----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How the Rager Rat Was Born
Jim "Stogie" Johnson, who worked at the Rager Ranger Station from 1960 to 1963, stopped by our office on June 24, 2002. He retired in 1989 from the Forest Service after 28 years in engineering. He now lives in Blaine, Washington, near the Canadian border. During the oral history I took from Jim, he mentioned something about the "Rager Rat". I asked for the full story.
It was normal to get snowed in at Rager during the winter. Everyone planned for it. He said that folks here only got into town (Prineville) about four times a year for supplies. After a while they got to feeling pretty abandoned out here, so they started calling themselves the Rager Rats, since they were holed up here like a bunch of rats. He never thought the name would stick but laughed long and hard when he found out that it did.
While collecting old photos for our centennial celebration, we came across one showing two individuals in a parade with a Forest Service float. One of the folks is wearing the head of a large rat. Someone remembered that Chuck Hedges made Rager a rat head out of paper Mache, but no one seemed to remember where it went. Chuck recently found it in the attic of the Recreation Hall (old office); Terry Reeves has taken it home for some TLC and dusting. It just may make an appearance at our reunion on June 14th.
History of the Ochoco National Forest and the Changing Boundaries over the Years
From the very beginning, the Ochoco National Forest has been a land system with changing administrative boundaries. In 1907, the Forest Service considered dividing the Reserves into separate administrative units, but it was not until 1913 that the Ochoco National Forest was divided into seven ranger districts. In 1932, the district boundaries were all changed again, resulting in five ranger districts. In 1939, the land amounts within the five districts were changed. In 1941, the districts went from five down to four. And, just in the past few years, these districts were reduced to the two current administrative units: The Lookout Mountain and the Paulina Ranger Districts. Administration of the Snow Mountain district was transferred to the Malheur National Forest. The following is a chronology of the early growing pains of the Forest Service in the Ochoco Mountains.
24 July 1902: Land in township 15S 22E and 14S 22E was withdrawn on this date for the Blue Mountains Forest Reserve.
28 July 1902: The Blue Mountains withdrawn under the Public Land Laws for proposed Forest Reserve purposes. Two divisions were proposed: Elk Creek Forest Reserve (that portion of the Blue Mountains lying in back of Baker City) and the Blue Mountain Forest Reserve (the remaining portion). Both totaled 3,053,178 acres.
25 April 1903: 62,480 acres of land on Maury Mountain withdrawn for the proposed Maury Mountain Forest Reserve.
21 August 1904: Land within the proposed Blue Mountain Forest Reserve was surveyed by the GLO.
1905: The Forest Reserves were transferred by President Theodore Roosevelt from the Department of the Interior to the Bureau of Forestry, Department of Agriculture, soon to be the Forest Service, and the forest reserves were thereafter to be national forests.
24 March 1906: By Forest Service Order E, A.S. Ireland became the first Forest Supervisor of the Western Division of the Blue Mountain Forest Reserve and the Maury Mountain Forest Reserve.
1 April 1906: A.S. Ireland took over his duties as Forest Supervisor. His office was in his home in Prineville.
25 January 1907: It was proposed to divide the Reserves into administrative units.
2 March 1907: A new proclamation was issued to combine the Maury Mountains with the Blue Mountains (West) National Forest. The Deschutes National Forest was also proposed at this time but no action took place until 1908.
4 March 1907: Forest Reserves were renamed National Forests by an Act of Congress. It took a while for people to catch on to the new name.
8 March 1907: Forest Supervisor Ireland proposes to the Washington office to divide the Blue Mountain Reserve in two at a different boundary: "That the South Fork of the John Day River be the division line so as to include that part of the Reserve lying west of said stream and north of the township line between townships 15 and 16 in that portion with headquarters at Prineville and would suggest the name Blue Mountain West for this portion. Would further recommend that all that part of the present Blue Mountain Reserve West Division lying east of the South Fork John Day River, and that part lying south and west of said stream and situated in Grant and Malheur Counties be included in the new division, with headquarters preferable at John Day."
