A question about interpretation, that being the John Wesley Hillman portrayal.
I really thought that was great! We had Marion Jack and a few other rangers do it. He taught in the schools down in Jacksonville, I believe. This was already an established program. I don’t know whether Frank Betts gets credit for it, or whether he just endorsed it, but it was in place. Marion used this stock and we paid him rent for the horses. We worked out a site where he could keep them. His stock was available to us for backcountry use when we need them.
Were the stock kept in Sleep Hollow?
Yes. I remember this mounted ranger bit. About 1960 at Sequoia and Kings Canyon, the NPS realized the benefit of having a ranger on horseback as opposed to a vehicle. I was the one selected to try that type of program in the Giant Forest or Lodge pole area. At that point in time I didn’t have the little radio to carry with me. Our radio was in the vehicle. When I was on my horse, and I grew up on a farm riding horseback, it was a pleasure for me. I enjoyed that aspect of it, but I felt somewhat lost without that radio. As a patrol ranger, I felt that radio was an important tool that I needed. It served a good purpose in patrol of the campground and I realized that. I liked the Hillman program at Crater Lake. It was very helpful for interpretation if John Wesley Hillman arrived at the rim on horseback, but it also lended a medium to reach the people and they liked it.
Was the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 a factor in getting the seismograph?
I think we had one in place when Mount St. Helens erupted. I remember seeing the waves on it. It did pique a great interest from out staff, especially our interpretive program. I have to tell you about a little wrinkle on that. Within a couple weeks of the first eruption we got a call from FEMA (52). They understood that we had a street sweeper and were calling because there was a great need for some of these sweepers in cities like Yakima and Portland that had ask fallout. What can you say? We had to declare it available, so they came and got it. We didn’t see it again until something like October or November. When it was brought back, the bearings were just shot. The ash had just chewed them up. We lost that puppy and I don’t know if we ever replaced it or not. That was our contribution to the Mount St. Helens ordeal.
