So some of the bitterness over the park’s establishment was still evident?
Oh, yes indeed, yeah we had to fight that personally virtually all the time that we were there. Now I think we overcome part of it. We had a concessionary there that I worked closely with. Well, I think that we became friends before we left. And I think that he finally found out that maybe the Park Service, you know, they didn’t have tails and this type of thing. The post mistress, we became very good friends with her. And her husband was a dyed-in-the-wool logger, and he initiated me into steelhead fishing, so I guess we passed muster all right. It was tough, real tough. And one of the interesting parts of it is that one of the Assistant Chief Rangers who had been here, Lee Sneddon was transferred up to Olympic shortly after we left here. And so he was up there too. So there we were.
Jean: In the next District.
Partners in crime up there. And we had another bear situation too, but that’s beside the point. Anyway the duties up there….it were almost a “primitive” type duty up there. You were dealing with the public in the summertime. You were existing in the rain in the wintertime, is the thing. And you were hauling water virtually every day. You were on a highway, right on 101, but it was still like a backcountry type of a situation. We were isolated by the conditions with a new park, a young Park. I was the first District Ranger when President Truman signed the Olympic coastal strip and Queets corridor into the Park, and it was my district. And there were some very, very interesting days up there. It was a real learning experience as far as mostly people, was the thing. Our house sat within 40, 50 feet of the Indian Reservation. So we had a lot to do with the Indians. I was instrumental in getting the first Indian into the Lion’s Club in Lake Quinault. It was a friend of mine down at Queets. So, but anyway, the duties up there as I say you did practically everything yourself. You were the only one there.
Jean: And your wife helped.
Things had to be, well when you couldn’t do it yourself.
