MEN WHO MATCHED the MOUNTAINS: the Forest Service In
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MEN WHO MATCHED THE MOUNTAINS: The Forest Service in the Southwest By Edwin A. Tucker and George Fitzpatrick 1972 United States Department of Agriculture U.S. Forest Service Southwestern Region TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Chapter I. The Pioneers Chapter II. Men on Horseback Chapter III. Cattle, Sheep and People Chapter IV. New Rangers Chapter V. Fire! Chapter VI. Wild Times and Wild Horses Chapter VII. What the Well Dressed Ranger Should Wear Chapter VIII. Six-Guns and Sons o' Guns Chapter IX. Grazing Problems Chapter X. Reconnaissance Chapter XI. Timbe-r-r-r! Chapter XII. No Lady Rangers—But Lots of Paper Work Chapter XIII. From Horses to Horseless Carriages Chapter XIV. CCC Days Chapter XV. Ranger Humor Chapter XVI. Grasslands Chapter XVII. The National Forests of Arizona Chapter XVIII. The National Forests in New Mexico Chapter XIV. Lost Mines and Buried Treasure Chapter XX. Ah Wilderness! Chapter XXI. Recreation Chapter XXII. Multiple Use Chapter XXIII. Land Exchanges Chapter XXIV. Management Chapter XXV. Public Relations Chapter XXVI. The Modern Ranger Chapter XXVII. Land Grant Country PREFACE It would be presumptuous to call this a history of the Forest Service in the Southwest, for no single volume can tell the whole story. Better to call it a chronicle "of and by a few of the men who quite literally blazed the trail, and of the fulfillment, frustration, and fun they found along the way," as Edwin A. Tucker phrased it. Several years ago Fred H. Kennedy, then Regional Forester, authorized Tucker to undertake twin historical projects: a history of Region 3 and the establishment of the Forest Service Museum at the Continental Divide Training Center. Both assignments were accomplished. For nearly a year, Tucker tape recorded interviews with early-day Rangers and other officials, some retired, some still in harness. And from newspapers and official sources he gleaned news items, letters and reports concerning early activities and people. When the material was typed, it covered more than 1500 typewritten pages—four big volumes—far too bulky a manuscript for publication as a trade book. This book then is a distillation of that material, plus such other material and chapters that were needed to clarify and bring up to date the story of some of the people of the Forest Service in the Southwest. Tucker has spent his adult life in the Forest Service, beginning during the period when many pioneer conditions still prevailed in the Southwest, and he knew and worked with many of the old timers and of course with the new breed of professionals who now guide the destiny of the Service. "However spectacular the changes in the Service," Tucker wrote in a foreword to his interviews, "they were nevertheless possible only because of the kind of men involved, men who responded to the challenge of their particular environment and time. In the earliest days, for example, the men for the times were necessarily tough; they had to be to survive. At that stage, ruggedness and resourcefulness, not technology, were the requisites. Despite public apathy and users' antagonism to regulations (sometimes violent), in the face of political pressures, in the absence of guidelines and for the most part with little formal education, the earliest Rangers and Supervisors did the job that was needful at the time. They performed their work with exceptional devotion and loyalty, and with a surprising awareness of the problem of that era and their relation to the future." Regrettably, all of the interesting experiences and histories of the early-day Rangers could not be included. Insofar as possible, the material chosen for inclusion is representative of various Ranger Districts, happenings and people. Tucker compiled material that reflected not only the spirit of the times, but also the special "flavor" that was a quality of the individual involved. Every effort has been made to retain that special flavor in the historical chapters. The current operations of the Forest Service are explained briefly so that the general reader may have an overall picture of the Forest Service, not only of its beginnings and growth but its complex management operations today. Much of the material deals with Rangers as the focal point of the narrative—but in a sense all of the employees of the Forest Service are "Rangers." A remarkable circumstance of research for this volume was the discovery of the high degree of dedication of Forest Service people— whether the title is Ranger, fire guard, clerk, Supervisor, or Chief of a Division. They are wedded to their jobs and dedicated to the philosophies of the Forest Service even when they differ personally as to the best ways to carry out the policies of the agency. The Forest Service is a complex organization of