15 May 1908: Supervisor Ireland received notice from the Washington Office that a plan would be put into effect on 1 July to redistrict the National Forest boundaries. A proposed boundary for the Deschutes National Forest was sent to him and he was told to take charge of this piece of ground on said date with headquarters at Prineville. The district adjoining the Deschutes on the east will be known as the Malheur National Forest, with Supervisor Bingham in charge at John Day; on the south as the Fremont National Forest with Supervisor Ingram in charge at Lakeview; on the west as the Cascade National Forest with Supervisor Seitz in charge at Eugene, and on the southwest as the Umpqua National Forest with Supervisor Bartrum in charge at Roseburg.
The new Deschutes National Forest encompassed all of the former Blue Mountains (West) National Forest, part of the Cascade National Forest, and part of the Fremont National Forest.
1 December 1908: Forest Service Regions (then called Districts) were established with headquarters in six Western cities:
- 1. Missoula, Montana District Forester W.B. Greeley
- 2. Denver, Colorado D.F. Smith Riley
- 3. Albuquerque, New Mexico D.F. A.C. Ringland
- 4. Ogden, Utah D.F. Clyde Leavitt
- 5. San Francisco, California D.F. F.E. Olmstead
- 6. Portland, Oregon D.F. E.T. Allen
All business formerly transacted with the Washington office now went through the District Office.
30 June 1911: The boundaries of many of the Forests in the District were rearranged. The Paulina Mountains and that region formerly included in the old Cascade National Forest were pulled from the Deschutes National Forest. The Paulina Mountains became the Paulina National Forest. The region formerly included in the old Cascade National Forest and another area on the east slope of the Cascades was named the Deschutes National Forest. The main division of the old Deschutes National Forest, including the Maury Mountains and the Snow Mountain region, was renamed the Ochoco National Forest, by Proclamation 1165. Under this Proclamation, the permanent boundary between the Ochoco and Malheur National Forests was delineated as the divide between Silver and Emigrant Creeks. Executive Order 816 transferred this land from the Deschutes to the Ochoco National Forest.
September 1913: The Ochoco National Forest was then divided into seven ranger districts.
From the Ochoconian, March, 1932: "As a result of a careful tabulation of the volume of work on the Forest, a change of ranger district boundaries has been affected in an attempt at a more even distribution of work among all district. The need for such change has been apparent for some time but owing to various local projects, it has not appeared practical to make the adjustment previous to this time. The new scheme provides for the re-occupying by rangers of Beaver Ranger Station and Maury Ranger Station, two stations that were previously occupied as ranger headquarters but in late years have only been used as fireman stations.
"It is felt that under present conditions the new plan will work toward better efficiency in administrative and fire control problems. A shift of rangers and the creation of some new ranger district names was made necessary by the district boundary changes. The present line of districts and rangers in charge is as follows:
| District | Ranger in Charge | Headquarters |
| Wildcat | L.J. Wirth | Ochoco R.S. |
| Pisgah | A.J. Radigan | Beaver R.S. |
| Post | Ralph Eider | Maury R.S. |
| Wolf Mountain | J.O.F. Anderson | Rager R.S. |
| Snow Mountain | E.W. Donnelly | Allison R.S." |
1939: Ranger District boundaries were completely revised, effective on April 1. A district headquarters was created in Prineville and the ranger headquarters at Maury Ranger Station was abandoned. The Maury unit was assigned to the Paulina District, headquarters at Rager Ranger Station.
