Entry - July 31, 1936

6.00 P.M. Slept all day. Going to town tonight.

uneventfull.


Robert

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Comments From Chris -

Sounds like an easy going day for a young man. The town would have been Kalispell.

Apgar to Kalispell
Robert's 1936 Glacier National Park Map

Entry - July 30, 1936

4.00 P.M. It is awful hot here today. I would judge it is about one hundred and fifteen in the shade. Rumours are getting around that our company is to move to California.

Robert


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Comments From Chris -

The command structure for the CCC was military in style and ultimately controlled by Army officials. Commands to move would have come from up the chain and the company probably wouldn't know where they were going. As time progresses, you'll notice there are a lot of rumours about where they are getting moved to. This must have been a popular thing to talk about.

Entry - July 29, 1936

10.00 P.M. I took a little hike today. I seen a couple of bear and a mormouth. It is an overgrown species of a ground squirrel as big as a cat. Walked about 8 miles up and 8 miles back.

Robert


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Comments From Chris -


When transcribing these entries I stay with they way Robert wrote them. This includes any spelling or grammar errors. In this entry I think he was talking about a Marmot, of which there there are two kinds in Glacier National Park. These are the yellow-bellied marmot and the hoary marmot.

The hoary marmot is the largest American ground squirrel and averages 24-32 in. long. Their weight can vary quite a bit as these animals hibernate. Just before hibernation they can get around 20 lbs. Some can even get to 30 lbs.

Yellow-bellied Marmot
"Marmota flaviventris standing S of Donahue Pass" by Dcrjsr - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 4.0

Entry - July 28, 1936

6.00 P.M. I get the next five days off and am going to catch up on some sleep. I slept most of this day but I did manage to get up for my meals.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

The sleep seems well deserved after everything that has happened in the past few weeks. 

One of the great benefits to the enrollees was a regular meal. Roosevelt is often cited from a speech he gave while at a CCC camp. He said that enrollees were gaining on average 12 pounds. It wasn't just the food either. They were working hard and eating well which resulted healthier men. Much better than the breadlines of the time.

Roosevelt at Shenandoa CCC Camp
(U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain]

Breadline in the 1930's
(U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain]

Entry - July 27, 1936

Just came back from another fire. Slept out on the Lincoln Ridge in the open in sleeping bags for the last five days. Saw ten or twelve bear, two sets of twin cubs and three cinnamon brown cubs and one enormous black bear which stood about seven feet off the ground standing on his hind legs. 

We got lost on the way to the fire and went about six miles out of our way to the Sperry Chalets. We also saw quite of few deer on the way and back to the fire. We saw one with a broken leg that had headed over again and we fed it because it looked pretty helpless. 

I am pretty nervous today because the fire took away most of my energy. 

I received a package from home today with a ring and a package of Camel cigarettes and the ring had my birth stone in it, a ruby. I sure do appreciate both of these presents. 

I bought a foil today. It is a sword used for practice. It cost me two dollars and a half. I am learning how to sword fight. 

I have made friends with an indian named Martin Floyd and he certainly is a prince of a fellow. He lives in Kalispell with his aunt and he ferried our company last week with a new bunch of rookies. 

It is predicted that we will move to Salt Lake City about the fifteenth of September. I have got a week time off for my services during the fire and I intend to make good use of it. 

The lake is getting better all the time but it is still ice cold and I guess it will stay that way the rest of the summer. 

I bought a white sleeveless sweater today but I don’t know what I will do with it till I get home. 

uneventfull.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

There are two primary tribes of Indians in the Glacier National Park area; Blackfoot and Kootenai. A significant portion of the eastern side of the park was actually purchased from the Blackfoot in 1895, although there were many disagreements over the terms afterwards. The Blackfoot reservation still borders the eastern side of the park today.

On a personal note, I've always wanted to learn how to fence. How fun would have it been to fence with Robert at this time.

Robert with a bear
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

The Sperry Chalets are in the lower middle
Robert's 1936 Glacier National Park Map

Today's Fire

You may have heard in the news there is a fire burning 1,000+ acres in Glacier National Park right now (7/22/15). There are several articles in the news about it here and this article in particular has some photos.

Also, check out the webcam for St. Mary Visitor Center. 

Chris

Entry - July 22, 1936

6:00 A.M. I am leaving for the new border of fire.

Robert

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Comments from Chris

After the previous post I'm sure there was some apprehension here. After looking at some of the photos like the one below, I can sure understand.

Forest Fire in Montana
"Deerfire high res edit" by John McColgan – Edited by Fir0002 - taken by John McColgan, employed as a fire behavior analyst at the Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Entry - July 21, 1936 (Supplemental)

There is another fire. I am leaving tomorrow and won’t be back for a week this time. I have not recovered my strength from the other fire yet but she is blazing over the border from Canada and we have to go up and stop it.

