Hey Don; I haven't read the anthology part but every time I see the film (4 or 5 times so far? will see it another 20 or so times I'm sure...), I make a mental note about how glad I am that at least one of the brothers made a living being outside doing the USFS stint vs. the other brother's path. Despite the other brother's path, however, a picture I carry around in my mind is the beauty of the filming of his action of the fly fishing scenes...
Michele > > Ed/Michelle- > > Have you read Norman MacLean's "A River Runs Through It" anthology? One > of the vignettes that accompanies "River" details MacLean's life during a > season working for the newly formed USFS, manning/supporting fire lookouts > some 30 miles by trail from nearest habitation, and the work ethic that > was in place at that time...a lot to be re-learned! > > -Don > >> Date: Sun, 3 Jan 2010 22:30:07 -0500 >> Subject: Re: [ENTS] Recent Obituary >> From: [email protected] >> To: [email protected] >> >> Thanks for posting this, Ed; >> >> Having worked in the wilds of Idaho myself, and not too far from the Nez >> Perce NF at that, I enjoyed the story, even if it is an obituary. >> >> It brings back memories of less dangerous forest fires... >> >> One morning, hiking down from an overnight camperoo on "The Nub", my >> hiking friend and I discovered a lightning struck forest fire about >> halfway down the mountain we were hiking down... we could see it way off >> in the distance and, as we rushed down what would've normally been about >> 4.5 hours of hiking in about 2.5 hours, killing our knees as we went but >> then again we were only in our twenties... anyway, we were certainly >> hoping the fire wouldn't grow too big for comfort before we could get >> below it and back to the ranger station! As it turned out, the firetower >> gal had seen it and the station decided to let it go out, which it did, >> so >> I guess one could say I could've walked down that mountain slower! Come >> to think of it, that was the same camperoo when an elk almost stepped on >> the tent, probably trying to hide from the sudden lightning storm which >> had cropped up way too late in the day for hiking back down (and which >> caused the forest fire, of course). I had to shoo the elk away; it >> probably thought it was pretty weird for a human to suddenly pop out of >> what may have looked like a solid rock in the darkened distance??? >> Perhaps it just wanted to visit but I couldn't risk falling asleep until >> I >> felt it was not going to step on me! >> >> Michele >> >> >> >> > I saw this in the latest issue of Time magazine: >> > >> > >> > >> > Earl Cooley; smoke jumper helped pioneer risky firefighting technique >> > >> > >> > >> > WASHINGTON - Earl Cooley, 98, who was one of the first two US Forest >> > Service smoke jumpers to parachute into a forest fire and later was a >> > spotter on the Mann Gulch fire that killed 13 firefighters, died Nov. >> 9 >> > at his home in Missoula, Mont., of pneumonia. >> > >> > As a 23-year-old outdoorsman who had built logging roads, lookout >> > towers, and a home for his mother, Mr. Cooley was as well-prepared as >> > anyone, which is to say hardly prepared at all, for the task of >> jumping >> > from a propeller-driven plane into a lightning-triggered fire in >> Idaho's >> > Nez Perce forest July 12, 1940. The first man out the plane's door was >> > Rufus Robinson, followed closely by Mr. Cooley. >> > >> > The wind was blowing so hard that afternoon that Cooley's load lines >> > twisted up behind his neck. As he bent to look at the emergency chute, >> > the lines unwound. He was nearly in a freefall, and as he drew closer >> to >> > Earth, he clipped the limbs off a big spruce tree. He landed without >> > injury, as did Robinson, and the pair squelched the fire by 10 a.m. >> the >> > next day, then hiked 28 miles to the nearest ranger station. >> > >> > That was the start of the Forest Service's storied corps of smoke >> > jumpers who even today jump in hazardous, remote areas to quickly >> > control fires that ground-based crews cannot reach. The idea of smoke >> > jumping had first been proposed in 1934 and was tried in Russia in >> that >> > decade, but the act of dropping men into a wildfire with little more >> > than shovels and pickaxes was considered something between >> experimental >> > and insane. >> > >> > On the flight in the 1940 Nez Perce fire, the man whose job was to >> shove >> > supplies out after the smoke jumpers almost fell to his death. Merle >> > Lundrigan's legs got tangled in ropes, and he was pulled out the >> plane's >> > door, barely hanging on to the doorstep. The pilot immediately banked, >> > which tossed Lundrigan back aboard. From then on, cargo kickers had to >> > wear parachutes. >> > >> > "We didn't know what we were doing,'' Mr. Cooley told the Associated >> > Press in 2000. >> > >> > His own training was rudimentary; the trainer had hung a parachute in >> a >> > tree to point out the harness, shroud lines, and release handles, then >> > said: "Tomorrow, we jump.'' Still, Mr. Cooley said, the only bad part >> of >> > smoke jumping was the walk home. >> > >> > Mr. Cooley went on to make 48 more jumps. He was aboard the C-47 plane >> > in 1949 from which a dozen smoke jumpers leaped into the Mann Gulch >> fire >> > near Helena, Mont. >> > >> > Mr. Cooley was the spotter, the man who found the landing site and >> > tapped each jumper on the left calf to alert him it was time to go. >> The >> > firefighters landed safely, the additional equipment fell to the >> ground, >> > so Mr. Cooley and the plane went back to base. But the fire "blew up'' >> > and overran the men in what became the Forest Service's biggest >> tragedy >> > until the 1994 South Canyon Fire in Colorado. >> > >> > "Earl lived a very long time, and he was acutely aware of his place in >> > the history of smoke jumping,'' said John Maclean, author of three >> books >> > on wildland fires, including one on the South Canyon Fire, and the son >> > of Norman Maclean, who wrote on the Mann Gulch incident. >> > >> > John MacLean called Mr. Cooley's book about the early days of the >> Forest >> > Service, "Trimotor and Trail: Pioneer Smokejumpers'' (1984), "the most >> > authoritative book from the inside about that period.'' >> > >> > Mr. Cooley retired from the Forest Service in 1975. He had been a >> > district ranger and superintendent of the smoke jumper base in >> Missoula, >> > as well as regional equipment specialist. >> > >> > Ed Nizalowski >> > >> > Newark Valley, NY >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org >> > Send email to [email protected] >> > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en >> > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] >> > >> >> >> -- >> Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org >> Send email to [email protected] >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en >> To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] > > _________________________________________________________________ > Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. > http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/171222985/direct/01/ > > -- > Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org > Send email to [email protected] > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] > -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
