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The goal of this blog is to help readers locate their lineage and discover the forces that motivated them, and learn how they lived their lives--told in their own words in the BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS trilogy, from the 1860s to the early 1930s. The indexed names will be published here frequently, along with an excerpt and a historical photograph if available. ** Scroll Archives at right.

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Saturday, May 24, 2014

Forest Management Pollicies: Settlers of Sanders County Montana: Vignette Vol.1 No.8

Vignette Vol.1 No.8
[Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]
Weare, Clifford R.
1911. Noxon. Excerpt-Cliff Weare, Ed Donlan, Frank Lyons, and Joseph Moderie were the primary sawmill men in northwestern Sanders County in 1911, each struggling to survive a serious slump in lumber sales. Forest management policies that were irritating before the 1910 fire now infuriated them. They objected to the forest service pushing sales of timber upon a broken market. But the dictates of the government were explicit. Federal instructions dictated:

"All timber sale work is urgent; standpoint of economic utilization; increasing revenues of the service; without jeopardizing the fundamental principles of stumpage rates, advance payments, close utilization and proper silvical treatment of the timber stands.

Congress expects the service to make good its promise to bring up the total of its revenue to equal that of its gross expenditures. The USFS now furnishes only 1/50 of the total (timber) cut in the United States. It seems reasonable that cut might be increased sufficiently to supplement present revenue without seriously affecting general market conditions."
Ranger Granville "Granny" Gordon
Although the Forest Service was having almost more problems than they could handle, a sense of humor was evident on the Cabinet National Forest. While Ranger "Granny" Gordon poured grain into his horse's feed stall, which was nothing more than a wooden box attached to a tree a short distance from his tent in a forest campsite, he consider how to sum up his 1911 annual report.

  USFS Ranger Granville Gordon breaking camp with the horses packed with tents and gear ready to head for the Ranger Station, ca. 1911, Granville Gordon photograph, courtesy of his daughter Blanche Gordon Claxton collection.

When Gordon returned to his headquarters at the Bull River Ranger Station the report he penned said,

"All funds short due to 1910 fire. We who are left of the Cabinet force this winter (1910-11) are hardly more than a corporal's guard and from present state of finances, it looks as though we might have to live on salt char and hominy before grass grows.

We HAVEN'T HAD A RANGERS MEETING FOR THREE YEARS, and the outlook is not good for one in the near future. There have been two reasons for not having more rangers meetings - when we had money enough, we didn't have rangers enough; and when we had rangers enough, we didn't have money enough, and now we have neither one. However we are going to have one before next Christmas if we have to catch char for our meat, kill bear for the grease, shed tears for the salt, and assemble on foot."
Spring work at the Bull River station consisted of Ranger Gordon exerting some of his energies on the 'Jungle,' which in future years is to be called a clearing.

Also, during that first quarter of fiscal year 1911, 29 timber sales were made, valued at $5,550.21 (consisting mostly of fire-killed timber). 3,220,000 feet saw timber, 1,241 cedar poles, 70,152 cedar posts and 16,332 railroad ties. They were mostly small sales to local parties, except for the sale of 2,700,000 feet of fire-killed timber on Marten Creek, which was sold to G.S. Burrill of Sandpoint, Idaho. Burrill began with a large crew, also cutting a large private timber sale.

R.A. Lauderdale of Norman, Washington, bought a large sale on the East Fork and Upper Bull River; estimated at 1,271,000 feet of saw timber, 3,144 cedar poles, 175,000 cedar posts and 7,971 cords shingle bolts. The forester optimistically wrote in the journal, "He undoubtedly will put a large crew to work soon."

  It's unlikely any of this Noxon area group of friends and relatives worked for Lauderdale busy as they were establishing their homesteads. The group includes Harry Wilson, George Gardner, Granville Bauer, Chess Greer, Jess Beason and daughter, Nora, Clayton Bauer and Earl Lockman, ca. 1912-14, courtesy Clayton "Clate" Bauer collection.
 

The first ranger meeting on the Cabinet National Forest took place June 2l, 1911. Rangers Brown, Clark, Gordon, Scarlett, Saint and Bushnell spent 4 days going over fire problems, tools caches, fighting, patrol and fire reports, office files and procedures.
 

   USFS Ranger Granville "Granny" Gordon (on the left) is the only identified man in this group of foresters at Thompson Falls Ranger Station, ca. 1912, courtesy Granville Gordon collection.

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[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume I ]

 
 
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