the range for use next season. They have also entered into a cooperation plan to build twenty new salt troughs a year for the next five-year period.

The Central Fremont Cattle and Horse Association in meeting November 24, 1930, appointed a committee to draw up a resolution for presentation to the State Legislature advocating state-wide beaver protection. The beaver situation on this forest is deplorable. The state law allowing trapping on private lands makes it impossible to conserve beaver on national forest land. To say that extermination of beaver from mountainous areas they inhabited has reduced the carrying capacity 25 percent is conservative. Destruction of the beaver besides materially reducing the forage and late water supply also leaves areas they inhabited very susceptible to erosion. (Grazing report, 1930)

In February 1932, Supervisor Campbell organized the Fremont Sheepmen's Association. Although several cattle associations had been in existence for several years, this was the first official organization of the sheepmen, and it was to continue for many years. About half of the Fremont permittees at that time ran sheep. Assistant Supervisor Lawrence Frizzell presided at the meeting at which the following officers were elected:

Ned Sherlock, president; John V. Withers, vice-president; Dan F. Brennan, (Bank of Lakeview), secretary; Roy M. Chandler (Warner), Robert L. Weir, Sr. (North Bly), Phil P. Barry (South Bly), C. E. Campbell (Paisley), and F. G. McBroom (Silver Lake), advisory board.

The thirteenth annual meeting of the Oregon Wool Growers Association was held at Lakeview on November 13 and 14. Because of the desire of officers of the association to recognize the Fremont Forest Permittees' Association and the southern Oregon sheepmen, it was decided to hold the meeting in Lakeview.

The weather was ideal prior to and after the meeting, but unfortunately there was a very small attendance of sheepmen. This was a matter of keen regret to the officers and others since speakers on the program had important messages for the sheepmen regarding financing, transportation rates, operation of livestock finance organization, range grasses (by a representative of Oregon State College), and other representative subjects. ("Six-Twenty-Six," March, 1933)

With the new addition to the Fremont there will be need for an association in the Bly country as well as in the Warner section. It is expected that during the coming season these can be organized. There are but few of the stockmen who realize the value of an association in approaching problems pertinent to all rather than to individuals. Through organized effort they are in a better position to present problems for consideration. (Grazing report, 1935)

On a recent trip to the Bly country, Ranger Langfield and I went to see the new manager of a ranch in regard to a grazing preference. We made the appointment over the phone and in ten minutes were at the ranch house. A maid met us at the door, took our hats, and ushered us in and brought us the latest papers. Twenty minutes later the manager came down, riding boots polished like mirrors, white shirt, necktie, and store suit. We introduced ourselves, and during the ensuing interim the deference shown us was as great as that which would have been shown the Secretary of Agriculture and his assistant. We were ushed out in like manner, poured ourselves into the puddle jumper (Model T Ford) and drove off. After a silence of half an hour (I was still stunned), Langfield shook himself and said, "This is the first time in all my years as a ranger that I have ever been treated with the respect I felt due me!" I'm afraid we're spoiled for meeting the ordinary run of stockmen now. They won't treat us right. (Everett Lynch, "Six-Twenty-Six," April, 1930)

Predators and Other Nuisances

Our squirrel extermination program covered 519,940 acres this year making a total of 603,660 acres to date. This includes private land and public domain as well as national forest lands embraced in natural unit of the forest. It excludes Indian lands treated with the same crew but different funds. A program of retreatment and expansion is planned for next year which will cover practically all the infested areas on the forest.

An allotment of $75.00 plus contributed time was used in the grubbing of 7,000 wild parsnip plants (Circuta) out of about 100 acres of meadow. A total of eleven cattle were reported by range riders as having died from plant poisoning this year. (Grazing report, 1930)

An allotment of $100.00 to aid in combating grasshoppers in the Sycan country was used in cooperation with the Chewaucan Land and Cattle Company to purchase bait material for the project on Sycan Marsh. . . .Aid from cooperating state and federal agencies will probably be necessary to keep this menace from becoming epidemic, as it is on Sycan and Klamath Marsh. The Lake and Klamath county courts, the Indian Service and private stockmen have agreed to cooperate to the extent of approximately $1,000 each for the control of the grasshopper infestation. The Forest Service should do its equal part.

The Biological Survey in cooperation with sheepmen poisoned the Jack Creek and Yamsey Mountain ranges for coyotes. The degree of success secured is as yet undetermined. (Grazing report, 1930) p 311

The following table shows losses by classes of stock in 1935:

The reported losses for both sheep and cattle decreased over 1934. It is believed that an accurate check was made this season, and the reason for such decreases, especially those caused by predatory animals, is due to the effort of the Biological Survey and local hunters in trapping coyotes last fall. The losses from predatory animals were chiefly in areas where there was little or no trapping. There is marked evidence of decreases in losses on those areas where the trapping was more concentrated. (Grazing report, 1935)

Cattle Rustling

On a recent field trip, Assistant Supervisor John Scharff and I all but ran down a bandit gang of calf thieves.

Passing the antelope driveway corral, we noticed a fresh roan calf hide hanging over the top rail. On closer inspection, we learned that the animal had been dressed nearby and that it was a maverick but the head was missing. John recalled stories of calf-stealing in the early days in eastern Oregon. I remarked that someone was surely brazen to do the job in so prominent a place and that the head, probably being earmarked, had been hidden.

