History of the Provincial Forest Inventory Program
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A HISTORY OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL FOREST INVENTORY PROGRAM* PART TWO THE POGUE ERA: 1940 - 1960 Written by ROBERT E. BREADON “Too bad it isn’t morning, so we could fly at ‘er again!” Mickey Pogue et al. MAY 2017 THE ORIGINAL WORK WAS COMPLETED IN 1995 © Forest History Association of British Columbia, Victoria, B.C. *This version contains some changes made to the final edit by Jacy Eberlein, who digitized and created this file in July 2014 using a printed copy lent by Bob Breadon. Formatting, design and additional editing were carried out by John Parminter in 2016 and 2017. ii INTRODUCTION In 1991, while gathering material for articles on the early history of the Research Branch of the B.C. Forest Service, I began to realize that many old-timers of the 1920s and 1930s were still active and alert. I also discovered that several had worked in both the research and forest surveys divisions. A little more digging indicated that there were still around 30 survivors who had worked in forest surveys during the pre-war period. I felt that it would be worthwhile for someone to interview these old-timers, and preserve a record of their experiences in the B.C. Forest Service while the opportunity still existed. I discussed the matter with Dave Gilbert, Director of the current Resource Inventory Branch, and he concurred. He also felt that any history project of this nature should cover events right up to the present time. I then commenced to seek a volunteer to write the next section of the project. Fortunately I obtained a favourable response when I contacted Bob Breadon. Bob and I had worked together on the Kyuquot Forest survey in 1947. At that time he was the Timber Cruiser and I was his Compassman. After graduation Bob worked in forest surveys during the 1950s and he was willing to write the history of the Forest Surveys Section / Forest Surveys and Inventory Division for the period 1940-1960. Our two reports are now completed. Since they display some individuality of content, organization and style, we decided not to combine them, but to publish them separately as Part One* and Part Two. We hope that someone will undertake Part Three (1960 on) in due course. Ralph L. Schmidt Victoria, March 31, 1995 *A history of the British Columbia Provincial Forest Inventory Program: part one, 1912- 1940 by Ralph Schmidt. Revised edition published by the Forest History Association of British Columbia, 2016. Victoria, B.C. Available for download from Fhabc.org under “Publications” or from the J.T. Fyles Natural Resources Library at http://library.nrs.gov.bc.ca/digipub/BCFSInventoryhistorypart1.pdf iii PREFACE TO PART TWO In 1992 Ralph Schmidt and a group of retired Forest Surveys and Inventory Division (formerly Forest Surveys Section) veterans decided that the colourful history of the provincial inventory program and its many participants should be recorded, before any more of those participants fell silent. Ralph recruited me to become an amateur historian with him on this enterprise. My assignment was to record the events and personalities of the 1940s and 1950s, now known as the “Pogue Era” because Mickey Pogue was in charge during most of that period. We agreed that the outcome should, as far as possible, be an oral history based on the recollections, whimsical or not so whimsical, of those who marched with “Pogue’s Army.” During 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 I assembled over 200 pages of biographical sketches based on interviews (personal, telephone or mail). Where old Forest Surveys Section personnel records were missing, I prepared appendices listing known members of survey parties and office staff. The combined listings contain about 2,300 names (some appearing for one summer only, others appear year after year). About 180 photographs taken during those stirring times were copied for inclusion in two albums (unpublished). The biographical sketches, appendices and photo albums will become part of the archives of Forest Inventory Branch for safekeeping and future perusal. Part Two which follows is distilled from all the material gathered, in hopes of capturing the essence of a time when forest surveys grew from a corporal’s guard during the war years into “Pogue’s Army” in the 1950s. The people who make up this history came from many origins. Some stayed in the woods or in forestry, others moved on. No matter where they came from, or went afterwards, they are linked by memories of the times spent in forest inventory. At a time when British Columbia and its forests are changing, it seems fitting that those memories be recorded before they are lost. Robert E. Breadon Vancouver, March 31, 1995 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As the author of Part Two, I am indebted to Ralph Schmidt, the author of Part One, for originally persuading Resource Inventory Branch of the value of a written history of the