1650 HISTORICAL DATA Afton Ranger District the Wyoming
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This is a transcription of a c.1965 document cataloged in the R4 History Collection as R4-1680-2009-0277. Handwritten notes are indicated by script font. 1650 HISTORICAL DATA Afton Ranger District The Wyoming National Forest, with its Supervising office at Afton, Wyoming, was created from the old Yellowstone Reserve by presidential proclamation on July 1, 1908. Shortly afterward, the Afton Ranger District was established at Afton, Wyoming. On May 14, 1923, executive order #3842 consolidated the old Wyoming National Forest and the Bridger National Forest; the name was changed to “Bridger National Forest”, after a noted trapper and scout of the area, Jim Bridger; and the supervisor’s office was moved to Kemmerer, Wyoming, where it has remained. The area now known as the Bridger West Side was part of the Teton Division of the Yellowstone Reserve. Following is a brief history of the Afton Ranger District: 1. Early Administration District Rangers serving on the district are listed in order of their appointments. The dates each District Ranger served are not available prior to 1925. Gliddeon Barstow – Mrs. Barstow was Ted Moffat’s first grade teacher. Fred John Graham John Ingram George W. Yeaman James T. Moffat to 1923 Henry Redford 1923 J.ack J. Albano 1923 to 1927 – Ted Moffat, Bum Lambs, E. Hunsaker Ona A. Harrison 1927 to 1937 Lowell G. Woods 1937 to 1944 Arch Gardner 1944 to 1946 Vaughn E. Tippetts 1946 to 1957 James E. Bossi 1957 to 1961 C. D. Wadsworth 1961 to Present 12/30/66 Mr. James T. Moffat was discharged from duty in 1925 and Henry Redford, an employee, was appointed as Acting District Ranger for a few months until a replacement, J. J. Albano was appointed to succeed Mr. Moffat. In 1944, Arch Gardner was appointed Acting District Ranger to serve until a District Ranger was appointed to replace Mr. Woods, who had been transferred to the Targhee National Forest. Mr. Gardner served through the war years, then Mr. Tippetts took over the District in 1946. There were no full-time Assistant Rangers on the Afton District until 1960, when John R. Glenn was assigned as Assistant. He served in that capacity until November, 1961, was then transferred to the Cache National Forest, and replaced by Henry A. Walters, who still fills the position. 1 In 1959, Miss Patricia Waring, of Smoot, Wyoming, was assigned to serve as Ranger Clerk with official station at Afton. She was a full-time employee and worked on three districts, Afton, Bedford, (no Thayne) and Cokeville. When she resigned in 1960 to become a housewife, she was replaced by Keith Wray, a long time resident of Afton, who maintained a schedule of service on the three districts until July 1, 1961, when he was assigned to the Afton District only. He served here until April 1964, when his appointment was changed to Forestry Aid. Mrs. Reita L. Call was appointed District Clerk at this time and still serves in this position. Following are some incidents concerning some of the “old time” employers of the district. An old sheep-herder for the old Afton Livestock Company tells the following story: “During the time that Ranger Barstow was serving on the district in about 1910, he was riding in the head of Grey’s River checking sheep herds as they left the Forest in September. While giving instructions to a man in charge of a herd of sheep as to which route he wanted the sheep to trail off, a disagreement arose, tempers flared, and the discussion progressed to man-to- man combat. During the struggle, Mr. Barstow’s shirt and trousers were ripped completely off. He mounted his horse and rode down Smith’s Fork in his underclothes until he came onto a herd of sheep belonging to the Afton Livestock Company. Here he was given some old clothes to wear on his return to Afton.” John Ingram, the 3rd Ranger to serve on the district, bought a farm in Osmond, about 3 miles south of Afton, of which he still owns 80 acres. This land is rented and operated by Lincoln County Commissioner, Clarence Erickson. Mr. Ingram is now deceased. Mr. Rulon J. Crook, a native of Smoot, Wyoming, relates the following: “About 1916, when I was a young man in my late teens and just beginning to start life on my own farm in Smoot, there was no canvas to be had here for making irrigation dams. I was irrigating in my field one afternoon, just west of the present Smoot store, when I saw a large fire burning in the street in front of Ranger James T. Moffat’s residence. Not knowing what was burning, I ran to see if I could be of some assistance. As I reached the fire I saw quite a large pile of tents, pack saddles, saddle blankets, tarps, etc. being burned by the Ranger and Supervisor, Charles Beam. Being badly in need of canvas, I started to recover a piece from the fire, but was immediately stopped by the two forest officers and told that I couldn’t have the unburned canvas. I tried to buy it, but was refused. They told me that they could neither sell nor give away any Government property. Thus, the equipment was burned.” Mr. Crook was deeply hurt over this incident and has carried a “thorn in his side” and a grudge against the Forest Service that has lasted nearly fifty years. 