AS ONE FOREST RANGER VIEWS IT 



From a Personal Letter from Fred. Hanson, Forest Guard, Fifth District 

 Klamath National Forest, Orleans, Humbolt Co., Cal. 



(REACHED this "Ranger Head- 

 quarters" March 13 r it is 260 miles 

 from Yreka. via Somers Bar and 

 Etna. I made the entire journey with 

 pack-horses I purchased two good 

 horses and the necessary equipment, 

 costing in all at>.ut $350. and am well 

 prepared for Cervices at my camp and 

 district. 



Well, maybe you think I wasn't lone- 

 some for a fortnight, after coming into 

 these mountain, and forest from the 

 metropolis Why, it's sixty-five miles 

 to the nearest railroad, telegraph, and 

 express office and wagon road. That* 

 not bad. is , t ? Everything From a needle 

 to ? threshing machine is packed m by 



trail, on muleback and the charge per 



, - 

 pound for necessaries is from 4 to 6 



, , c- 



cents over and above >an Francisco 

 



Our headquarter, is built of logs, sit- 

 uated on the trail, f, ,ur and a half miles 

 from Orleans, the nearest post-office. I 

 have been very busy clearing, building 

 fences, chopping wood, surveying, etc. 



To-day, Sunday, I attended an Indian 

 burial. The deceased was quite wealthy 

 in Indian relics and money, considerable 

 of which was buried with her. Her 

 husband perforated her nose and ears 

 and attached pieces of the Indian coins 

 or wampum. 



There are but two white women here. 

 Misses Arnold and Reed, wno are doing 

 educational and missionary work 

 among the Klamath Indians." and who 

 have been sent out from New lersey by 

 the Indian Department. They have 

 promised to prepare an article about 

 their experiences with the Indians upon 

 the Klamath and Salmon Rivers. 



I am interested in FORESTRY AND IK- 

 RIGATIOX. My associate, Deputy Ranger 

 W. H. Hotellings, has some back num- 

 bers of the magazine at his home across 

 the Klamath, and when I am over there 

 again, I'll look through them. 

 512 



I feel a great interest in the Forest 

 Service and will do all within my power 

 to promote the work for the good of the 

 administration. I fully realize the great 

 importance of preserving the valuable 

 forests and watersheds in our state, not 

 , m \y. and selfishly, for the present gen- 

 eration, but for the generations that fol- 

 low us. 



And what helps most of all is the en- 

 thusiasm and inspiration one receives 

 f roni the forceful leadership of Super- 

 visor Richan i L P Bigelow, who takes 



a personal interest in his men * * * 

 Sina . writi hst T have CQme to 



U - eitchpcc to surve , mf Uve]ve miles 

 of thc westmi 1)(iumlarv ,, f the Rla _ 



,, -,, ~.,- . ' . . 



math reserve. I he Fifth District of 

 ,, T -, ,, XT .. , 

 the Klamath National Forest comprises 



,. 

 twenty townships, or about 460,000 



acres of . land , Th . ere * P lent >' of sal - 

 on and S ame dunn * the S a " ie sea * on 

 ? ou g hin g ]t - ' n a country where there 



1S 1( ? ts ! K?' P ur . e air * and water - lsn { 

 su ^ a haf thin ^- 1S jt T 



7" , U r ^ SI T r Cy T / a P Ulred a P ret - 

 !; ttle T fawn - After f"dling it for a 



whlle j ] lai<l ll under somc bushes and 

 watched for the mother. Presently she 



came trotting along, and. finding her 

 - voun ? one safe mmediately disap- 

 P eared a am in tho thicket. 



Al1 Tnrlian near us recently captured 

 Uvo Cllb bears - about three months old. 

 niale and female, brown and black, re- 

 spectively. They are such cute little 

 P et * : I call them the Teddy bears. 



F ^r some time past a panther has 

 been prowling around our headquarters, 

 and killing pigs. Last week the dog 

 treed it and our neighbor boy shot it. T 

 found it to weigh 135 pounds, just about 

 the weight of an average man. 



This is Sunday. I am writing this 

 letter stretched out on a few quilts in 

 our tent. Well, it's nearly noon, the 

 beans are about cooked, so I'll close. 



