Source Materials of Early Ranger Experiences

A selection of sources located in the Forest Service Headquarters History Collection. For additional infomation, please contact the staff.

 Garland, Hamlin. Cavanagh: Forest Ranger. A Romance of the Mountain West. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1910.

 Crane, Basil K. Dust From an Alkali Flat. s.l. : s.n., 1981. 119 p.

 Abbey, Robert Harvey. Early Day Experiences in the U.S. Forest Service, Part 1 (1905-1920). s.l. : U.S. Forest Service, Lassen National Forest, n.d. 126 p.

 Thompson, Jessie. Early Days in the Forest Service, Volume 1. Missoula, MT : U.S. Forest Service, Northern Region, 1944? 218 p.

 Early Days in the Forest Service, Volume 2. Missoula, MT : U.S. Forest Service, Northern Region, 1955. 83 p.

 Early Days in the Forest Service, Volume 3. Missoula, MT : U.S. Forest Service, Northern Region, 1962. 295 p.

 Early Days in the Forest Service, Volume 4. Missoula, MT : U.S. Forest Service, Northern Region, 1976. 269 p.

Fire : Forest Fire Anecdotes. 1950's? approx. 25 p.
Short (1-2 page) anecdotes from the early days of the Forest Service (1910's-1942), mostly unattributed, and concerning grazing and various ranger activities as well as forest fires.

Fire : Stories About the Forest Service. 1937, 1940's, 1979. approx. 50 p.
Stories of fire lookouts, fire fighting, and detail duty in D.C.: "Lookout's Life" and "The Smokechasers Summer" by Mick Clumpner; "Detailer in Washington Writes Home" (from January 18, 1937 Service Bulletin); photocopy of "The Big Fire" by Joe B. Halm; typed carbon copy of "Ranger Bravery and Action in the Forest Service" by Carpenter (no date, maybe 1940's).

Fire : The Capitan Tragedy. no date. 3 p.
Typed copy of an account of the shooting of forest rangers by an irate resident in the Lincoln National forest.

 Atwater, Montgomery M. The Forest Rangers. Philadelphia, Pa.: Macrae Smith Company, 1969.

 King, R. T. The Free Life of a Ranger: Archie Murchie in the U.S. Forest Service, 1929-1965. Reno: University of Nevada Oral History Program, 1991.

History : U.S. Forest Service -- Early History of the USFS. 1940. 30 p.
Photocopy of "Early History of the U.S. Forest Service and Events Leading Up to the Author's Connection With It" by John W. Lowell (Supervisor at Bitterroot National Forest from 1922-1935), January 5, 1940.

History : U.S. Forest Service -- Rangers. 1962, no date. 5, 39 p.
"The Forest Ranger" by George M. Kyle (from 1962 Yearbook of Agriculture, separate no. 3159); "Invalids Need Not Apply" by John Burns (from Persimmon Hill, vol. 10, no. 2, Spring 1980, pages 59-63 -- discussing the competencies required of early forest rangers); "Ranger Bravery and Action in the Forest Service" by W.W. Bergofen (no date).

History : U.S. Forest Service -- Saga of Forest Ranger. 1986. 5 p.
Photocopy of "The Saga of the Forest Rangers" by Robert J. Duhse (The Elks Magazine, July/August 1986, p. 6-7, 9, 32-33).

 Rothman, Hal 1958. I'll Never Fight Fire with My Bare Hands Again: Recollections of the First Forest Rangers of the Inland Northwest. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1994.

 Flint, Elizabeth Canfield. The Pine Tree Shield: A Novel Based on the Life of a Forester. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., 1943.

Poetry, Verse, and Songs : Guthrie, John D, Forest Fire and Other Verse. 1929. 325 p.
Photocopy of "Forest Fire and Other Verse" collected and edited by John D. Guthrie (Portland, OR : Dunham Printing Company, 1929).

Poetry, Verse, and Songs : Selections. no date. approx. 25 p.
Humorous writings by forestry students at the University of Montana; "20th Chapter of Exodus, Revised Version for Forest Officers" and "Lamentations of the Forest Ranger" (W.W. White); Multiple Usury" by William Lowell Putnam; "In Arizona" by C.B. Clarke, Jr.; "Ode to Forest Reserves" by the "Poet Lariat"; "The Ranger's Joy" (by Hans Ewoldsen?); letter from Richard E. McArdle to Frank Harmon discussing authorship of some forester poems and songs; "Comin' Up the Rocky Trail from Town"; "Susan Van Dusen"; "Adieu"; "Rangers Song" words by P.S. Lovejoy; "Bearing Standards Bright"; "Chaparral Song".

Poetry, Verse, and Songs : Smith, Ernest W, Forest Service Rhymes and Other Verses. 1949. 90 p.
Photocopy of "Forest Service Rhymes and Other Verses" by Ernest W. Smith (Boston, MA : Bruce Humphries, Inc., 1949).

 Fickes, Clyde P. Recollections by Clyde P. Fickes, Forest Ranger Emeritus. Missoula, MT: U.S. Forest Service, 1972.

Regions : Region 4 -- Treaty of Ogden. 1915, 1977. 2 p.
Photocopy of the "Treaty of Ogden" (1915) and typed explanatory note (1977) -- "an informal agreement by the six western district foresters of the Forest Service (now called regional foresters) to keep each other informed about employees who had proved unsatisfactory...".

 Shoemaker, Leonard Calvin. Saga of a Forest Ranger: A Biography of William R. Kreutzer, Forest Ranger No. 1, and a Historical Account of the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado. Boulder, Colo.: University of Colorado Press, 1958.

 Roberts, Paul H. Them Were the Days. San Antonio, Texas: The Naylor Company, 1965.

 Hurst, William Miller. Thinking Back. 1960s?