Marvin Nelson

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Marvin L. Nelson Oral History Interview

Interviewer: Stephen R. Mark, Crater Lake National Park Historian

Interview Location and Date: At Marvin Nelson’s residence in Medford, Oregon, January 12, 2000

Transcription: Transcribed by Kelli Bacher, January 2000

Biographical Summary (from the interview introduction)

Retired in 1969 after 16 years as the park’s administrative officer. In this capacity Mr. Nelson served through a total of eight superintendents during his time in the Medford office and at Crater Lake. He saw a number of changes to park operations, including major ones that affected how administrative services were rendered.

Materials Associated with this interview on file at the Dick Brown library at Crater Lake National Park’s Steel Visitor Center: taped interview

 

To the reader:

Larry Smith put me in touch with Marvin Nelson, who retired in 1969 after 16 years as the park’s administrative officer. In this capacity Mr. Nelson served through a total of eight superintendents during his time in the Medford office and at Crater Lake. He saw a number of changes to park operations, including major ones that affected how administrative services were rendered.

The following transcription is from an interview conducted one afternoon at his residence in Medford. It is relatively short, though our correspondence provides some additional information and can be found in the park’s history files.

Stephen R. Mark

February 2000

Crater Lake National Park, National Park Service, Crater Lake, Oregon 97604

 We’ll begin with some question I’ve sent Mr. Nelson several months ago about his time at Crater Lake and what led up to it.

My connection with Crater Lake started a long time ago and involved quite a large number of people that helped me along the way. In fact it started back in 1934. After school I had a number of part time jobs, working for a dollar a day. We weren’t on relief, but my father was acquainted with a lady who was recruiting for the CCCs. He talked with her and she sent me along with another group as an alternate to Gillette, Wyoming.

When I arrived there, I was lucky enough to get into the CCC because one of the others didn’t pass the physical. To start with, they gave us a wheelbarrow and a pick and shovel. We went on the coal fires there. You dug out the fire, mixed it with dirt, and dumped it over the bank. That winter they transferred our company to Grand Canyon, Arizona, where they had three camps. The Park Service found out that I knew some accounting, shorthand and typing, so they pulled me into the office there as a clerk to handle the paperwork for the three CCC camps there.

While I was there they had an opening at the Grand Canyon Post Office. I took the Civil Service exam and had the best score. The person that took third was working there temporarily, so they gave him the full time job. They offered me weekends and holiday work if I could clear with the Army and the Park Service which was easy enough. It got me out of KP at camp and let me go to the cold room when I couldn’t make it for the regular meals. A little later my supervisor there, who really supported me, got me in line for any political appointments or clearance that was need for emergency jobs. When one of the enrollees fell over the rim and was killed, the Army had me take the notes for the hearing on that incident. This supervisor told me that I should be getting paid for my effort on that hearing. He went to the officials and got me cleared for payment for my work even though the Army didn’t like it much.

A little later there was an opening down at Casa Grande. Boss Pinkley was the superintendent there and Hugh Miller was his assistant. James V. Lloyd, the assistant superintendent at Grand Canyon, recommended me for this job and he arranged transportation with a dealer that furnished some supplies for the new community building in Grand Canyon. This provided me with a ride to Phoenix. From Phoenix I took the bus on down to the monument and I had a pack my 40 pound footlocker about a quarter mile from the highway where the bus left me off to the headquarters. Hugh Miller set me down to take dictation immediately after I got there and of course, that was a little bit rough. He wasn’t too satisfied with my efforts, but I spent about a week and a half there, and at that time Luis Gastellum was there temporarily (1). He didn’t have the political clearance for the position (2). After a few days his clearance came through, so they wanted to keep him. I went back to Grand Canyon, but at the same time there was an opening at Petrified Forest.

For some reason, Hug Miller decided that I’d be a good man for that job and he recommended me shortly after I got back up to Grand Canyon. The clearance came through, and so I went on down to Petrified Forest. White Mountain Smith was superintendent there at that time and the monument had one CCC camp. It was under the CCC camp that my appointment was approved and I was the only clerk there at the

Time (3).  In addition to the office work, he had me go through the accounting sheets and old vouchers to reconcile’em. Shortly after that, the auditor came in and he looked things over. He said, “You’re already done my job for me. I don’t have anything else to do here.”

I wasn’t under Civil Service for clerical work at that time, but I took the examination. In 1939, I believe it was, the U.S. Bureau of Mines came along with strategic war mineral exploration work. They picked me up from the resister, and from then I was doing clerical work, hiring and arranging camp facilities for crews that were doing the exploration work. My first job was at Tungsten Metals out of Ely, Nevada. When that was finished, I was up at Dunsmuir and finished up the paperwork for a chrome project there. From there I went back into the Bureau of Mines office in Tucson, and then up to Patterson, California, to set up a mercury project there. After that I was back in Tucson and they sent me over to Desert Center, California, where we used the metropolitan water district pumping station facilities. We worked on the iron deposits there with core drilling and sampling, that laid out an iron project that was later developed by Henry Kaiser for his Fontana plant. That job went for about a year and a half, after which I got back into Tucson and took a couple weeks leave.