1941: In November the forest was again re-districted - this time into four districts instead of five. Boundaries were all changed, except the Snow Mt. District, and Mitchell district was eliminated and absorbed in the other three districts. This made the set-up as follows:
District No. 1 - Prineville District - Wm. P. Dasmann, ranger
District No. 2 - Big Summit District - Norman C. White, ranger
District No. 3 - Paulina District - George P. McClanahan, ranger
District No. 4 - Snow Mt. District - Darroll K. Frewing, ranger
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dutch Reservoir
This reservoir is located along the 5830 road and about three miles northeast of the Rager Station in T15S.R25E.sec.14. The reservoir was named for John Henry "Dutch" Schwarzer who was born in Nebraska in 1884. He married Ollie Brown in April of 1914. Ollie died in 1937 and Dutch remarried Rose Caviness in 1944. All three are buried in the Beaver Creek Cemetery (see photos below).
Dutch and Ollie had a daughter born in 1925 that only lived for five days. She is also buried in the same cemetery with her parents.
Roba Creek T15S.R23E; Roba Spring T15S.R23E. sec.4; Roba Butte T15S.R23E. sec. 5
These three places are named for George Roba, born in Austria-Hungary in 1863. In 1886 he married Mary Soijka in Pennsylvania who was also born in Austria-Hungary. In 1889 the family came to Crook County and homesteaded near Paulina. He first raised sheep but then became partners with Lee Miller in the Paulina Store. The Roba's had several children, including a daughter named Eula born in 1896. She later married Ira Higgins for whom Higgins Spring in T15S.R23E. sec. 24 is named for. The Roba's also had a son name George who was born in 1894. The Roba's and their son George are all buried in the Beaver Creek Cemetery.
Looney Creek, T14S.R22E. sec 15
This tributary to Porter Creek is named for Gene Looney. He was a sheepherder who, in 1891, married a daughter from the Shrum Ranch in the Mitchell area. Ranger Charlie Congleton came across Mr. Looney on September 13, 1907. Ranger Congleton was riding over the east end of the Paulina District looking over the cattle range when he found Looney herding a band of Shrum sheep. Evidently, Congleton did not trust this sheep herder to take the sheep where they were supposed to be because he writes in his work diary that he followed the sheep and herder for the next two days until they were safely near Deer Creek and their allotment.
Dutchman Flat, T15S.R24E. sec. 36.
This wide flat area between the Rager Station and the Sugar Creek Campground is named for Napoleon Longley who cut shakes and shingles in this area for many of the local families in Paulina and Suplee. Ranger Charlie Congleton issued Mr. Longley a Free Use Permit for cutting timber near Sugar Creek on May 16, 1907. Mr. Longley was killed in 1911 on the George Senecal ranch while working on a horse operated threshing machine.
Noble Garden Spring, T15S.R24E. sec. 24
This spring is located about three miles northwest of the station. It was named for the Noble family who settled in 1871 on Sugar Creek near its confluence with Beaver Creek. William and Sarah Noble and their children had originally homesteaded near Sweet Home in the Willamette Valley. When one drives over Santiam Pass today and drops down near Sweet Home, you will see a green ODOT sign on the right side of the highway for the "Noble Slough". (Editor: it has always been my theory that the Nobles named their new home on Sugar Creek for their old home in Sweet Home, because this creek is named on our earliest 1880s maps of this area. KTM).
William and Sarah's son Andrew lived on the Sugar Creek ranch until 1911 when he sold to Calvin Morris and James Gilchrist. In March of 1908 Ranger Congleton stopped in at the Maury Ranger Station and talked with "Deputy's Morris and J.C. Gilchrist". These are probably the same men who purchased the Sugar Creek Ranch. Congleton went on in the following years in his diary about issuing Free Use Permits to Gilchrist and counting his sheep and cattle.
