Historical Clippings Book - Nevada County Citizens (HC-07) (296 pages)

green rangers and train them, fight fires without any funds, to make: my $1200.00 salary pay all field expenses and office rent as well as my living, with a wife and eight months old baby to support and with almost 5 million acres to place under forest regulations, was a job well worth tackling. Inspector E. T. Allen, then State Forester of California, finally arrived and met me at Yreka on November 16, 1905, and if ever a man was welcome, he was. At Yreka he helped me with my first fire trespass ,case before a Grand Jury, which . we lost as was to be expected. He was a God come to me in my distress and worries, and he seemed to clear all my problems and worries away and put me on my feet as a full fledged Supervisor. Mind you, there was no District Office men to fall back on and Washington was a long way off. If one needed advice it was so long coming that one had wo.’ 1 his problem out himself before the advice was received, Snap ‘udgment had to be made whether right or wrong. The Redding papers described me as an old experienced Forest Officer. If they had only known what a lack of experience I had and how I was groping those days for a footing.” I often wonder in these days of instructions and plans how . I ever made it.” . Progress Made “Tt was on June 28, 1906 I h.d progressed from an office in my own house with a b6x for my files and a drawing board and table to a rented office with furniture from Washington.” > Such was the frightful begin-, ning of these courageous men who, almost to the last mi:., were devoted to an ideal and to the service of the public. : ; On November 13, 1908, Bigelow arrived in Nevada City to assume the supervisorship of the Tahoe National Forest, which also included what is now the Eldorado National Forest (headquarters in Placerville). M. B. Pratt, for many years. State Forester, was . Bigelow’s Forest Assistant and {Evan W. Kelley later a Regional Forester and one of the nost renowned foresters of the w rid, was a Ranger. : Quoted again from Bigelow’s ‘diary: ; “We were doing a large timber . , sale business in 1909 on the Tahoe with a number of large sales. Louis Margolin came to help us on reconnaissance work and Forest Assistant J. A. Mitchell started his Forestry career on July 1, 1909. He will remember the hard deal he got as a raw Easterner turned loose among the lumberjacks and how he marked flag poles for chute timbers. W. B. Greeley (later Chief Forester of U.S.F.S.) did, considerable of the marking of the timber on the early sales of the Tahoe. ‘Forester W. 2 Greeley, District First Bad Fire . “The first bad fire I had on the Tahoe was in August of 1909 near Michigan Bluff. It burnt over 1000 acres, but our first real fire disaster was in the bad fire year of 1910 when on August 18 the first large fire started and fire after fire occurred. It was during this fire season that we had two companies of soldiers on the fires at Foresthill: with Roy Headley then Chief of Operation and DistrictForester F. E. Olmisted helping the Tahoe force. We have had many bad fire situations dur. ing the past 20 years I have been , on. the Tahoe, but the season of 1910 stands out in comparison with the season of 1924 and 1926 although not so much territory was burnt over. It was the lessons from these fires that decided us that lookouts were necessary and . ; in the summer of 1911 Banner Lookout was constructed, this being the first lookout tower con-— structed in District 5.” . In 1910 the Eldorado was separated from the Tahoe and Evan W. Kelley was put in charge as supervisor. First Long-term Contract “In Septerber of 1911 Assistant Forester DuBois and Assistant District Forester Woodbury, together with the Tahoe force, worked out the first long term timber sale contract with the Verdi Lumber Company. This was a big step in timber sale management. Cutting ! (on this sale was not completed: until 1926. “Tt was in 1915 that I bought my first automobile for transportation changing from saddle horse or team travel to the faster moving vehicle. Wm. Gallaher, then Forest Assistant, had bought a Ford machine and I could see that we would have to come to a faster mode of travel so I invested that Spring in a Ford. During the past 13 years of automobile travel I have worn out three Fords, two Overlands and am about finished with my present Buick.” This is how Bigelow concluded . the writeup of the highlights of his career. ; c “The traditions of American Forestry started in those early days of the Forest Service by Mr. Pinchot and his handful of enthusiastic live young men have lasted through the 27 years and I am proud of the progress that has taken place and of the privilege I have had through the best of my life to work with the class of men that have made up the personnel of the Forest Service from the beginning and to have helped the big men of the Service to accomplish what has been dorfe.” Supervisor Richard L. P. Bigelow retired from the Forest Ser{vice in 1936. of Nevada City from 1936 to 1939. He died at Pacific Grove, January He was City Clerk: 30, 1948, thus enamg an epocis . career devoted to an ideal of conservation of our natural resources. . . B. F. Butler, Born Here in “63, Lime . Kiln Rancher, Dies SS Funeral services ror Benjamin ! Frank Butler, 96, well known, Mile ong rancher of this area, and paternal head of a very large family, will be held at 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Hooper Weaver Mortuary with the Rev. E. Lester Lewis of the First Methodist Church offciating. Interment will follow in the family plot of the city cemetery. Butler, born Nov. 1, 1863, on the Butler ranch at the end of Butler road, west Grass Valley, died at 11:45 p.m. yesterday at the Nevada County Hospital where he had been a patient since July 5, 1955. He married his wife, Clara L. Butler, who survives him, in Auburn, Placer county, in January. of 1897. He started the Butler ranch on the Lime Kiln road which he operated for the past 63 years. He retired from ranching 13 years ago and moved into town, residing at 575 Butler street, which was named after his father. : Fraternally he was affiliated with the local order. of the Moose. 'He was best known among the rur-' al and farming circles. Had he lived two more months, the Butlers would have celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary. Besides his wife, he is survived by three sons, Chris and Charles of Grass Valley, Jack of Oakland; three daughters, Mrs. Alex L. Dry-, nan of San Francisco, Mrs. Harold Reed of Sunnyvale; Mrs. Walter} Barnes of Oakland; a sister, Mrs.; James M. Cremin of Marysville; . 28 grandchildren; 55 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren. = =f.

green rangers and train them, fight fires without any funds, to make: my $1200.00 salary pay all field expenses and office rent as well as my living, with a wife and eight months old baby to support and with almost 5 million acres to place under forest regulations, was a job well worth tackling. Inspector E. T. Allen, then State Forester of California, finally arrived and met me at Yreka on November 16, 1905, and if ever a man was welcome, he was. At Yreka he helped me with my first fire trespass ,case before a Grand Jury, which . we lost as was to be expected. He was a God come to me in my distress and worries, and he seemed to clear all my problems and worries away and put me on my feet as a full fledged Supervisor. Mind you, there was no District Office men to fall back on and Washington was a long way off. If one needed advice it was so long coming that one had wo.’ 1 his problem out himself before the advice was received, Snap ‘udgment had to be made whether right or wrong. The Redding papers described me as an old experienced Forest Officer. If they had only known what a lack of experience I had and how I was groping those days for a footing.” I often wonder in these days of instructions and plans how . I ever made it.” . Progress Made “Tt was on June 28, 1906 I h.d progressed from an office in my own house with a b6x for my files and a drawing board and table to a rented office with furniture from Washington.” > Such was the frightful begin-, ning of these courageous men who, almost to the last mi:., were devoted to an ideal and to the service of the public. : ; On November 13, 1908, Bigelow arrived in Nevada City to assume the supervisorship of the Tahoe National Forest, which also included what is now the Eldorado National Forest (headquarters in Placerville). M. B. Pratt, for many years. State Forester, was . Bigelow’s Forest Assistant and {Evan W. Kelley later a Regional Forester and one of the nost renowned foresters of the w rid, was a Ranger. : Quoted again from Bigelow’s ‘diary: ; “We were doing a large timber . , sale business in 1909 on the Tahoe with a number of large sales. Louis Margolin came to help us on reconnaissance work and Forest Assistant