When I arrived in Tucson, however, they said, “get your things in order, you’re going to Alaska for three months.” This gave me draft clearance and provided travel vouchers. I ended up in Seattle, and when I got on the boat to Alaska from Seattle, I found Grant Pearson transferring from Yosemite up to what was then Mount McKinley National Park. I was headed for Soldovia, Alaska, but I got as far as Sward. I had to report back to Juneau since the Bureau established a district office there. I worked in that office, handling travel for the Bureau of Mines crews as well as the accounting and so on. About that time some National Park Service employees I had known in the Southwest (Alfred C. Kuehl, Leo Diedrick, and a girl called “Gussie”) came with “Steamer” Bursley to do a survey of the Alaska Territory. I was able to help them with orientation, obtaining office space, and travel. When the administrative officer, Charles Peterson, transferred from Mount McKinley National Park, the opportunity arose for my transfer from the U.S. Bureau of Mines back to the National Park Service at Mount McKinley in 1949.

About a year and a half later, we (Matilda and I) were burned out. A little log cabin, with celotex walls and sawdust insulation caught fire in the basement and everything went up in smoke. We had a youngster who was ready for school and I didn’t want to buy new furniture and everything, so the folks that I knew in the Park Service offered me a transfer to the regional office in Omaha, Nebraska. Well, that went pretty well but I had hay fever in the valley there. After a year or so, they asked, “We’ve got an opening at Crater Lake National Park. How would you like to go out there?” That was the beginning of the Crater Lake deal.

 Who in the regional office helped you?

Well, Jimmy Lloyd was one of them. A lot of folks I knew boosted me along the way. The job in Omaha was with the river basin studies. It was sort of wishy washy in a way. I think it was mostly the fellows in the regional office in San Francisco that wanted me at Crater Lake. So anyway, I arrived out there. At that time we had a superintendent who had a home here in Medford. It was on Queen Anne (4). I don’t know if you’re familiar with it or not.

Yes, I am.

He was moving back and forth twice a year, winter and summer. The administrative office was in the old federal building here in Medford (5). The personnel man, and accountant, procurement and property management were under me in that office.

Do you remember the names of those people who worked in the administrative office when you were hired?

Well, Marion Anderson was my personnel officer, Basil Curtis was procurement and property, but I can’t think of the accountant right now. Leroy Marcroft was handling the administrative work when I came, but soon quit and moved over on the coast somewhere.

Who was the Secretary?

I believe Mae Hammack to start with, but I forget who took her place after she got sick. George Woodley was in the warehouse at Crater Lake, so he was back and forth with purchasing. After they started field purchase orders it simplified a lot of purchasing. He [Woodley] could write a field order for items and didn’t have to go through us until the accounting for them went through.

You want to know where I lived up there. Well, to start with before they finished the [Steel Circle] housing, I was in one of those little cabins at Sleepy Hollow. I then moved to the far end of the four plex (6).

I forget the name of the administrative officer that was at the park before I came, but he was gone before I arrived. I don’t know my successor, either, because that was probably the Klamath Falls Group Office. You asked how difficult was moving your office twice a year. It was just the superintendent who moved back and forth so we had all of the files, records and accounting and so on down here. When they moved us to Crater Lake in ’65 the regional office took over the accounting. Just the personnel officer, procurement and property, the secretary and I went up there. The superintendent held on to a little cubbyhole in the Federal Building in Medford for awhile (7).

 Was there also an assistant superintendent at various times?

Neal Guse was on for a while and then Don Robinson (8).

Did they live only at the park?

Yes, they were just at the park. We kept all the files here [Medford] until they moved a lot of the old ones into the Federal Records Center. We kept some of the necessary ones that we had to work with continually, but all the old ones went somewhere back east (9). The rangers and naturalists kept their records in the park, but most of the files were kept in the administrative office.

Did you send them to the records centers every few years?

No, just that one big shipment was it.

When was that big shipment, in the ‘60’s?

Oh, it was the early ‘60’s. I don’t remember just when.

Where did you live in Medford before you moved to the park?

At first we rented a housed located on 9th and Cottage, in which the owners had an apartment on the upper floor that they used for brief periods. They sold the property in 1960 and we had to move. We found and bought a nice place on Highland Drive and were very happy there for over 30 years.

Did you hang on that place while you were at the park for those couple of years you were at Crater Lake?

Yes. My wife stayed down here in Medford and the youngster went to school down here. I went back and forth on weekends. After that ’64 flood I had to go clear down to Klamath Falls and back around in order to get into town because the bridges were washed out all along the way out there (10).

Did you also handle accounts for Oregon Caves (11)?

We had the whole works to start with until it was all transferred to the region.

That consisted of Crater Lake, Oregon Caves and Lava Beds?

Well, Lava Beds was kind of in and out. We didn’t have a lot of Lava Beds work, but they did have us go down there and inventory property and some of their records. We didn’t officially have Lava Beds until they established the Klamath Falls Group Office. I took my retirement just shortly after that.

Was that very disrupting having so many superintendents through Crater Lake all the time?