George Noble, also a son of William and Sarah, purchased the James A. Rager homestead land (now the Rager Ranger Station area) from Rager for $400.00 on November 24, 1885. Rager drifted up to Canyon City where he became a teamster hauling goods from that city to The Dalles. George Noble and his family lived on the ranch until they moved to Prineville. George later became the mayor of that town and also a vice-president of the First National Bank. One of the most frequently mentioned names in Ranger Congleton's work diaries is for "G.W. Noble". Congleton issued him many Free Use Permits for timber, and often stayed overnight at the Noble ranch while riding his patrols in that area. However, their friendship was tested on May 15, 1908 when Congleton made a special trip to the G.W. Noble ranch to tell Noble that he must herd his cattle off the sheep range. A large part of Congleton's job was keeping the cattle and sheep on their own sides of the deadline. The Paulina Drift Fence was not proposed until January of 1911 and was discussed at the Beaver Creek School House with the local ranchers on April 7, 1911. At that meeting, the ranchers donated all the money and materials to build the drift fence that was constructed later that summer. Remnants of this drift fence can still be found today on the Paulina RD.
A small entry in Ranger Congleton's work diary for November 24, 1910 was for: "With Glee Laughlin went to Prineville to get furniture for Rager Ranger Station, typewriter, etc. Got married at 8:45 pm in Prineville." Once he and his wife, Glee, moved back to the Ranger Station, things really picked up in the domestic realm for this remote cabin:
December 3, 1910: "Assisted Mrs. Congleton in putting down linoleum in kitchen and carpet in bedroom."
December 4, 1920: "Assisted Mrs. Congleton in putting down carpet in sitting room."
December 10, 1910: "Made wagon shed at Rager Station."
December 23, 1910: "Made some shelves in office. Made a general clean-up in office." (Editor: Congleton's office was a room in his home/cabin.)
December 24, 1910: "Did some carpentry work in kitchen. Made table and some shelves."
December 26, 1910: "Made table in bedroom."
December 28, 1910: "Made clothes press and table in bedroom."
March 7, 1911: "Cut poles to make horse corral near house."
March 8 through March 13, 1911: "Worked at painting doors and windows inside Rager Station."
March 15, 1911: "Made wagon shed at station."
April 8, 1911: "Worked on cellar at Rager RS today."
April 29, 1911: "Put locust seed to soak and dug up holes for planting seed for wind break on south and west side of house at Rager RS."
May 3, 1911: "Worked at fencing yard at Rager Station."
Ranger Congleton also worked hard at his regular duties during this time, riding hundreds of miles a week across his district and marking timber, surveying section corners, and keeping the cattle and sheep ranchers happy. He was probably ready for some annual leave beginning July 3 through July 8, 1911 to attend the birth of his first son, Ross Congleton, who was born in John Day on July 6, 1911. He brought Mrs. Congleton and Ross back home to the ranger station from John Day on August 6, 19ll by buckboard wagon, arriving at the station at 10:00 pm after staying over the first night at Bear Valley.
For the rest of that summer, Ranger Congleton was busy with being dispatched to fires up on the Cascade Forest Reserve (now the Mt. Hood National Forest), appearing at a grand jury trial in Portland for a case he brought against a Mr. Smith for starting a forest fire, and surveying for a ranger station at Squaw Meadows. His summer duties came to an end and it was back to his "honey-do" list:
November 13, 1911: "Made out estimate of paper needed for papering living room at station."
December 30, 1911: "Worked on construction of porch on north side of cabin at R.S."
January 9, 1912: "Went up into timber and cut a load of poles to make a cow shed."
January 17, 1912: "Went up into timber and cut poles to make woodshed at R.S."
February 18, 1912: "Cleared off brush from garden area."
April 4, 1912: "Fenced garden."
April 25, 1912: "Went from RS to Paulina PO to get mail and to get small trees sent from Wind River Nursery to be set out at RS. Returned to RS and dug some holes to set out trees."
May 12, 1912: "Plowed garden today."
June 25, 1912: "Put in both flues at station."
