Early Days in the Forest Service Volume 3

By Hollis Stritch
(Division of Engineering)

Not long ago I happened to unearth two early day reports which interested me, mainly because they were written before my time. The first report was dated 1913. It was by E.R. Johnson, Surveyor-Draftsman, who had made a reconnaissance survey up the Coeur d'Alene River from Prichard to "The Forks" (now called Deep Creek), a distance of 26 miles. He had made the trip in November of that year.

Johnson recommended building a wagon road upriver from Prichard, following the east bank. His report explains the necessity for a road: there was a large volume of timber in the region tributary to the river, and several companies were logging in the area, floating their logs downriver to Coeur d'Alene Lake. The loggers had been having difficulties in supplying their camps. There was a good Forest Service trail up the river, but it was not being used by the companies for packing their supplies, for the reason that the cost of packing was greater than the cost of boating. But boating was difficult and expensive. Several experiments had been tried with power boats, but had not been successful for the river was swift, narrow, and in places so shallow that boats could not make headway. Also, the boats were endangered by sawlogs floating down the river.

The report gave me some estimated costs: at that time the cost of boating freight upriver from Prichard 20 miles was 2-1/2 cents per pound, or $50 per ton. If a wagon road was constructed, he estimated that a four-horse team would be able to make the round trip in two days, hauling at least two tons one way. The charges for such a trip would be not more that $15 per day; the cost per pound would be 3/4 cent, or $15 per ton.

If a good wagon road was built, he believed the lumber companies would be willing to pay an additional 25 cent per thousand board feet for stumpage, at which rate in several seasons the road would pay for itself.

At that time (1913) the Rose Lake Lumber Company had a freight road from Lakeview over the divide to "The Forks," thus the new road would connect Prichard to points on Pend 'Oreille Lake.

The report indicated that, aside from the value a road would have to the lumber companies, mining companies and homesteaders, the Coeur d'Alene River was considered a scenic river and would offer excellent opportunities for automobile trips and camping, hunting and fishing.

Johnson said that several classes of road could be constructed. The cheapest would be to follow along the bottom land and cross the river frequently by means of fords. However, there would be about three months in the spring during high water when such a road could not be used, and during the summer log jams might block the fords. Also, a road on bottom land would be soft, and only small loads would be hauled.

The road he proposed to build would be a permanent wagon road. It would be on the east side of the river for the entire distance. It would be mainly on water grade, above high water, and would be mostly sidehill construction. He planned to build it 14 feet wide on flat ground, 12 feet wide on sidehills, and 10 feet wide in rock cuts. This would require a cleared strip 30 feet wide. Grades would be less than 8 per-cent. Johnson estimated that the road would be about 26 miles in length and would cost approximately $50,000.

The second report was dated 1929. It was by H.A. Calkins, Location Engineer, pertaining to a railroad location survey which he had made that year. Apparently a logging railroad had been built upriver from Prichard six miles to Big Creek. Calkins began his survey at the end of the existing railroad, and carried it upriver as far as the mouth of Flat Creek, 10.2 miles. The map of the survey showed that it crossed the river five times (it is obvious that the railroad requirements for grade and alignment would not permit following the east bank of the river, as Johnson had planned). Calkins estimated that the railroad would be 10.2 miles in length and would cost $103,000.

The party organization for the survey consisted of:

H.A. Calkins, Location Engineer
Howard Drake, Logging Engineer
J.B. Yule, Instrument Man
R.P. Hilleary, Instrument Man
Elmer Swan, Rodman
Dave Robertson, Chainman
Henry Kottkey, Stake Artist
Ed Ring, Axeman
Arthur Toney, Axeman
Roy Houghtaling, Cook

As I have said, these events were before my time. But in later years I worked for Hartley Calkins, and became acquainted with Howard Drake, Jim Yule, Dick Hilleary, Elmer Swan and Davey Robertson. And I listened to their stories about the survey up the Coeur d'Alene River. Calkins used to tell about an old codger who had a homestead up above Prichard. It seems the old fellow had found a survey monument of some kind. It was an iron pipe with a brass cap. Apparently he had been trying for a long time to remove the brass cap, thinking that there might be some documents inside the pipe. Calkins was interested, in case the monument might be useful in making his survey. He asked, "What was stamped on the brass cap?" The old fellow replied, "I don't rightly know the figgers, but I believe there was a seven in it, according to th' THEOLOGICAL SURVEY."

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