A Day in the Life of an Early Forest Ranger
Approximately 9 miles west of Wapiti on U.S. Highway 14

Early rangers faced immense challenges. Due to lack of trained forest rangers, early national forests were the training grounds for “men who were to range far and wide over the nation’s forests.” A “jack of all trades”, these rangers had to be innovative, resourceful and persuasive. Their duties on any given day could include a diversity of tasks, as a journal records: July l901 : “I was offered a job in July, 1901 as a forest ranger on the Shoshone Division of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve. The rangers job was only for the summer months and paid $60 per month with nothing furnished. I had not only to furnish the necessary pack and saddle animals, camp equipment and supplies, but also the necessary tools with which to work. My duties consisted largely in patrolling to prevent trespass of all kinds and to suppress such forest fires as occured.” Sept. 1902. I found a bunch of sheep about a mile up Elk Fork. The owners, on being questioned, stated he was looking for range for his sheep, but decided to move when the matter was explained to him”. June 1905: “One of my many duties as ranger in those early years, as now, was the inforcement of State fish and game laws. This caused some confusion and controversy for a few years, but a more wholesome respect for and compliance with state game laws and Federal regulations were soon established.”

Oct. 1905: “My district was bordered on the west by Yellowstone National Park and I spent considerable time in that part of the district in the fall during the hunting season and watching for fires.”

June 1906: “The weekly mail brought into the basin news of the passage of this new Homestead Law. Immediately one of the settlers adjoining the ranger station came down to the station and ordered me to move, stating that he was taking the ranger station as a homestead. After some discussion he became convinced that I was not going to be forcibly evicted, so he went home rather disgruntled.”

J.W. Nelson, Ranger on the Shoshone July, 1901 - March, 1907