I am beginning to wonder if I will ever get to get rested up again.

Robert

Entry - July 21, 1936

I have missed writing the last five days because I was called out on a forest fire on Lincoln Lake and was gone over a hundred hours. I have worked over 70 hours since I have left camp and fought fire for five days and nights in succession and sleeping in the trails and on the bare ground and then only a couple hours at the time. Out of the whole 5 days and nights I was gone I got less than fifteen hours sleep. The whole thing seems like a horrible night mare. Climbing up one side of a mountain and going down another. I got so tired sometimes that I just fell on the trail we were working and slept for a couple of hours.

Friday night we fought and had the fire under control and then we were just started resting and she blazed anew and jumped the trails and started burning up in the tops. A smog fell and knocked out one kid. Three of four time fellows were trapped in the flames and we cut in and got them out in the nick of time. Some of the fellows were scared to death but it is an old game for me as I fought fires in Calif., Wisc, and Oregon and I know what it is all about. 120 acres of timber burnt before we really had it under control and there were quite a few casualties at the fire. There were three c.c.c. camps working on the fire. I was so tired when I got back to camp that I just flopped on my bed and slept twenty hours only once waking up to take a drink of water and fell right back to sleep. Everybody in the company is in bed right now and I am going to go to the same place.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

I've seen some large wildfires in California, but reading this really brought home how tough it could be out there trying to stop one. It gives me a lot of respect for the guys that get out and fight to reduce damage and put these out.

Fires can and have been devastating to the park. Thousands of acres can burn at a time destroying any vegetation and structures. One of the functions of the CCC camps was fire prevention and suppression, which Robert spent a lot of time working on.

In 1936 the weather was unusually dry and warm making conditions right for wildfire. You've heard Robert mention there were many tourists in the park now increasing not only the chance of fire, but the chance for damages. This was not a good year to have a fire.

Robert would most likely have a different memory of this area, but it looks like a beautiful place to me. Check out the photos below.

Lincoln Lake not marked. It's next to L. Ellen Wilson
Robert's 1936 Glacier National Park Map

Lincoln Lake is the small one
From Google Maps

Beaver Chief Falls flowing in to Lincoln Lake
By Glacier National Park (Flickr: Beaver Chief Falls) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Visit to a CCC Camp

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that you should keep an eye out for CCC activity when you were out at parks. This weekend I took my own advice while at Montgomery Bell State Park in TN. This park was built by the CCC during the same time Robert's story is taking place. 

There were a few monuments to the CCC and in the visitor center there is a display dedicated to the CCC history of the park. One of the items on display was a CCC era map of the park plans which included the location of the camp. I used a combination of the old map and the new to find the spot where the camp was located. 

The camp was long taken over by the forest, but there were still structures and remains left. The area of the park is fairly secluded. The road to the area made me question if I was in the right vehicle for the job. It wasn't hard to imagine a time when that was freshly accessed forest ready to be made in to a park. It must have been quite an adventure.

If you go there, head for the Lake Woodhaven boat dock. It's a gravel road that progresses down a hill to the lake. On the way down you will see structures out in the woods. We parked at the bottom and walked out in the woods. 

CCC Monument

CCC Map of Montgomery Bell State Park

Bottom of the hill where the CCC camp was

One of the CCC cabins

Three of the CCC cabins in the woods

Several cabins were in this shape. Others are soon to follow.

Inside of one of the cabins.

From the camp looking down at Lake Woodhaven

Something Happened

Wondering where yesterday's post was? This is the first gap in the journal. Something has happened and taken Robert away for a few days. It will be Tuesday, July 21st before he joins us again. Tune in at 9:00AM.

In the meantime, I've been working away on future posts. There are many to come and plenty of work to do. I've included a photo of the journal below. It's kind of small, but he filled every page during the time he was in Glacier National Park. 

Entry - July 15, 1936

Our crew is grounded today. Nobody goes to work and everybody gets ready to go in on a fire at a minutes notice. They say that it is pretty hot in Illinois but its 108 in the shade here with ice on the peaks.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

Looks like it is a bit cooler today in 2015. The forecast is for a high of 83 degrees and a low of 53.

Back of photo says "Some of my pals"
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Entry - July 14, 1936

Our crew worked up on Snyder Ridge and we sure did put in a hard day. I tore a big hole in my pants so I guess I will have to sew a little tonight. The fire is still burning over by Mt. Cannon. Visitors in the park are getting as thick as flies. There are a lot of fires as the result.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

Glacier National Park gets a lot of snow. Because of this, parts of the park are inaccessible by car for a good portion of the year. Currently, the Going-to-the-Sun Road is typically open from mid-June to mid-September, depending on the weather. It's latest opening ever was in 2011 and that was July 13th.

