464 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



we found it buried in six to ten feet of snow. In most of these places we 

 could pull it out with stretchei-s attached to a tree or a pole, but in some 

 instances it was frozen in so tight that the wire would break in the pulling 

 operation and it became necessary to leave it buried to be picked up later 

 when the snow goes off, so we had to replace it with new wire at this time. 

 We found repairing telephone line on the skis mighty hard work, especially 

 when it was all up hill. The long down hill slopes on our return to camp 

 after the day's work had been completed, when the wind was our only 

 competitor for speed made us forget all our troubles in climbing the last big 

 hill. Disaster lurks in many places for the novice on skis, as was illustrated by 

 a conversation over the line after it had been repaired, between one of us 

 and the Supervisor. In response to our "Hello," the Supervisor said, "How 

 are you?" The reply came, "One shoulder is knocked down and I have a 

 couple of bog spavins on each leg, caused by an attempt to climb a spruce 

 tree while coasting down a steep hill into Park Creek. Otherwise I am feeling 

 fine." In another place the same man was coming down a steep slope going 

 like the wind. He was loaded with tools and repair paraphernalia and at 

 about the middle of the hill he suddenly .struck a high snow bank and all that 

 was left above the snow was his "Hello." Even the other fellow, old skier 

 that he is, struck a bare spot one day in coming down a long grade resulting in 

 a large hole in the soft earth and a broken nose on an otherwise smooth 

 countenance. 



At the Anderson Camp Ranger Station, one half way between Park Creek 

 and Big Creek, which is a partially abandoned summer camp with a dirt 

 roof on a three-room cabin and the center room entirely open in front, we 

 found the snow piled high above the cabin, but a space was left about two feet 

 wide between the open front room and the high snow bank. Through this 

 crevice we climbed in and examined the telephone located in the cabin and 

 made an effort to call up the office to test the line, but we found that although 

 we had finished repairing the line it would not work so we separated, one 

 of us going east and one of us west, to find the trouble. We latter found 

 a tree had fallen on the line two miles west of Ander.son Camp. After 

 repairing the trouble we returned to the Park Creek Ranger Station. 



We had skied all together about 20 miles this day and repaired three 

 miles of badly delapidated line, arriving in camp at 8 P. M., having put in 14 

 hours for one day's work. We were tired, sure, but with an appetite that 

 could not be beaten and after a good night's rest we were ready for the same 

 stunt again. Our work in repairing this line and painting the cabins has been 

 altogether a strenuous time, but after it was completed we felt fully com- 

 pensated in the knowledge that the work in our busy time during the coming 

 field season would be carried out with better success and efficiency." 