We searched in nearby thickets, dug up fresh dirt mounds, looked under logs, and rolled over rocks. Finally John, peering low under a lodgepole thicket, discovered the missing head—the long-horned head of a nanny goat that had passed by early that morning in a band of sheep. We've decided not to take up the detective profession. (Lawrence K. Mays, "Six-Twenty-Six," July, 1934)

Taylor Grazing Act

For the past twenty-five years, stockmen, conservationists, politicians, and others have fought bitter battles over the control and use of the public lands. With the enactment of the Taylor Grazing Act there is now a federal law providing for the administration of these public lands. This law has now been accepted in all of the western states by both the stockmen and the wildlife interests.

The progressively increasing destruction of natural resources will be stopped and the lands will be administered under a proper land use plan to put the lands to constructive use. This program will affect nearly 600 million acres of public domain.

The Grazing Service of the Department of Interior asked for the loan of Supervisor Harriman to help set up an organization to administer the Taylor grazing lands. The detail, beginning December 15, 1934, was for approximately two months. He traveled throughout the west with F. R. Carpenter, director of grazing under the Taylor Act, Assistant Regional Forester Ed Kavanaugh, and a party of experts. Meetings were held in Klamath Falls, Vale, Boise, Salt Lake, Burns, and Bakersfield, California. At the Bakersfield meeting the final stages of organization for the first grazing district were completed. At the last meeting held in Burns, the district boundaries for the various grazing districts in the state of Oregon were approved by the state-wide committee. (1935)

The establishment of Taylor grazing districts is causing a feeling of uncertainty among the sheepmen in regard to future grazing periods and privileges. There is the general thought that such districts will have seasons established which are different from the periods previously used, and if such is the case, many sheepmen will find it difficult to care for their bands during the period between grazing district and national forest seasons. (Grazing report, 1935)

Water Development

After the CCC boys were moved from Silver Lake Camp in November 1933, Assistant Ranger Larry Mays wrote:

Before we got back to our regular work, Imp and Dev, the NIRA twins, had their fists in our hair. On the Silver Lake District, we have started crews on a drift fence project, two structure schedules, road maintenance, driveway corrals, water development, and trough construction. The personnel of these crews are showing their appreciation of NIRA wage rates by cramming eighty hours of work in forty hours.

The value of the NIRA program, especially in this dry cycle is shown by this one project. Water development on the stock driveway through the Silver Lake District was undertaken through the use of NIRA funds. On the sixty-six-mile drive, wells have been dug in order that stock can water at six-mile intervals. Corrals were also built near each well to hold sheep overnight.

Each development consists of a dug well from seven to twenty-feet deep, a pitcher pump, and a string of six troughs. The troughs hold approximately 700 gallons of water and can be filled in about an hour. One well supplied enough water in a day for 5,100 ewes and their lambs, nearly 10,000 gallons, all pumped with a pitcher pump. The stockmen are surprised at the large amount of water consumed per head. The reason for such heavy drinking is undoubtedly due to the fresh unmuddied condition of the water. Sheep have traveled faster and, the lambs especially have come through in better shape because of the developments. I believe a long step has been made to reduce livestock losses and solve the driveway problem. (Larry Mays, Range improvement report, 1933)

The question is often asked why the drought has affected some sources of water supply and apparently never interfered with the continual flow of others. Ana River, which is adjacent to the Fremont, runs merrily along while big springs in the mountains dry up.

While in Silver Lake recently, I picked up some very interesting information along this line. Prior to the San Francisco earthquake, which occurred in 1906, I believe, there were two large springs in the Silver Lake country which were well-known landmarks to everyone. One fed Silver Lake and the other one drained into Klamath Marsh. The spring running into Klamath Marsh quit short off right after the earthquake, and the other ceased running over a period of years, becoming completely dry in 1916. Neither spring shows any signs of life even during the favorable season now. Last summer a sheepman endeavored to open up one of these springs but met with no success. Maybe what this country needs now is a good earthquake instead of a good five-cent cigar or a series of good precipitation years. (John C. Scharff, "Six-Twenty-Six," March, 1935)

We admit that there are areas on the Silver Lake District that are short on water for either man or beast. When we get a spring developed that will produce plenty of water, we think we have something. Ross spring is located in one of the dry areas just inside the timber and west of the desert edge, five and seven miles north and west from water, and ten miles south to the next drink. Since the coming of the white man this spring has been just a dirty little mud hole that furnished a very limited supply of water until the last of June, if the season was good and wet.

We dug this spring out in 1937 and installed a redwood plank box. In the spring of 1938 we completed the job, put 300 feet of three-fourth inch pipe to the burned log troughs, and 275 feet of water space in the thirteen big troughs. A. T. Hoffman had charge of the burning of the logs, and when it comes to burning big pine logs for water troughs, Hoffman can keep a front seat in any company.

We have about two acres of land fenced above the spring and erosion dams in the gullies so that we can force all the runoff through and into the fenced plot. The plot is seeded, and grass has a wonderful start.

On September 23, Supervisor Harriman and I made an inspection of this job: water temperature was fifty-nine in the first trough, all troughs were level full, the overflow from the last trough has irrigated a small strip of land, and water is running 200 feet from the troughs. In August 2,500 gallons per day was being hauled from this spring to a band of sheep on the adjoining range.

