The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-07-23

brought out their saddle horses and at an early hour started on the trail. The forestry expert led the way, riding with an ease that challenged the ad- niration of all the cow hands. In fact, he went through the many and varied stunts with such evident familiarity that his big, boyish students were lav- ish in their praise-though not to his face, for that form of flattery Is sell dom found on the range. He was all ways ready with good natured and instructive answer when some ques- tion was fired at him. and this, too, went long way toward putting him in the good graces of his class. A man who put on airs" could soon have trouble on hand in dealing with such an Independent, hardy lot of pupils.
 After proceeding five or six miles in the mountains the candidates were given axes and tod to show their skill in cutting and scaling timber Some of the cowboys who had little experi- ence with an axe beyond cutting wood for roundup campfire had rather ludicrous experiences. The two forest guards, who were skilled in such work, made the chips fly in manner that excited the admiration of the rest of the class
 After all the candidates had been examined as to their fitness with the axe they were given work in following blind trails and reading trail signs Here they nearly all proved expert, as the man who rides the range for any length of time soon gets so he can read the wilderness signs like a book. A long, hard ride across the noun tair1s, testing the men in this class of rough riding, ended the days work.
 On the third day the field tests were continued, A brisk ride was made to water course, where camp was pitched, and notes made of the man ner in which each man proceeded to make fires and prepare temporary resting place. Tn order to test the &C., curacy of the men in judging dis tances, the forestry expert rode over a huge triangle and then required the men to pace 1t Indian file. The candi- dates were then required to reduce their estimates to feet, and then the expert went over the course with a surveyors tape and compared the re- suit with the estimates made by the candidates. This is an important part of the work, as a forest ranger if of ten required to estimate distances with no other facilities than his eye or the length of his stride.
 One of the most important tests wac that of packing. A small pack animal was brought out in front of the hotel, and each candidate was told to go head and show what he could do in the way of putting load on the horses back. Each man put on the blanket, the little pack saddle and then slowed away the bags of feed, the tarpaulin, the shovel and axe and tied the whole load with the diamond hitch This hitch is one that can be loosened with single pull at the rope. It never slips, and when it is correctly thrown on well packed animal the load can not be bucked off.
 Each man had a different style of BclIhlilSt anu dlt WelC SDOu III bHHlT way, anl all threw the diamond hitch with a celerty that spoke well for their standing in this regard. Each pack was critically inspected by the expert while it was in process of construction and after it had been completely tied | Then the pack animal was stripped again and another candidate took up fIo y7rorl.
 After the packing, which consumed the greater part of the day, some com pass work was done, to show the fla miliarity of the candidates with this invaluable instrument. To test the ability of the men in the saddle each candidate was sent a few hundred rods down the trail and told to come in at gentle lope.
 That must plumb disgust an old cowboy like O'Connor," said the fores- try expert grimly as the cowboy from Bear River came loping down the trail, 1 sitting in the saddle with that loose l jointed peculiar seat which character izes the born saddleman. There's a boy that has been riding all kinds of l horses ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper, and now he has to take a stable nag and show that he can sit in the saddle without using clothes pins while the horse is loping, But it 1 is in the instructions and has to be | done"
 At the conclusion of the examination the candidates departed for their sev- eral homes, some of them to ride horseback hundreds of miles across the mountains and plains, The papers in the examinations, with the report of the expert on the field tests, are all forwarded to the civil service. commis- sion, and the fortunate ones who pass