J. A. Mitchell started his Forestry career on July 1, 1909. He will remember the hard deal he got as a raw Easterner turned loose among the lumberjacks and how he marked flag poles for chute timbers. W. B. Greeley (later Chief Forester of U.S.F.S.) did, considerable of the marking of the timber on the early sales of the Tahoe. ‘Forester W. 2 Greeley, District First Bad Fire . “The first bad fire I had on the Tahoe was in August of 1909 near Michigan Bluff. It burnt over 1000 acres, but our first real fire disaster was in the bad fire year of 1910 when on August 18 the first large fire started and fire after fire occurred. It was during this fire season that we had two companies of soldiers on the fires at Foresthill: with Roy Headley then Chief of Operation and DistrictForester F. E. Olmisted helping the Tahoe force. We have had many bad fire situations dur. ing the past 20 years I have been , on. the Tahoe, but the season of 1910 stands out in comparison with the season of 1924 and 1926 although not so much territory was burnt over. It was the lessons from these fires that decided us that lookouts were necessary and . ; in the summer of 1911 Banner Lookout was constructed, this being the first lookout tower con-— structed in District 5.” . In 1910 the Eldorado was separated from the Tahoe and Evan W. Kelley was put in charge as supervisor. First Long-term Contract

“In Septerber of 1911 Assistant Forester DuBois and Assistant District Forester Woodbury, together with the Tahoe force, worked out the first long term timber sale contract with the Verdi Lumber Company. This was a big step in timber sale management. Cutting ! (on this sale was not completed: until 1926. “Tt was in 1915 that I bought my first automobile for transportation changing from saddle horse or team travel to the faster moving vehicle. Wm. Gallaher, then Forest Assistant, had bought a Ford machine and I could see that we would have to come to a faster mode of travel so I invested that Spring in a Ford. During the past 13 years of automobile travel I have worn out three Fords, two Overlands and am about finished with my present Buick.” This is how Bigelow concluded . the writeup of the highlights of his career. ; c “The traditions of American Forestry started in those early days of the Forest Service by Mr. Pinchot and his handful of enthusiastic live young men have lasted through the 27 years and I am proud of the progress that has taken place and of the privilege I have had through the best of my life to work with the class of men that have made up the personnel of the Forest Service from the beginning and to have helped the big men of the Service to accomplish what has been dorfe.” Supervisor Richard L. P. Bigelow retired from the Forest Ser{vice in 1936. of Nevada City from 1936 to 1939. He died at Pacific Grove, January He was City Clerk: 30, 1948, thus enamg an epocis . career devoted to an ideal of conservation of our natural resources. . . B. F. Butler, Born Here in “63, Lime . Kiln Rancher, Dies SS Funeral services ror Benjamin ! Frank Butler, 96, well known, Mile ong rancher of this area, and paternal head of a very large family, will be held at 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Hooper Weaver Mortuary with the Rev. E. Lester Lewis of the First Methodist Church offciating. Interment will follow in the family plot of the city cemetery. Butler, born Nov. 1, 1863, on the Butler ranch at the end of Butler road, west Grass Valley, died at 11:45 p.m. yesterday at the Nevada County Hospital where he had been a patient since July 5, 1955. He married his wife, Clara L. Butler, who survives him, in Auburn, Placer county, in January. of 1897. He started the Butler ranch on the Lime Kiln road which he operated for the past 63 years. He retired from ranching 13 years ago and moved into town, residing at 575 Butler street, which was named after his father. : Fraternally he was affiliated with the local order. of the Moose. 'He was best known among the rur-' al and farming circles. Had he lived two more months, the Butlers would have celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary. Besides his wife, he is survived by three sons, Chris and Charles of Grass Valley, Jack of Oakland; three daughters, Mrs. Alex L. Dry-, nan of San Francisco, Mrs. Harold Reed of Sunnyvale; Mrs. Walter} Barnes of Oakland; a sister, Mrs.; James M. Cremin of Marysville; . 28 grandchildren; 55 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren. = =f.