provincial forest inventory program. I am further indebted to him for approaching me, a 1947 Kyuquot survey buddy, to assist in the task and for continued encouragement throughout the project. Sincere thanks go also to Dave Gilbert and Raoul Wiart of Resource Inventory Branch, for their sustained support of our history project and to two surveys veterans: Imre Spandli, for his reflections as one of the Hungarian foresters who joined forest surveys and for successfully pursuing an important piece of historical research; and Jack McLellan, for his own contributions and thoughtful review of a draft of Part Two. Finally, it is obvious that any success achieved in an oral history must be attributed above all to all those who were there, remembered how it was and shared their memories. The names of many of these contributors appear throughout the text. More are named in the biographical sketches and appendices from which this history is excerpted. These are the people who deserve the credit for bringing to life the times, places and personalities of forest surveys of the 1940s and 1950s. Robert E. Breadon Vancouver, March 31, 1995 EDITOR’S NOTES Photographs are from the collections of Reg Barclay, Ken Boyd, Fred Brahniuk, Bob Breadon, John Bruce, Roy Crawford, Bruce Devitt, Gerhard Eichel, Scott Finding, Doug Fligg, Jim Gilmour, Don Grant, Mike Jackson, Larry McMullan, Dudley Ritchie, Ralph Schmidt, George Silburn, Bill Spriggs, Bob Sutton and unknown others. Line drawings of plants were done by A.K. Hellum. Special thanks to Lesley McKnight, retired from the Research Branch of the B.C. Forest Service, for her excellent proofreading skills and suggestions for improvement. As many people featured in the biographies have passed on since the time of first writing in 1995, there are some mixed present and past tenses in those items. Hopefully this will not distract the reader. The intent was to remain as loyal as possible to the original text and therefore new material is enclosed by square brackets. John Parminter Victoria, May 31, 2017 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Title Page Introduction .………………………………… ii Preface to part two …………………………. iii Acknowledgements ………………………… iv Editor’s notes ……………………………….. iv Prologue to part two ……………………...... 1 1 The Pogue era 1940-1960 ..………...…….. 7 2 Starting with surveys ...…………………….. 14 3 What we did ......…………………………….. 21 4 Transportation ….…………………………… 27 Land 27 Water 32 Air 37 5 Food (or the lack of it!) ......………………… 45 6 Tough times ………...…….………………… 52 7 Tall tales, close calls ..……….…………….. 63 8 Nicknames ……….………………………….. 90 9 Skippers …………………………...………… 92 10 Cooks we knew …………………………….. 97 11 Demon rum ………………………………….. 101 12 Incidental fauna …………………………….. 104 13 Wartime exploits ……………………………. 115 14 Post-war newcomers ………………………. 121 15 Fatal accidents ……………………………… 131 16 The ladies …………………………………… 134 17 Office episodes ……………………………... 139 BC Forest Service forest survey reports available online ……………………………... 146 Sources of drawings: Page 2. https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/FS_Newsletters/May1953_FS_Newsletter_118.pdf Pages 26 & 35. https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/FS_Newsletters/Dec1960_FS_Newsletter_124.pdf Page 100. https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/FS_Newsletters/Dec1957_FS_Newsletter_122.pdf Page 141. https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/FS_Newsletters/Dec1951_FS_Newsletter_101.pdf PROLOGUE TO PART TWO The official and concise version of the forest surveys story can be found in the annual reports of the B.C. Forest Branch (1912-1945) and B.C. Forest Service (1945 onwards). A number of articles about forest surveys people and the work they did are in the internal BCFB / BCFS employee newsletters. The following article was written by Assistant Forester Barrie Ford for the May 1953 newsletter.1 It provides an introduction to the work of forest surveys field crews and office staff and is followed by the unofficial stories of those involved. “The location is, ‘Anywhere, B.C.’ The curtain rises on our cast of characters as the pale dawn ushers in a new day of the field season. As the train pulls in to the station, several members of the survey party climb out of their Country Carryall and await developments. A tall, lean, pale student with his college beany at a jaunty angle gets off the train with his packsack. This is our hero, M.I. Green, who is to play the part of man against the primitive elements, fighting mosquitoes, crouching out in a rainstorm, attempting to cook dinner, shouldering his packboard for weeks on end through the uncharted wilderness, bathing once a month Barrie Ford, 1950. and relaxing only when it’s too dark to work. M.I. Green is cordially greeted by the other members of the survey who, nevertheless, are appraising him with practiced eye. The party chief is D.I. Checkall and his right- hand man is Joe Fillaform. The others in the group are ‘Moose’ Bushman, the Cruiser, and his Compassman, N.I.