That summer it was back to his ranger duties, trying to train a new Forest Guard before he eventually fired him for laziness, building a pasture fence and spring fence at the Mud Springs RS, reposting the northern Forest boundary in the Cottonwood Creek canyon, worked on fixing up the Cougar Creek RS down in the Sunflower country, chasing herder Mascall's sheep all over the Black Canyon, and building a new trail from Mud Springs down into the canyon to Big Ford.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Sheldon Congleton was born on October 26, 1884 on a farm in Slade, Kentucky. He was one of twelve children in his family. In 1904 at the age of 20 Charlie traveled west to join his brother in Colorado and worked on a dairy farm near Denver from June until December, 1904. On December 20, 1904 he took a train to Shaniko, Oregon and from there the old horse stage to Prineville, arriving on Christmas Eve. He had to lay over in Prineville until December 26 when he took the mail stage to Paulina. From December, 1904, to the spring of 1907 he worked for his cousin, Billy Congleton, on his ranch in the Paulina valley. He also worked for the Laughlin's (the old Triangle ranch).
In April of 1907, four Paulina valley ranchers signed a petition certifying as to Charlie's general reliability and qualifications for forest ranger on the Blue Mountain West Forest Reserve. On April 15, 1907, he was hired as a Forest Guard. In August of 1907 he was promoted to Assistant Forest Ranger headquartered in the Paulina area. In January, 1908, he was promoted again to Deputy Forest Ranger.
After courting a daughter on the Laughlin ranch in the Paulina valley, he married Dora Glee Laughlin on August 24, 1910 in John Day. By that time, the Rager Ranger Station was built and they made their home there on the creek. Ross Congleton, their first son, was born July 6, 1911 in John Day; their daughter, Ila, March 25, 1914 in Prineville; and son Lowell on April 12, 1917 on the family homestead in Paulina.
In January of 1914 he bought 160 acres on Beaver Creek from Grant Miller. He wanted a place to keep a milk cow and his horses, and to be close to the school for his kids. He later purchased another 160 acres joining his original land, and under the Desert Homestead Act he purchased another 320 acres joining the first two pieces. His wife, Glee, took 160 acres under the Timber and Stone Act on Dipping Vat Creek. From this start, Charlie built his ranch of 11,000 acres. By the mid-1920s Charlie wanted to farm full time, so he retired in 1927 after 20 years as a Forest Ranger stationed on the Paulina Ranger District.
Charlie was a well-known and respected member of the Paulina community and was affectionately called "the mayor". In 1956 he was named Crook County Cattleman of the Year in recognition of his achievement in general ranch management. In 1948 Charlie's son Lowell and his wife Florence moved back to the Congleton homestead and took over the ranch from Charlie. In 1962, after a year of ill health, at the age of 78, Charlie Congleton passed away in Prineville and was buried at the Juniper Haven cemetery. Ross and Florence sold the ranch in 1979 to Fayne and Jessie Ritch.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is a list of all Rangers that served the Rager Ranger Station:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following are selected daily work diary entries from Charles Congleton, Ranger, Rager Creek Ranger Station, 1907-1927. The numbers following the notations are the hours he started and ended the day. On the first day of every month, including his days off on Sunday, Charlie would ride into the Paulina Post Office and mail his monthly diary to the Forest Supervisor in Prineville.