For water development in a dry country where water is really needed, we think this job rates right up among the first of its class. (Eugene J. Rogers, "Six-Twenty-Six," October, 1938)

Not to be outdone by Gene Rogers' water developments on the Silver Lake District, the Warner District calls attention to one of its latest, with thanks to Aaron Hoffman, our chief water pitcher, trough burner, and water developing expert.

Up to this year, Mud Spring on the Horseshoe allotment was good only in the spring and early summer when water was plentiful. As the dry summer season came on, the stock tromped and wallowed in the mud as long as there was any sign of moisture. By midsummer, even the bees and wasps deserted it, and the casts of stock tracks in the adobe-like mud were the only indicators that water had been there. The possibility of utilization of the feed in this area was "gone with the water."

With the idea of correcting this difficulty, Mr. Hoffman was put on the job. The mud hole was dug out, a catch box installed and covered, and the water was piped a short distance downhill where thirteen burned-out pine troughs have been kept full of water "fit for man or beast" all summer. And thus, another problem of range utilization has been eliminated. (Michael Bigley, "Six-Twenty-Six," November, 1938)

IMPROVEMENTS AND OTHER FOREST SERVICE OPERATIONS

CCC

In the winter of 1932-1933, unemployment, distress, and hunger reached a new all-time high in the United States. President Franklin Roosevelt regarded the planting and protection of forests as a government responsibility. He planned to put more than 250,000 men and boys in 1,500 camps to work in the forests and park. The Labor Department was to select the men; the Departments of Interior and Agriculture were to plan the work, designate the campsites, and supervise the men in carrying out the work. The War Department was responsible for giving the men physical examinations, enrolling them, transporting them to camps, feeding, housing, and clothing them.

On March 31, 1933, Congress approved the organization of the Emergency Conservation Work, more generally known as the Civilian Conservation Corps. Robert Fechner, then vice-president of the International Association of Machinists, was named director. The CCC was a program for young men, most of them being between the ages of seventeen and twenty-three. Most of them were unemployed and many had never had a regular job.

The purpose of the CCC was two-fold: to conduct a large-scale program of conserving the nation's natural resources and to provide valuable experience and training for young citizens to fit them for better jobs.

Each camp was like a small settlement with about 200-210 persons, consisting usually of 190 enrolled boys and ten to twenty supervisors. The overhead consisted of the commanding officer and his assistants, the camp superintendent, the educational advisor, and the foremen for the various activities. The boys as well as the overhead lived in tents or wooden barracks. Other facilities included mess halls and infirmaries.

The many jobs to be filled required cooks, waiters, storekeepers, truck drivers, typists, draftsmen, carpenters, tractor drivers, stone masons, laborers, and many others.

These young men gained much valuable experience, including good work habits and special skills, and many were saved from delinquency. As could be expected, some boys benefited more than others. They all gained in health and strength, learned discipline and regularity, and learned how to get along with others. Some difficulty was experienced because of the dual control of the boys by the army and the Forest Service foremen. Since strict army discipline was not applicable, there were problems in the way of preserving order, but by a system of rewards, things were worked out. They were not trained to be soldiers, but to be citizens. They felt they were doing a man's work and were helping to improve their country.

In the words of Fred A. Stone, Bly Camp superintendent:

The main accomplishment was that we have given a lot of young boys a push in the right direction. I have had the pleasure of contacting and hearing from quite a few of the boys who spent some time at Camp Bly. Several of them who received some training as carpenters became building construction contractors, electrical contractors, and electricians, and two have body and fender shops. It really made me feel good that I had a small part in pointing the way for them.

In general, they planted trees; fought insect pests and diseases; fought forest fires; collected seeds; burned brush; built many roads, trails, and buildings; and worked on range and recreation improvement. Campground improvements included fireplaces, forest shelters, rustic tables, benches, and drinking water and sanitation facilities. They made canoes for use at Deadhorse and Campbell lakes. Some of the improvements built by the CCC's are still being used while a great many have worn out and had to be replaced. As could be expected with large crews of inexperienced boys, some of the work was not done too efficiently, and some not too well. However, nothing was built that was not needed, and their contribution was of great value, according to John G. Clouston, assistant supervisor.¹¹

For recreation, the boys took great interest in baseball, boxing, horseshoe pitching, and music, having an organized baseball team and an orchestra. A school for cooks was established by Sergeant Euler of the army.

Educational advantages for the CCC boys were offered by various colleges. Twenty-six colleges notified the U. S. Commissioner of Education that they had established CCC camp enrollee scholarships. The scholarships ranged in value from $50 to $1,000 a year and permitted qualified CCC enrollees to undertake high training. Twenty-eight colleges and universities conducted extension classes and special lectures for enrollees from nearby CCC camps to use their classrooms and equipments.