2. General Administration and Operation In the early years, grazing of domestic livestock had, by far, the biggest impact on administration of the Afton Ranger District. The timber resource required very little of the Ranger’s time, since there were just a few small timber operators. Fire prevention and suppression during the fire season was of major importance. Most of the travel had to be done by horse because there was no road system; and the Forest Service was dependent upon forest users for fire prevention and suppression. Recreation use of the National Forest was confined 2 primarily to the lower slopes of the Star Valley front, making risk of man-caused fires much less and confined to a much smaller area than if roads and transportation were available. During the Roosevelt Administration, Civilian Conservation Corp Camps were established. Two were located on the Afton District, one on the summit in Grover Park and one in Salt River at the south end of the valley. This program opened the door to planning and accomplishing some worthwhile and badly needed projects. On February 6, 1934, a parcel of land was purchased by the Forest Service from the City of Afton for $1.00. On this site was constructed the present Afton Administration Site consisting of a Ranger dwelling, District office, two-car garage and store room, and a horse barn and corral. In 1937, another piece of land, 5 X 6 rods was purchased from Mr. Sam Roberts for $250.00, where a warehouse and oil house was constructed. Much CCC labor was used on the two projects. In 1962, a land exchange was made between the Forest Service, the City of Afton, and Doyle Allred, for the Forest Service horse corral, which protruded into the City Park, for a piece of land on Highway U.S. 89 at Osmond. The Forest Service barn was moved from Afton to the newly acquired piece of land at Osmond with Accelerated Public Works funds in 1963. The Old Corral Creek Station (north and east about ¼ mile from present site) was built in 1912, a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor and roof. It was sold to J. D. Gardner in 1933 for $5.00, and the present Corral Creek Guard Station was constructed at a cost of $1,173.85. CCC labor was used. The present Smith’s Fork station was also constructed in 1933 under the same program. In 1934, the present water system was installed at the Smith’s Fork station. The Upper Grey’s River Road and the Smith’s Fork Road was constructed in 1933 and 1934, making it possible to travel by car from a point at Alpine, Wyoming, up Grey’s River to its head, over Commissary Ridge and down Smith’s Fork to U.S. Highway 89. This is the same road on our present transportation system. The Smith’s Fork-Grey’s River telephone line was constructed in 1922 and 1923. This work was done with team and wagon and hand labor. The Lookout Station on the summit of Wyoming Peak was constructed and a telephone hook-up was made from this station to the Smith’s Fork-Grey’s River telephone line in 1927. We are told that the first piece of news carried by this hook-up was that Charles A. Lindberg had just successfully landed in Paris, France after his famous flight over the Atlantic Ocean. Henry Redford, foreman, Rulon J. Crook and Thomas Parsons, made the telephone line and hook-up to the Wyoming Peak fire lookout station, which was manned during fire season from 1927 to 1954, when it was abandoned. The LaBarge-Meadows Guard station, although located on the Cokeville Ranger District, was administered by the Afton District. It was equipped with a telephone switchboard and radio and was manned by a fire guard and dispatcher from about 1947 to 1955. Mr. & Mrs. O. J. Holdaway (who was principal of the Star Valley High School) manned the station most of these summers. 3 3. Watershed and Multiple Use Management In 1941, the City Council of the Town of Afton requested that the Forest Supervisor make an inspection of the Swift Creek watershed.