| July 16, 1907: | Running allotment lines around Little Summit Prairie. Connolly sheep on Johnsons range. Joe moved them to his own allotment. 6-8 |
| Aug. 14, 1907: | Issued Free Use permit to J.W. Fogle, Lee Miller. Surveyed out Ranger Station on Sugar Creek. SW 1/4 SE 1/4 SE 1/4 SW 1/4, Sec. 26, T.15 R 24. Stayed at Logans ranch on Wolf Creek. 7-6 |
| Sept. 1, 1907: | Sunday. Didn't work. Visited lady friend at the Triangle ranch on Beaver Creek. Rained too hard to go home. Stayed all night. |
 |
U.S. Forest Service rangers were expected to furnish their own horses and pasture them in the winter when they were transferred to town. Ranger Congleton rode hundreds of miles a week across his district. One of the most common chores he mentions in his work diary was to "shod my horse" |
| Sept. 3, 1907: | Went from Paulina Valley to Little Summit looking over range. Camped on Little Summit Creek. Surveyed ranger station on Little Summit Creek. 7-6 |
 |
Editor: This would have been the view of Little Summit Prairie from the ranger station that Charlie surveyed out that day in 1907. When one stands on this northeast corner of the prairie, you can almost smell the smoke from the ranger's cabin and the coffee on the stove. |
| Oct. 13, 1907: | Went to Prineville to see Supervisor about trail building. [Editor: Charlie is being given the task of building the Summit Trail. Two days later he and his crew were building trail on the head of Mark's Creek His work diary for the next two years talk about constructing this trail.] |
| Oct. 16-Nov. 18, 1907: | Worked on trail. |
| July 16, 1908: | Getting ready to start work on trail. |
| July 31-Aug. 10, 1908: | Worked on trail with crew of temp laborers. |
| Aug. 23-Oct. 20, 1908: | Worked on trail with temporary laborers. |
| Oct. 20, 1908: | With Supervisor Ireland and Ranger Bennett and trail crew moved camp from Bear Meadows to Little Summit Prairie on way out of mountains. Camped at Little Summit Prairie for the night. 7-midnight |
| Nov 25, 1908: | With Gilchrist went from Paulina to Rager Creek RS and received last load of lumber. All lumber for house/barn checked out OK. 11-6 |
| Nov 29, 1908: | With Gilchrist and Bennett worked on barn at Rager Creek RS. 8-5 [Editor: For the next six straight days they worked on building the barn, and completed it on December 4, 1908.] |
| April 12, 1909: | With Ranger Gilchrist and one temporary laborer, worked on pasture fence at Rager Creek RS. 8-5 [Editor: For the next nine straight days, they worked on the pasture fence, completing it on April 20, 1909] |
| July 8, 1909: | Went from Prineville to Big Summit Prairie where I found trail crew camped on their way to trail work at Squaw Meadow. 7-5 [Editor: For the coming weeks, Charlie and the trail crew, and sometime with the help of the Forest Supervisor, worked everyday on the Summit Trail.] |
| July 12, 1909: | Left Barnes in charge of trail crew and went with Supervisor Ireland from Squaw Meadows to Mud Springs and return locating route for trail. 7-5 |
 |
Editor: Overview of the beautiful Upper Beaver watershed from the Summit Trail, now Forest Road 5840. |
| Aug. 14, 1909: | With trail crew worked on trail. Moved camp from Mud Springs to Three Forks. 7-5 |
 |
Editor: The morning's sun shining through the trees along the Summit Trail. Charlie's next task was to string the phone line along the trail as shown in this recent photograph. |
| Aug. 29, 1909: | Went from camp on Squaw Creek to Donaldson's to get tools repaired. Returned to camp in pm. 7-5 |
| Sept 5, 1909: | In a.m. finished trail. 7-5 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From "A Report on the Blue Mountains (West) Reserve, Oregon", by J.L. Erickson, Assistant Forest Inspector, December, 1906.
"Quite a number of traveled roads exist throughout the reserve; the principal one is the Dalles Military Wagon Road. Another road taps the South Fork of the John Day country, by coming in from Paulina down Wind Creek to Donaldson's ranch on the South Fork of the John Day River. For trails, there should be a main trail cut out along the summit of the Blue Mountains extending from John Day River from about the vicinity of Donaldson's Ranch to the west end of the reserve."