It was originally planned for the Fremont to have three camps: Camp Ingram on Thomas Creek, Cliff Spring Camp on Silver Creek, and Bly Camp. Supervisor Campbell decided to actively head the Emergency Conservation Work Program and chose as his assistant, District Ranger Henry C. Hulett. The assistant supervisor directed the regular forest work. Fire control officer Les Colvill was assigned to the planning work with Assistant Rangers Quackenbush and Bailey assigned to mapping. (June, 1933)

Camp Ingram. This camp was built and occupied in 1933. Among other projects, the crews of this camp worked on the following: betterment of Horseshoe Trail, Dry Creek and Cottonwood Meadow roads, and construction of a new pole line from Baldwin Corner to Dairy Creek. In the fall of 1933, Camp Ingram was dismantled and the boys were moved to California for the winter.¹²

Silver Creek Camp (also known as Cliff Springs Camp). Action started when a crew of twenty-two men arrived on the Fremont on May 21 and made camp on Silver Creek, about twelve miles southwest of Silver Lake. This crew was augmented by fourteen of the local Woodsman Quota, selected from Lakeview and Klamath Falls. Soon after the camp was established, the full quota of men arrived, making a total of 207. The members of this camp were from Portland, Klamath Falls, and Lake County. Following are some of the accomplishments of this camp: construction of Truck Trail #269 from Deadmond Ranch to Antelope Mountain, eleven and one-half miles; construction of Truck Trail #325 (ZX), six and one-half miles; trunk road maintained from forest boundary to Ingram ranger station; construction of a fifty-man side camp at Skookum Springs; construction of two small side camps near Bald Mountain; construction of five and eight-tenths miles of Walker Rim Road #256; and completion of a pole telephone line from Silver Lake south to the forest boundary.

Late in the fall, the boys were moved from this camp to the west and lower elevation camps for the winter. Quoting Larry Mays, "With considerable regret, we watched the last CCC truck roll down the highway to the winter camps, for the Juniper Jumpers had done good work and not a little of it."

This camp was not occupied in 1934. In June 1935, an advance cadre of thirty men arrived to erect buildings for an all-year camp. However, because of slow enlistments in the east, due to increased employment in the middle and eastern farming sections, Silver Creek Camp was not occupied in 1935.

Since the Cliff Spring Camp was still unoccupied in 1936, it was offered to the Grazing Service. They moved in a crew of 150 enrollees from Texas under the direction of Camp Superintendent Fuller. The Grazing Service enrollees worked on range improvements, including drift fences, water developments, road construction, and other projects on the public domain. They also built a good graveled road from Cliff Springs to Silver Lake.

Camp Bly. Camp Bly, located on the south edge of Bly, was established in May 1933. Camp construction was completed June 15, after which the enrollees were moved in. Most of the boys were from Illinois, with forty-two local boys added, making a total of 202. Road construction was one of the main projects this summer. The boys were called to twelve fires. These boys were moved out for the winter. Camp Bly was not occupied during the summer of 1934.

The roadside cleanup work on Quartz Mountain was one of the major projects of the Bly CCC camp in 1935. This project included cutting all dead trees, piling and burning all logs and brush to a distance of from 200 to 300 feet on each side of the Klamath-Falls-Lakeview Highway, which meant making a park of about 500 acres along this road.

November 13, Forrest Cooper, secretary of the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce, A. R. Corbett, president of the 20-30 Club, Ernest Fetsch of the Fetsch Clothing Company, W. O. Harriman, forest supervisor of the Fremont Forest, and C. A. Bennett, forest ranger of the Bly District, visited the crew and inspected their work. They brought coffee, cake, and doughnuts for all. The refreshments quickly disappeared after which the visitors put on a few stunts. One of these was a demonstration by Paul Bunyan (Ernest Fetsch) and his assistant (A. R. Corbett) showing how to fell a tree? Both the lunch and the stunts were very much appreciated by the workers. (J. F. Blanchard, chief foreman, "Six-Twenty-Six," December, 1935)

From 1936 until the close of the CCC program in the summer of 1942, the Fremont had only the Bly Camp with its various side camps. The CCC foremen and crews were assigned innumerable projects which they completed. Some of the more important ones are listed here:

At Paisley, on a site across the road south of the schoolhouse, they built a machine shop, gas and oil house, office, crew house, four-car garage, machinery storage building, barn, and two residences, under the direction of foreman Rollan H. Meyers.

Near the highway in Bly, a similar set of buildings was built under the direction of carpenter-foreman Frank L. Van Gorder. The buildings here present an attractive appearance, being a combination of native stone and rough shakes.

The Fremont bought from Harry A. Hunter, a seven-acre tract two miles north of Lakeview and east of the Hot Springs Hotel and highway. Here CCC crews supervised by Van Gorder built a warehouse, 44' x 80'; a machine shop, 44' x 80'; a machine storage shed, 50' x 80', and a gas and oil house.

Shelters, community kitchen, garbage pits with wooden covers, toilets, stoves, and tables at Happy Camp, most of the improvements at Willow Creek Camp as well as many of the stoves and tables at Booth Park were built by the crews. They also completely built the campgrounds at Dog Lake, Drews Creek, and Sprague River, and constructed improvements for many others. Canoes for use at Campbell and Deadhorse lakes and stock watering troughs were hallowed out of logs.