many kinds of specialists, but the Ranger District is the principal component, and as one Supervisor put it, "the Ranger is the key to success of the Forest Service." Today's Ranger differs from his counterpart of forty, fifty, and sixty years ago in that he is better educated in the technology of his job, and he is more of a business executive, with trained specialists to help him accomplish the job. But he is still an outdoorsman. Though he has less opportunity to do so, he can still ride a horse—and in the Ranger Districts of the Southwestern Region, horses are still plentiful. But the Ranger also calls on modern technology when needed, whether it be planes, helicopters, electronics, or computers, or all of them. And like his predecessor who rode tall in the saddle, today's Ranger is still a man who matches the mountains. —George Fitzpatrick Gifford Pinchot was the first Chief of the Forest Service which was organized in 1905. Pinchot and President Theodore Roosevelt worked together in setting up the National Forest System as it exists today. The Pioneers "A ranger of any grade must be thoroughly sound and able-bodied, capable of enduring hardships and of performing severe labor under trying conditions. He must be able to take care of himself and his horses in regions remote from settlement and supplies." Forest Service Use Book, 1908. The man who sat at the roll top desk bulked large above the chair back. The black coat stretched tight in accordion pleats between his shoulders as he hunched over the desk. His shaggy black hair almost covered his stand-up white collar that peeked above the coat. And when he swung his chair around and stood up at the sound of a knock on his opened door, his over-developed paunch pushed a slight spread between his vest and trousers. "I'm headin' back for Pecos, Mr. McClure," the man at the door said. McClure took a half-smoked cigar from his mouth that was almost hidden by a heavy mustache. "Good," he said. "Good. And remember Fletcher, keep those reports concise . concise. Good- bye." McClure gave the tails of his Prince Albert a swish, sat down and swung back to his desk to resume his writing. This was the office of the Pecos River Forest Reserve in Santa Fe in 1900 and McClure was the new Forest Supervisor, in charge of three Rangers and an area that originally covered 300,000 acres of mountain forests, and including some of the highest peaks in New Mexico. R. C. McClure was hardly the physical type that anyone would picture—even in 1900—as a Forest Ranger. But in those early days of the Service, when it was still part of the General Land Office of the U. S. Department of the Interior, and before Civil Service covered the appointment of Rangers, McClure was one of many political appointees who launched the infant agency. The Pecos River Forest Reserve had been set aside by proclamation of President Benjamin Harrision in January, 1892, the very first one in the Southwest and the fourth Forest Reserve in the United States. Subsequent Presidential Proclamations established Forest Reserves that later were organized into District 3—now known as Region 3 of the United States Forest Service.* *Originally included National Forests in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. These were transferred in 1911 and 1913, and Region 3 now comprises only the National Forests in Arizona and New Mexico and National Grasslands in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Gifford Pinchot, the idealistic conservationist who became the Chief Forester of the Department of Agriculture in 1898, had the right idea in his crusade to get "forestry from the books in to the woods." But it took awhile before there were trained Foresters to tackle the tasks—and in the meantime job-seekers who were sponsored by senators or other potent political allies moved into supervisory positions in the General Land Office's Forest Reserves Division. McClure's employment as Forest Supervisor had been made possible by Congressional appropriation in 1898, which provided for appointment of Forest Superintendents, Forest Supervisors, and Rangers for the Forest Reserves. A resident of Kentucky, he had obtained appointment through political channels, even as had his boss, I. B. Hanna, Superintendent of Forest Reserves in the Southwest, who was from Illinois and a close friend of "Uncle Joe" Cannon, then chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. There had been two previous Superintendents for the Southwestern Region, (John D. Benedict, 1897-1899 and William B. Buntain, 1899-1900) but the new program of forest protection was slow in getting under way. McClure's earliest reports and letters reveal that despite his lack of technical training, he was an enthusiastic and industrious supervisor, who was much concerned with seeing that the several Rangers of the Pecos Reserve put in a full day of work every day.