8 



in those days that running water purifies itself 

 within a comparatively short distance! 



After about a month at headquarters, Greeley 

 sent me out to work with two of the district rangers 

 surveying the boundaries of mountain meadow sites 

 to be withdrawn from all forms of entry for use as 

 pastures for the ranger s stock while on pack trips 

 or as locations for temporary stations. This was 

 an enjoyable assignment - lots of scenery, good fishing 

 and one ranger in particular very good company. 

 Also plenty of rattlesnakes ! I will not burden 

 this history with accounts of several close en 

 counters, but some were pretty scary. 



When late fall chased us out of the high moun 

 tains, one of our last jobs was to remove every other 

 cross plank on a suspension foot and sheep bridge 

 over the Kern River so the heavy snows could fall 

 through and not break down the bridge. 



My last job before return to headquarters was 

 to take a compass and lay out a trail up the side 

 of a hill and along a bench covered with dense 

 chaparral. The job on the hillside, where the brush 

 was fairly open, was not too hard, but when I got 