Editor's note; One of the first tasks Charles Congleton, ranger at the Rager Creek Station, was given upon his hiring by the Forest Service in 1907 was to construct this trail, which he completed in 1909. That travel way is now the Historic Summit Trail that traverses the Lookout Mountain and Paulina Ranger District. The Dalles Military Wagon Road was constructed sometime in the 1860s as a travel route from The Dalles to Canyon City.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From "Ochoco History, 1939-1948", F.S. author unknown
| 1939: | Major projects completed this year were the Hardscrabble Lookout 50' tower and house and the Spanish Peak Lookout 40' tower and house, and initiation of the work to move the old Rager Ranger Station from its former location to its new site farther north. The Black Canyon fire of July 10 was a small replica of the 4,000 acre fire of 1924. Covering but 630 acres, it was, nevertheless, a difficult fire to reach and control. |
| 1940: | The loss of the forest warehouse in Prineville, including all equipment, by fire on December 2 was a serious blow which entailed much extra work and serious economics in many activities. The Rager Ranger Station moved to new site 1/4 mile north of old site. |
| 1941: | The year preceding America's entry into World War II made guard and temporary
labor harder to get, the closure of many CCC camps, and increased activity in
lumber production. In November, the forest was again re-districted, this time
into four districts instead of five. Boundaries were all changed except the
Snow Mt. District. This made the set-up as follows:
|
| 1942: | On August 13, Rhys Humphrey, a sheep permittee, discovered a wrecked bomber about one half mile from the lookout on Wolf Mountain. It was a two motored B-18 and there were four occupants, all of whom had apparently been killed instantly. From the log book found in or near the plane it appeared that the bomber crashed on February 3, 1942 on a flight from McClelland Field, Sacramento, California. The occupants were Lt. W.V. McShane, Lt. R.J. Heiderstadt, Tech. Sgt. M. Bittner, and Staff Sgt. R.L. Kirtland. A guard was placed around the plane and officials from the airport at Pendleton arrived the night of August 13 and the next day removed the bodies. |
| 1942: | On February 9 we went on official WAR TIME - all clocks advanced one hour for the duration. |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From "The Ochoconian", April, 1928.
"I spent the last three days at Rager station fixing irrigation ditches, cutting fence posts, and grubbing rye grass. We are wondering if the country is improving or gradually drifting back to the by-gone days. It would almost make one believe the latter if you should travel the road from Beaver Creek lane to Rager station. It is my opinion that the place for a car, with such roads, is in a garage. Saddle up your horse, that is the safest, most conservative way of traveling under these conditions."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From "The Ochoconian", September, 1929
"The hearts of the Ochoco force were saddened almost beyond expression on August 24 when a telegram from the District Forester announced that the body of our old comrade, Douglas D. Ingram, had been found on a lonely ridge within the fire-scarred area of a 50,000 acre burn in the Chelan National Forest. "Doug" as we all knew him, had gone to the Chelan on August 4 to do his bit and best to help put down the fires of that rough and hazardous Forest.
"In the old days, allotment lines had to be established, division lines drawn between sheep and cattle, stock associations formed, drift fences built, watering troughs constructed, trespasses eliminated, grazing seasons deferred, ranger stations hewn, roads, trails telephone lines and lookout station built and the like. Doug took his place beside the Donnelly boys, Ranger Congleton, and others. He served with credit to himself and to the Forest Service."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 |
CCC Camp Rock Creek, at the Rager Ranger Station. Enrollees at noon mess, July 13, 1933. |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"On December 17 I was on top of Wolf Mountain, snow about a foot deep and cold wind blowing; snow drifting and of course I wanted a fire. I gathered a load of moss and dead limbs off of fir trees and piled them down on top of dry fir windfall, touched a match to it and away she went just like an August 15 fire. It looked like I was about to have a crown fire in heavy fir timber. I wished for a shovel so I could throw snow on it to cool it down. Boys, don't argue with the boss, he may be right about the dry conditions in the mountains this winter."
"Bert Tolladay and I have been on a trip over the Black Canyon Trail. We took pack horses, axes, saw, TNT, caps, fuse and everything, and as a result the rocks, logs and brush have disappeared from that much traveled thoroughfare. Tolladay and I will probably get called for drifting back into the good old day of 1907, for as I stated we had packhorse along and when noon came we nooned, and when night came we nighted. The old way is still the best."