The Bly Camp had dinner and Open House on April 4, 1937, to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the founding of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Citizens of Lake and Klamath counties were invited. Guests were taken on a "Show-Me" tour of the barracks, officers' quarters, recreation hail, and other units. They were also shown the Bly ranger station buildings including new houses for Rangers Perry South and John Herbert, warehouse, shop four-car garage, and office building. ("Six-Twenty-Six," May, 1937)

Lesson plans were made and approved for all jobs being done at Bly Camp so that the boys received instruction along with the work. Classes were conducted from four to six weeks and records were kept on progress of the enrollees. Many of them took correspondence courses relating to their work. Safety classes were conducted each week. Some of the courses given were knot tying, map reading, care of tools, reading a steel square, carpentry, photography, recreational development of National Forests, compass reading, radio, auto mechanics. Camp Bly was the "Outstanding Company" in the Medford district for the month of 1937, thereby winning the district flag. (1937)

The new CCC foreman looked over his group of boys intently. They were a fine lot but a few had the "dollar-a-day-see-if-you-can-get-me-to-do-more" look. "Fellows," said the foreman, "did anyone ever pay you for going to school? Of course not! Well, you're earning a dollar a day out here. We're paying you a dollar a day to go to school."

Needless to say, the idea was magic in its effect. The foreman followed through as friend and teacher, and the boys enthusiastically went to work to learn carpentry. The new foreman may not have read the poem by Edward Markham, but he surely knew the truth therein:

We are all blind until we see
   That in the human plan
Nothing is worth the making
If it does not make the man.

Why build these cities glorious
   If man unbuilded goes?
   In vain we build the work,
Unless the builder also grows.

("Six-Twenty-Six," June, 1937)

Other Federal Programs

NIRA. To relieve unemployment the NIRA program was proposed. Numerous and extensive plans for buildings, lookout towers, roads, and other improvements were made in 1932 and 1933. The large planning project on the forest was under the direction of Leslie L Colvill, fire staff man. Assistant Ranger Lawrence K. Mays of the Silver Lake District was detailed to the supervisor's office September to November 1932, to assist in the planning. A great many planned projects were completed, but, because of lack of funds, a great part of the program did not materialize. (1932)

Emergency Relief Administration. While the CCC camps were in operation, another emergency program was being carried on for the benefit of older workers who did not have jobs. The first ERA project on the Fremont was a drift fence about eighteen miles long on the Chewaucan range of the Paisley District, started in the fall of 1935. This project was built out of the $35,376 allotted the Fremont from President Roosevelt's unemployment relief fund of nearly $5 billion. Workers were chosen from the relief rolls of Lake and Klamath counties. (1935)

Building of the Dent Creek Road was one of the major construction jobs undertaken by the ERA. It starts across Drews Valley near the old "70" Ranch and runs above the reservoir site across the valley to the mouth of Dent Creek. It follows up Dent Creek to a tract of about 20 million board feet of bug-infested timber. The new route is graveled and is of the best type of forest service road, with no more than 3 percent grade. It will open up a valuable tract of timber for cutting. (1936)

Two 20-man ERA camps are running at present. The Drews Creek Camp is constructing a new road to Dog Lake; the Paisley Camp is constructing drift fences, improving the new Paisley ranger station site, and getting out fence and campground furniture material. (Albert Arnst, "Six-Twenty-Six," April, 1937)

Silver Lake Addition

On May 14, 1930, 224,291 acres known as the Silver Lake Addition were included within the forest boundary in the northern part of the forest by Congress, Public Law 214. This changed the total gross area from 935,714 to 1,160,005 acres, and the net area from 849,286 to 975,015 acres.

We have been advised that the Silver Lake or Jack Creek addition to the Fremont Forest has been made. Under these circumstances it is desirable that action be instituted to put the area under grazing administration.

In checking over the description in House Resolution 3717 I note that Section 36, T.25S., R.9E., is not included in the addition, nor the first tier of Sections in T.29S., Rs.9, 10, and 11 E. If my check is correct, you have an isolated (open) section in T.25S., R.9E., that is not national forest land, and you also have a lane one-mile wide and fifteen miles long between your forest and the indian reservation on the south. It may be that there is some error in the description I have had available for checking. Ordinarily conditions of this kind would not materially interfere with grazing use, but I can well imagine what would happen under the circumstances and conditions with which you have to contend in that region. (Correspondence from E. N. Kavanaugh, May, 13, 1930)

I regret very much that the House of Representatives Bill 3717 was inadequate in the description of this territory. The original petition and description furnished by the local stock associations covered the area fully, but in some way in the rewording of the description, in order to clarify and simplify, these omissions were made. I have checked my records and find that the original description did include these tracts. If the error cannot be corrected otherwise it should be taken care of in connection with the ultimate boundaries work or perhaps it might be possible to include the areas in a separate bill. If the regional office thinks it advisable, the matter can be taken up on this end with a view to getting this error rectified by proper legislation. (Response from Gilbert D. Brown, May 15, 1930)

Supervisor's Offices Move

Offices of the forest supervisor were moved from the Herford Building in Lakeview, Oregon to the new post office building in April 1939.

Plush is Not All Velvet

Famous last words — "It never snows at Plush and Adel." That was the consensus of grizzled old timers interviewed regarding the advisability of making a winter trip to these isolated hamlets near the intersection of the Oregon-California-Nevada borders. Relying upon their sage counsel and ignoring weather forecasts that predicted continuing snow storms, District Ranger Albert Arnst and Assistant Ranger Pearl Ingram set out in February 1937 on a four-day trip to count deer and antelope and visit with sheep and cattle permittees.