Well, it went fairly smoothly despite having eight superintendents in sixteen years while I was there. [Don] Spalding came along and of course he was quite a politician. He insisted that all the mail goes through him and then the next thing I knew the regional office would by yelling at me- where’s this and where’s that? I’d dig around and try to find in somebody’s basket, not necessarily the one who was supposed to take care of it. After we went to Klamath Falls it was just too much. I was eligible to retire and told them they could have it.

Where was the office in Klamath Falls? Was it located on South 6th?

Yes.

They pretty much stayed in the same office the whole time?

Yes, the Superintendent and the secretary did. I just don’t remember exactly who all was there because procurement, property, and personnel all stayed up at Crater Lake.

Were you involved very directly in any of the planning efforts?

Yes, I took part in all the master plan meetings and so on.

How about the Redwood plans?

Well, I’ll show you something on that. No, I didn’t get involved in Redwoods but I’ll show you a clipping on some of that pretty soon.

Did it seem that the workload increased over when you arrived in 1953?

No. of course, it might have for the regional office since they handled all the accounting. We still had to do contracts for construction work and so on.

Did the administrative staff grow during that time?

As I say, it increased when they moved the office up to Crater Lake. All I had was the personnel, procurement, and property primarily. Also the warehouse and, of course, all the hiring and so on.

You had a question on employment. We advertised pretty much locally until the minority rule came along. The regional office would give us a list of names and we’d contact them, but most were in the southeast somewhere and they didn’t have money to come out here for seasonal work.

There were still some political appointments made for seasonal work during that time (12)?

Not particularly, it was just that we had to supposedly come up with a certain percentage of minorities in our seasonal employment.

Did your grade increase over time?

No, except for cost of living increases. I started as a grad 12, I guess.

How was the Medford Warehouse used?

That was primarily storage for equipment that we couldn’t use at Crater Lake during the winter. It went to the USGS after my time.

Did you visit the regional office in San Francisco very often?

Well, I was down there for training sessions a few times. I had good rapport with all them in the office.

 Were there every any general meetings for other administrative officers in the Park Service when you were at Crater Lake?  

No, though we had sessions in the regional office where administrative officers came from all the park areas. I wouldn’t necessarily call them training exercises but they were discussions, going over procedures and so on.

Did you have people that worked under you being detailed to other parks?

No.

Was Marion Anderson there the whole time you were at Crater Lake?

Yes. He was here in Medford when I transferred in and he was still there at Crater Lake after I retired. He married that Mary Shearer and they’re in California now. They live in a retirement home near Napa. I’ve got the name of it in there if you want it. Marvin Hershey was a ranger at Crater Lake and he’s over at Napa, too.

Was there anybody else on the administrative staff that lasted as long as Marion Anderson and you?

I don’t think so.

Would other people just stay a couple of years and then go on to something else?

Well, my staff was pretty stable except for the superintendent’s secretary. The first one got sick and dropped out. The when we moved to Crater Lake, Rae-Marie Foley was the wife of one of the seasonals up there and took over as secretary up there. They’ve retired from Glacier by now.

 We talked about radio communication that time.

When I first came to Medford they had one of these great big cabinet radios and we had radio contact with the park through it. A company in White City, made arrangements with the Park Service and they put in that reflector up on Garfield.

The microwave repeater?

Yes. It worked a lot better than the radio.

Were power outages a problem up there with the above ground lines?

Occasionally, yes.

Before everything was switched to Crater Lake, how many times would you have gone up to the park over the course of a year?

Well, I was probably up there once a week.

For all day?

Yes.

Did you have to stay up there?

No, it was one-day trip.

Kind of like what I’m doing today.

Right. When George Woodley was working in the warehouse, he’d come to Medford one day and Klamath Falls the next. After they moved us up there all the purchasing was done through Klamath Falls.

I think that about covers my questions.

 Foot notes:

  1. Luis A. Gastellum went on to a distinguished career in the NPS, serving in various capacities throughout the agency.
  2. Most positions under ECW were political appointments, often tied to being a registered Democrat.
  3. This was a temporary appointment under ECW, the funding source for CCC.
  4. The address is 1317 Queen Anne Street. It is now privately owned.
  5. It is the brick building on Fifth and Holly Street in Medford.
  6. Building 17, apartment D. Nelson did not live in the park until 1965, when the Medford office closed.
  7. This was because J. Leonard Volz served as a key man for planning the establishment of Redwood National Park.
  8. The chronological sequence for assistant superintendents during Nelson’s tenure as Administrative Officer: Gerry Miernam, Ray Rundell, Fred Novak, Neal Guse, Don Robinson and Paul Larson.
  9. These records eventually came to branches of the National Archives located in Seattle and San Bruno, California.
  10. The December 1964 flood washed out bridges along Highway 62 between Shady Cove and Prospect.
  11. Until 1958, Oregon Caves was a seasonal operation as far as the NPS was concerned. When Nelson arrived in 1953, Ranger Paul Turner was posted there in summer and Crater Lake in winter. The monument had year round staffing starting in 1958 when construction of quarters at Lake Creek allowed John Twonsley to be there through the winter.
  12. The questions pertains to the so-called “referral” system, where prospective job holders obtained appointments through their congressional representatives.
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