12 ***** "Oh, Ranger!" 



high wind whipped the smoke through the valley. For hours they were 

 given up for lost, as they worked to backfire a break against the oncom 

 ing flames. It was not until the next day that they discovered that the 

 flames had leaped over their heads, above the tree tops, while they were 

 battling in the smoke near the ground. 



The oldest Old-Timer in the service is Jim McBride, of Yellow 

 stone. Ranger McBride first came to the park before there were any 

 rangers, as a driver for a quartermaster wagon. He learned the roads 

 and trails of the park as a wagoner and mule skinner. In those days 

 they had a different company of soldiers in the park almost every sum 

 mer, and it was necessary to maintain a small force of guides or scouts 

 to show the new troopers to their posts and to keep them from getting 

 lost. These scouts were really the forerunners of the rangers and were 

 indeed the first rangers. They fought off the poachers and tried to 

 protect the wild life of the park. Jim was one of these Old-Timers, so 

 long in the service that he is a personification of the name by which we 

 call the permanent rangers. 



There were picturesque and interesting events in the lives of those 

 early rangers, as Jim can tell. There were stage robbers to be captured 

 and buffalo poachers to be caught and brought to justice. One of the 

 most notable tales is of the capture of Ed Howell, the buffalo poacher. 

 He was caught red-handed by Scout Burgess and two assistants in the 

 act of skinning a buffalo on a remote tributary of the Yellowstone River, 

 in the dead of winter. Remember, rangers were called scouts in those 

 days. Howell had several buffalo hides in his camp. After capturing 

 him, the rangers were unable to bring about his punishment because of 

 inadequate laws. The story of the catching of this notorious poacher 

 and his escape from punishment caused great public indignation and 

 undoubtedly had much to do with the passage by Congress of more 

 stringent laws for the protection of the buffalo. 



Jim McBride was assigned one time to track down a robber who 

 had pulled off a sensational hold-up of stagecoach passengers in the 

 park. He nabbed a bad man suspected of being the robber in a remote 

 part of the park, and had to bring the rascal in alone. It was a trip of 

 several days, and one night the fellow managed to loosen the ropes with 

 which Jim had bound him. Jim awoke at daybreak just in time to see 

 the former prisoner approaching him with an axe in his hand. When 

 asked what he said to the alleged bandit, Jim replied : 



"I said, 'Good morning, when did you wake up ?' " 



He recaptured the man and brought him to headquarters. 



Risking his life to save that of another is something that every 

 ranger must be ready to do, any time he is called upon. Visitors to the 

 national parks unfamiliar with trails and with mountain climbing often 