We hit snow before we reached Plush, some thirty-five miles over the hill in Warner Valley. It didn't stop, in fact it became a raging blizzard. Our destination was the Kittredge ranch eighteen miles south of Plush. All semblances of a road disappeared under the assault of the white out. We were able to reach Adel only by blustering our way through ranch gates, with Pearl opening the gates by the lights of the pick-up. Some six hours of this fierce snow battle finally landed us at the big ranch house where, tired and exhausted, we spent the night. Next morning we ate an early breakfast of oatmeal, steak, and eggs with the buckaroos who had to feed the cattle during the snow storm.

Marooned at the ranch, with roads still impassable, we stayed another day and night with the buckaroos, who had a rough time feeding the cattle during the continuing snow. Finally on the third day we tried our luck heading back to Plush and made it. But a check at the local store and post office indicated that Lakeview, our ultimate destination, was completely snowbound, with all main highways closed west and north because of broken snowplowing equipment. Plush's school teacher couldn't get back to teach her classes.

With no place to go, we headed for a nearby ranch house, part of a spread owned by a permittee. Here we stayed a couple more days, dining royally on mutton three meals a day, served by our congenial Irish host, with a brogue as thick as his mutton stew. Meanwhile we kept tab by radio and phone with road conditions at Lakeview and sallied out to make game counts of wintering herds.

Finally, we decided to start back by taking a road north of Plush (instead of west), which would take us through comparatively snow-free desert country to Valley Falls (junction of roads to Portland and Burns) and thence planned to head south to Lakeview (twenty-two miles). But we didn't get far before we ran into snow-blocked road conditions. Here we met other stranded travelers who had come in from Portland. By shoveling for many miles (and leaving our cars behind), we finally reached another ranch house, which soon became a hotel. The rancher put us all up, fed us well, and found places for us to spend the night, mostly on the floor.

Our communication with the supervisor's office in Lakeview resulted in a plan of action. They would head a short distance north with vehicles and meet us with bobsleds. So our contingent of many travelers walked eight miles through huge drifts (on snowshoes and skis, stubbing our toes on the tops of marooned buses and trucks completely covered by snow), bobsledded another ten miles, drawn by a team of horses, and transferred to vehicles for the last few miles. Our four-day trip was a nine-day adventure not soon to be forgotten. Old times in the Adel area since 1873 pawed their weather beaten brows to remember a winter as devastating. (Albert Arnst, "Six-Twenty-Six," March, 1937)

LOCAL NEWS

Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association

The second annual meeting of this association was in Redding, California, October 17 and 18, 1932. The association includes seven California and three Oregon counties — Jackson, Klamath, and Lake. Its object is to make better known the recreational and scenic resources of this region in northern California and southern Oregon. Two California national forests and two Oregon national forests — Rogue River and Fremont — were included. The president was E. B. Hall of Klamath Falls, and the manager was T. L. Stanley of Redding. The organization was most cooperative with the Forest Service, and it existed for several years. The 1932 meeting was attended by Supervisor Campbell and Assistant Regional Forester John D. Guthrie of the regional office. (John D. Guthrie, "Six-Twenty-Six," November, 1932)

Return Visit to Portland

On February 27, 1933, thirty members of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, including Supervisor Campbell, went to Portland to return a visit made by the Portland Chamber to Lakeview. "Lake County, the county Oregon forgot" made itself known to Portland. The Fremont Forest came into the picture at several points in the talks. The Goose Lake Yodelers (Pierson brothers) made a great hit as did the 20-30 Trio. Talks were made by Forrest Cooper, secretary; John Withers, vice-president of the Lake County Wool Growers; Victor Johnson, county agent and Burt K. Snyder, ex-Mayor. ("Six-Twenty-Six," March, 1933)

Roundup Parade Float

"A Summer Home in the Forest" was the name given to the Fremont's float in Lakeview's sixteenth annual roundup parade on Labor Day.

All available members of the force, including the girls, took a hand in dressing it up and, by working Saturday afternoon and Sunday, got it ready be parade time Monday morning.

A platform truck completely draped in incense cedar boughs; a neat shake-roofed log cabin built to scale and set in a green (moss) lawn at the foot of a timbered hill; a lake bordered by rushes and ferns, with a gravelly beach and a rowboat tied up there and, yes, an island in the lake and swans on the water; a stream, spanned by a rustic bridge and flowing into a lake; a rocked-up spring with a spring branch into the creek; cedar, fir, and aspen shade trees, shrubbery, vines, flowers 'n everything; an artistic banner along each side, reading "A Summer Home in the Forest." These banners, partly in flowing script, were designed and executed by Ladd Fancher, a CCC enrollee from the Dog Lake Camp. Here is a "Ladd" who can and will do things with the little brushes!

Since the float did not fit into any of the established classes, we had no expectation of a prize. However, there was delivered to this office a gorgeous ribbon emblazoned "Sixteenth Annual Roundup 1935, Labor Day Parade. Forestry Division. Grand Prize." The building of the float was planned and directed by Walt Perry. ("Six-Twenty-Six," October, 1935)

An elongated platform was placed on a truck and on this a "beaver meadow" was constructed with tussock grasses, moss, and ferns. To complete the natural appearance several newly cut "beaver stumps' protruded from the grass with newly gnawed tree sections and fresh chips in place. With material taken from a beaver dam, the back of the truck cab was made to represent the lower side of a beaver dam. And then, to furnish the final life-like touch, an honest-to-Grandma live beaver was staked just below the dam amongst the slashings. That is, he was staked when the parade started, but the multitude and the tumult and the shouting got on his nerves after the first block, so he clipped his rope and started home, only to be balked at every side by the tremendous distance to the hard ground, he being fat and not adapted by nature for jumping and all. Jack Wescoatt, acting as official wild animal trainer, managed to be on all sides of the float at once to head him off, during which performance we discovered that Jack has the makings of a world's champion tennis player. Received cup "Grand Prize Lakeview Roundup Parade." (Walt Perry, "Six-Twenty-Six," October, 1936)

A ski hill with skiers entitled "Fremont Winter Sports" was entered as the 1938 float in the roundup parade. Several dolls dressed in ski clothes were placed in skiing and spilled positions on the hill. At the bottom of the hill live skiers Louise and Jean Clouston, daughters of Alma and John Clouston, were resting. The Fremont won a silver cup for this float.

