506 



Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 



now looked secure for the night. Arm- 

 strong told him that he planned to 

 leave only a small holding force on 

 after midnight; that he and the rest 

 of his crew would be in camp at about 

 that time. He asked that coffee and 

 food be ready for the crew when they 

 came in. 



On return to camp, Johnson met 

 Ellsworth, who had a similar plan. 

 Ellsworth reported that in the dark a 

 man had been hit by a rolling rock; 

 several ribs had been fractured and 

 the man had been sent to the Cedar- 

 ville hospital. 



Johnson then bade Ellsworth good 

 night and success, and started his long 

 trek to Freeman's Cedar Summit camp. 

 The night was quiet. On his left he 

 heard the nighttime rustles and whis- 

 pers of the living forest; on his right 

 he saw the funeral pyres of a forest's 

 passing. 



The hot-shot crew had already pro- 

 ceeded up Trail Ridge to the Cedar 

 Divide camp. The meeting of Freeman 

 and the crew foreman surprised them 

 both. For a moment they stared speech- 

 less at each other. Then Freeman stuck 

 out his hand. 



"Ray, you old slab-sided son-of-a- 

 gun," he exclaimed. "I have been won- 

 dering how I was going to get this fire 

 out and you show up! It's a cinch 

 now." 



The two men had been forest fire- 

 men together in northern Idaho 15 

 years earlier. Both knew the rough- 

 and-tumble art of single-handed fire 

 fighting and spot-fire control; each 

 knew and respected the other's ability. 

 The foreman told Freeman that he had 

 40 men with him, 30 of whom were 

 trained fire fighters who had already 

 worked on 15 fires this season. Freeman 

 had studied his problem well during 

 his evening of scouting and knew the 

 location of critical spots for early morn- 

 ing attack. These he outlined on a map 

 for the foreman. 



The afternoon rush of the fire had 

 died down when it hit the rocky cliffs, 

 and it was necessary only to control a 

 few hot spots to hold the main front. 



That would take a few competent men. 

 The big problem was the spot fires in 

 the cliffs; they carried a threat of fur- 

 ther spotting from snags and from 

 burning embers rolling down from one 

 cliff to another. It was a job for indi- 

 vidual workers and a couple of strategi- 

 cally located spot-fire lookouts. 



By the time this discussion was over 

 the crew had been bedded. Freeman 

 and the foreman likewise went to bed 

 to rest up for their 5 o'clock take-off. 



Johnson arrived in the camp about 

 midnight but he disturbed no one. He 

 would get his facts in the morning. 

 He rolled up in a blanket until camp 

 activities wakened him. At 3 o'clock 

 the noise of a butcher knife pounded 

 on a frying pan broke the morning 

 stillness; the cook was calling the 

 sleeping to action. 



"Roll out, roll out!" he shouted. 

 Roll out they did. Johnson, Freeman, 

 and the foreman discussed the Cedar 

 Creek situation. 



Johnson told Freeman the scope of 

 his section, making it clear exactly 

 what crews would be coming up the 

 hill in the morning under competent 

 foremen to report to him and work 

 these lines. Freeman and his scouts had 

 the Cedar Creek situation well studied. 

 The scouts could guide men to the 

 danger spots and distribute them as he 

 and the foreman had agreed upon. 

 Freeman's chief concern was water, 

 but he learned that a good water sup- 

 ply was at hand in Cedar Creek about 

 a mile from the fire edge. With a pack 

 train on the job, the problem of water 

 distribution could be solved. When told 

 of the pack-train assignment already 

 arranged, he was pleased. He apolo- 

 getically told Johnson, however, that 

 he was not sure that he could have all 

 the spot fires rounded up by 10 o'clock. 



Breakfast over, the hot spotters 

 shouldered their back-pack pumps and 

 picked up their tools. It was just break- 

 ing day. Guided by Freeman and the 

 scouts, they proceeded to undertake 

 the job they were there for single- 

 handed fire fighting. 



After a quick trip through the area 