"Ranger C. Congleton, George Roba, and Bert Tolladay have just completed the lookout cabin and tower on Wolf Mt. They have also completed a new stub telephone line from the south to the north rim of this mountain. The tower is slightly more than 50 feet high, and has a glassed-in cage on top built according to the latest standard specifications. The house is built in the base of the tower, is 16x18 feet, having a living room, kitchen, pantry, and small storeroom. Wolf Mt. Certainly will no longer be looked upon as an undesirable place to spend the summer by any temporary man who might be looking for a season's work."
 |
The memorial plaque at the Wolf Mountain Lookout for a World War II B-18A aircraft that crashed into Wolf Ridge on February 3, 1942. All four servicemen on board were killed. The plaque was obtained using a generous grant from Wheeler County, and installed following a military ceremony at the Rager RS in August of 2005, with family members of the servicemen present. |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Former Ranger Charles S. Congleton, now retired, and family had the misfortune to lose their home by fire on the evening of December 17, 1927. They saved nothing from the house, just escaping with what few clothes they had on. Neighbors responded wonderfully with things they family needed at once. They bought a house at Paulina and moved it up to the ranch and are now settled again for the winter."
"Charlie reports a peculiar incident in connection with the burning down of his house. He states that he frantically ran into one of the rooms when everything was on fire, and reasoned that it would be his last opportunity to save anything. He observed on a shelf a box which contained his Forest Service diaries during the entire 20 years of his service with the Government. He lunged forward, grabbed the box and made his escape. Thus he saved his diaries but at the same time abandoned a new $120 milk separator and various sundry other articles worth considerable money. Charlie says he has no regrets, however, because if he had been given plenty of time to make a choice that he certainly would have preferred saving these diaries than to have saved any other article in the house."
Editor, Kathleen Martin: I found Charlie Congleton's box of Forest Service journals, dating from 1907 to 1927, at the Oregon Historical Society in 2004 and obtained a grant to have the journals transcribed by the Bowman Museum, who intends to someday publish these diaries. They are fascinating to read.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor, Kathleen Martin: Jim "Stogie" Johnson, who worked at Rager from 1960 to 1963, stopped by our office today. He retired in 1989 from the Forest Service after 28 years in engineering. He now lives in Blaine, Washington, near the Canadian border. The following paragraph is a story from the oral history I took from him the day he stopped by to visit with us (June 24, 2002).
"The district ranger then was Glen Jefferies. He liked to put a burn barrel in the back of his truck, drive out to a location on the district, light a fire in the barrel and time how long it took the lookout at Wolf Mountain to call it in to Rager. One day, he stood next to his burn barrel and fire for almost an hour before he roared back to the office and chewed the fire control officer's butt because his lookout did not call in the fire. The FCO got on the radio and asked the lookout why he was not doing his job. The lookout said he saw the smoke, got out his binoculars, saw the district ranger burning something in a barrel, so figured it was nothing to get excited about. Jefferies never took out his burn barrel again.
"The Rager airstrip was used mostly by S.O. folks who would fly out here when they had business at Rager. Jefferies would always know when they were coming, and the rest of the guys would always know too, because if Jefferies' truck and horse trailer were parked in front of the office early in the morning and then disappeared, they knew they could expect S.O. officials. If they were really busy and did not have time for S.O. officials, they would not fill in the gopher holes in the airfield and the plane would not be able to land.
"All of the incoming telephone calls to the office came in over the switchboard (Editor's note: that is still hanging in our front office today). If Jefferies thought folks were spending too much time with telephone calls, he would flip the white switch on the left end of the buttons, and this would cut the connection with the outside world. The switch might be turned off all day or for a few hours, depending on when he remembered to turn it back on."
Jim "Stoggie" Johnson
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 |
The Martin Derr family who homesteaded at Derr Meadows, Paulina RD. Date of photo is unknown |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you have Google Earth? If so, check out this cool cool link to a story about the Wolf Mountain Lookout. Click on the tree icon to read the attached story (Courtesy Bruce Wright, GIS Analyst, Ochoco National Forest).