This was about the last decorated float entered in the roundup parade. In the years when floats were entered, members of the supervisor and rangers' staffs enjoyed working together during the Labor Day weekend on their own time to build an attractive float. However, because of some criticism from outside persons, to the effect that the Forest Service should be able to win the cup every year with its unlimited facilities and help, the project was given up. For this reason, practically every Forest Service entry in the Labor Day parade since has been one or more pieces of polished up equipment carrying fire prevention or other messages.

Points of Historical Interest

Smoke Signal Pits. On top of a small hill on a promontory at the west side of Lake Abert, about two miles from the south end of the lake, is a pit that may have been used for smoke signaling. Its size, shape, and location seem to preclude its having been used either as a defense or as a hunter's blind, both of which occur elsewhere, while its location would be ideal for signaling the other camps which were located along the east and north shores of the lake, up to fifteen miles distant. I know of no other pits which appear to have been primarily for this purpose. Near this point are large springs, and both here and across the lake at Poison Creek were large permanent camps, both locations still showing faint traces of "pit house" lodges. General Fremont, in December 1843, passed directly through the Poison Creek campsite but makes no mention of the camp, or of any indians near the lake, though customarily he noted such things elsewhere, as at Summer Lake, Chewaucan, and Christmas (Hart) Lake. It seems probable that these sites had been abandoned prior to 1843, possibly temporarily due to the then low water level and foul condition of the lake. (Walt. J. Perry, Memorandum for supervisor, April 10, 1936)

Hunter Blinds. These are frequently seen along the shores of lakes, several at Lake Abert, and it seems clear were used as a screen by hunters waiting for water birds to drift within bow shot.

About six miles west of Valley Falls on Willow Creek, in about Sec. 4, T.36S., R.20E., there is a high promontory on the south side with a sheer face next to the creek. This is known as the "fort," and commanding the pass is a series of nine semi-circular breastworks (or blinds) about six to eight feet across but only one and one-half to two feet high. The rocks have been long in place. There is no record of when or by whom these works were constructed. They would be good protection to prone riflemen. Archers cannot shoot from the prone position; they must stand or kneel, and indian hunting blinds were usually made to shoot over in kneeling position. Nevertheless I believe that rather than a "fort" this was a blind from which a number of hunters could discharge arrows into a herd of animals, as antelope, as they were driven through the pass. There is a rock shelter camp, rock paintings, etc. on the creek just above. (Walt. J. Perry, Memorandum for supervisor, April 10, 1936)

Indian Burial Grounds. Although occasional indian burials are found, and in the sand dune country of the Fort Rock Valley I have seen quite a number, there is little question that cremation was the more common practice. Doubtless the ease of excavating as in the dunes, or the difficulty as in rocky or lake bed country, had much to do with the disposition of the dead. There seems to have been no regular burial grounds or grave yards. (Walt. J. Perry, Memorandum for supervisor, April 10, 1936)

Cairns. Mere piles or monuments of stones are frequently seen on commanding points. They marked no burial place, nor were they breastworks or blinds. Neither, it seems, could they have had anything to do with signaling. They probably had some religious or other ceremonial significance but what it may have been is problematical.

On the rocky western brow of a hill in the NW1/4 Sec. 20, T.37S., R. 16E., with a broad view of the Bly country and the Sprague River Valley, are several monuments, some of which are merely pyramids of single stones set one upon another. On Gearhart Mountain overlooking the same and additional country are similar works. (Walt. J. Perry, Memorandum for supervisor, April 10, 1936)

Battle Grounds. No battle grounds are identifiable in this locality. Tribal battles there must have been, but, once faded from memory, little or nothing remains to identify the site. Around the ancient dune encampments in the Fort Rock Valley I have found foreign arrowheads which—from the material, the shape, and the workmanship—seemed to relate to the Mississippi Valley people. A far cry. These may or may not be indication of invasion and battle. They could be evidence of friendly inter-tribal visits. They were hardly trade articles as they were much harder to make and no more efficient than the native obsidian points. (Walt. J. Perry, Memorandum for supervisor, April 10, 1936)

Skeletons Discovered! Last August while a CCC crew was excavating for one of the buildings at the new Bly ranger station, two indian burials were unearthed some three feet below the surface. With one of the poorly preserved skeletons, an obsidian arrowhead and knife were found; with the other a broken stone mortar. The artifacts found indicated a man and a woman respectively, while the condition of the bones (in view of the shallowness of the graves and porous nature of the soil) pointed to a considerable, though probably not an excessive age — perhaps only a century or two.

