The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-27
FOREST RANGERS
 SETTLED ID WORK
Small Army Busy Protect ing Growth On 160 Fed
 eral Reserves

Washington, November 25.-Out in the snow-piled reaches of 160 federal forest reserves a small army of forest rangers, Uncle Sam's most picturesque employees, are burning brush. making trail and building bridges in order that timber for the multifarious uses Of posterity may not perish from the face of the earth.
 Mounted on snow shoes or skis and clothed in corduroys and mackinaw, the forest ranger has settled down to his winters work, far back in the wooded hills, miles from human companion ship, with no line of communication ut the attenuated strand of telephone wire, which he himself has strung be- htnd him. For the forest ranger is a kind of "hibernating' animal that works while he hibernates, with the Inst danger of destructive forest fires gone with the arrival of the heavy snows, he deserts his lookout station and devotes his attention to the work of the winter, the cleaning up of his range and the maintenance of the trails he has wrought through the forest.
 Burn Out Brush Piles
 The first snows start the ranger out to burn the brush plies left by the log ging crews that cut over sale areas, and free use timber on his range The lrush is left in piles until wet blan-
 Net of snow insures against the start irg of forest fires from the blazing II efuse. Then it is burned with the show on hand as natures own fire ex- tnguisher.
 The ranger furbishes up his snow shoes or skis and patches up his hand Or dog sled. A way over on the other side of his range he knows there Is a bridge that spans a mountain tor rent. which needs considerable strengthening to stand the weight which the break up of the winters ice. , ahd the spring freshets will put upon l it. So he loads quarter of a ton | Of bridge iron on his sled, hitches up l hls dogs, shoulders a provision pack ard closes up the log cabin that he calls headquarters. He may have tc negotiate snow -choked pass, 1000 or | S60S feet in altitude, where the wet heavy snow clogs his snow shoes, and where he may have to make three oi four trips to haul his pack over the crest. When he arrives at his destina- 1 tion he may find his bridge buried un- der a 10-foot drift of heavy snow which | he will spend a day penetrating Through delays and heavy travelling hc may find his supplies giving out, and l iy the time he has fought his way through a snowstorm back to head quarters he may have been lunchins l for days on frozen raw bacon, and sleeping in sodden blankets under a sheltering tree.
 Is Kept Busy
 Throughout the long winter the ranger Is kept busy with just such ] jobs as these. Ten feet of snow may
 tury his cabin and he must dig him. | self out and take the trail. And he must keep everlastingly at it until tht | spring breakup sends him scurryfne | to the high points to watch for the
 curl of smoke that foretells the com | ing of the forest fire. | Development of the winter work or the ranges has removed the forest
 ranger from the patronage classi- | fication in government jobs. Formerly congressman were inclined to look or | the forest ranger place as desirable position for some constituent looking | for Tight outdoor work" That tims has passed, however, for the forest
 ranger must submit medical certificate
 showing that he Is able bodied before
 l,e is appointed. As the forest servic' puts it:
 He must be able bodied and cap
 c ble of enduring hardships and of per forming severe labor under trying con ditions; able to take care of himsel
 end his horses in regions remote iron
 settlement and supplies; and must b.
 able to build trails and cabins and pacl in provisions without assistance. H must know something of surveying
 estimating and sealing lumber and tn live stock business and in addition t tbs he should have general knowl edge of farming and mining