Unfortunately, the boys who made the find removed all available relics before reporting it. One lad collected the teeth in his shirt pocket, later sending the shirt to the laundry, teeth and all! Thus any archaeological information interest that might have attached was entirely lost.

Many of the old peoples practiced complete cremation of the dead; others, or perhaps the same, especially where heavy fuel was scarce, attended to this in a very perfunctory manner. The idea was not only to get rid of the body, but at the same time destroy the disease, if any, that caused death. The ease with which a body could be interred in the particular locality had much to do with the method used, but even in the sand dunes, with only sagebrush for fuel, some pretense at cremation was frequently made.

This site is such as was quite commonly used for burials, being a sort of promontory overlooking a valley, and the alluvial soil easily excavated.

The practice of breaking or otherwise destroying the belongings of the deceased has been widespread among many savage peoples and was common among many indian tribes, hence the broken mortars, pestles, metates, and mullers so frequently found around old campsites and burial places in Central Oregon. These articles were hardly subject to accidental breakage. (Walt Perry, "Six-Twenty-Six," November, 1936)

Southeastern Oregon: A Cradle of Humanity. The investigations of Dr. Luther Cressman, head of the anthropology department of the University of Oregon, continue to develop information of great scientific interest concerning southeastern Oregon.

His latest announcement concerns a cave in the Summer Lake region where he found positive evidence of human habitation and bones of extinct animals that roamed during the Pleistocene age 12,000 to 15,000 or more years ago.

Identification of the bones as those of ancient horse, camel, bison, wolf, mountain sheep, red fox, and waterfowl was corroborated by Dr. John C. Merriam, president emeritus of the Carnegie Institution, and Dr. Chester Stock, professor of anthropology at the California Institute of Technology.

This is said to be the first time such a find has been made in this area. It is interpreted by Dr. Cressman as evidence that southeastern Oregon should be regarded as one of the cradles of humanity in the western hemisphere. Similar evidences have been found in the southwest, but never before in this section.

There is reason to believe southeastern Oregon and northeastern California are fertile fields for such investigations as those which have been made in recent years by Dr. Cressman. Amateurs who pursue such investigations as a hobby, of whom we have a number in this community, are likely as not to make important discoveries. It is one of the things that makes this an interesting area. (Klamath News, November, 1939)

NOTES

1. Because Lakeview was in the center of this ranger district, the name of the district was changed in 1932 to "Lakeview". However, the change was temporary, for some confusion resulted and the name later was changed back. Bach, page 33.

2. In 1932, Supervisor John F. Campbell reorganized the ranger districts, reducing the number from five to four: Warner, Bly, Paisley, and Silver Lake. Dog Lake was distributed with Bly and Warner districts. Bach, page 33.

3. Walt L. Dutton worked on the Fremont during its formative years. His career in the Forest Service later brought him to Washington, D.C. See the chapter on the teen years for additional accounts of his early years on the Fremont.

4. Grazing permits were issued for horses until 1931, but after that time horses were not permitted. Wild horses were pretty much under control by 1930, but had been a problem during the twenties, when "those not branded or claimed by the owners were sold for $5.00 per head and shipped out for chicken feed". Bach, page 313.

5. In 1930, the Fremont requested a revision in authorized allowances to reduce the number of sheep to 80,000 and the number of cattle and horses to 10,500. These figures would better reflect what the Fremont was able to graze under the dry conditions during those years.

6. The total number of cattle grazing on the Chewaucan-Sycan division, according to type of permit, is given in Bach, page 389.

7. Permittees who would be affected by a change in maximum limits are given in Bach, page 390.

8. Certain changes would be necessary before these allotments could be designated as common use. Recommendations are given in Bach, page 391.

9. The impact that this action was expected to have on livestock owners is detailed in Bach, page 391.

10. Reducing the number of livestock grazing on forest land had been an important range management policy for many years. During Supervisor Gilbert Brown's administration, numbers decreased from 18,269 cattle/horses and 106,530 sheep in 1910 to 9,300 cattle/horses and 75,000 sheep by 1930. A later grazing report indicates that the trend continued: "Every legitimate opportunity has been taken to reduce numbers through foreclosures, transfers by sales, etc. During the past twelve years—1924 to 1935 inclusive—reductions have been made in all classes of stock amounting to 44.7 percent." Bach, pages 78 and 392-93.

11. Some specific improvements made by the CCC are given in the text. A detailed list of improvements at Silver Lake is provided in Bach, pages 364-65.

12. A side camp of Camp Ingram was Dog Lake Camp, mentioned in Bach, pages 360 and 382.

John Scharff standing by road ditching plow, 1932

Cliff Springs Camp, Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933

Fremont Rangers in 1934. Left to right: Leo Quackenbush, Chet Bennett, Pearl Ingram, Larry Mays, Bob Bailey.

Forest fire crew and equipment at Dairy Creek Guard Station, 1933

Fire equipment warehouse and shop built in Lakeview by the C.C.C.

Bly District ranger station and residences built by C.C.C.

Rangers' meeting, 1933. Front row, left to right: Everett Lynch, Nelson Smith, Guy Martin, Sheldon Moss, Al Cheney, Earl Griffin, Clifford Morehouse. Back row, left to right: Pearl Ingram, Herbert Hadley, Leo Quackenbush, John Scharff, Ted Woods, Les Colvill, Lonzo Vernon.