At this point, the park was open and the season was underway. In 1936, there were 210,000 visitors to the park. Last year, 2014, broke park records with more than 2.3 million visitors.

Something interesting to look at is the park brochure for 1936. You can see it here or here.


Take a look at the photo below. I bet it was hard work on Snyder Ridge.

View looking southeast at Lake McDonald. Snyder Ridge on left side of lake.
Google Maps

Entry - July 13, 1936

9:00 P.M. We had a good picture show in the mess hall tonight. The name of it was “Coronado” There is a good sized forest fire burning up on the side of Mt. Cannon. A crew of boys from our camp is fighting it. We had clothes inspection this afternoon.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

I guess I haven't much thought it about since everything has matched up, but the weekdays this year match up exactly with the days and dates in 1936. The Friday night dance actually took place on a Friday in 1936. How convenient. Curious about the picture show? Take a look here.

Mt. Cannon is about 18 miles from camp. You can see it on the map below.

A CCC Camp Watching a Movie
By OSU Special Collections & Archives : Commons [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons

Robert's 1936 Glacier National Park Map

Mt. Cannon in the middle
"McDonald Creek Valley Glacier NP1" by Acroterion - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons 

Entry - July 12, 1936

7:00 - Had a big ball game today. Our team won. We beat a New York team from the other side of the park.

Today being Sunday I went to church in Kalispell. We scrubbed out our barracks today. I am thinking pretty strong of Ill. tonight. Who knows?

Robert

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Comments From Chris -


At its max, there were 14 CCC camps in Glacier National Park, each with around 50 to 250 men. These men were from all over the country. Many of the CCC camps had games like this which I'm sure helped build comradery. I've read from several accounts that there were many differing attitudes with the incoming enrollees. It didn't take long though for them to join in a sort of brotherhood with the other enrollees. Working together on the land would build those bonds and result in some of them saying this was the best time of their lives. Playing games like this probably helped as well.

During this post Robert had been away from home for 10 months. I don't think I mentioned it before, but Robert first joined the CCC when he was beginning his senior year of high school, October 5, 1933. He wouldn't be able to finish school that year.

After his first term, he came back to Illinois and finished out school one year later than he normally would have. He was a month from being 19 during graduation. Two months after graduating, he signed back up for the CCC.

I'm not quite sure of the families financial situation at the time, but leaving high school seems to indicate the additional income would have been helpful. From everything I know about it, this was a great experience for him. There had to be times like this though where someone fresh out of high school was thinking about friends and family back home.

Robert is third from left on the ground. Playing games.
From Robert's CCC Photo Collection

Entry - July 11, 1936

I had a good time last night. I am sorta recuporating today. I drank a lot beer last night. I met a lot of girls but I don’t remember any of their names. Swimming on the lake is getting to be a habit with me, I went in again tonight.

Robert



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Comments From Chris -

Sounds like the dance was a good time. I can see them laying around a bit today like in the photo below.

Robert is sitting on the left.
From Robert's CCC photo collection

Entry - July 10, 1936

6:00 We had fish tonight for supper so I didn’t eat very much. Tonight is the night we have the big dance and I have borrowed all the clothes and money that I can get hold of and expect to have a big time tonight. Bolen, Mansfield, Pete and Dizzy and I are going together to the dance.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

The CCC program resulted in many marriages. For many of the young men, this was their first trip away from home. Some of them ended up staying where they went. Others brought home wives. I would imagine the guys were very excited about the prospect of meeting the local young women.

Robert and Bolen.
From Robert's Photo Collection

Entry - July 9, 1936

Dyslin got his foot in the buzz saw although he did not get it cut seriously. Lucky boy. I went in for a swim in the lake again today. It is still very cold. I took one roll of my films today an I think I got some pretty pictures. I got six pictures of the bear at the foot of Mt. Vaught.

Robert


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Comments From Chris -

One of the stories passed down from Robert through my uncle was about a diving board set up on the lake (Lake McDonald). The camp had CCC enrollees coming in and out of the camp regularly. When the new guys would first come to the camp, the more experienced enrollees would quietly sit by and watch as newcomers would come up to try out that diving board. They would jump in without knowing how freezing cold that lake water was. I'm sure they all got a good laugh out of it.

Several photos available for this post. I hope you enjoy them.

Robert jumping off the diving board at Lake McDonald
From Robert's Photo Collection

Back of photo says "Mt Vaught, 9740 ft."
From Robert's Photo Collection

One of the bear photos
From Robert's Photo Collection

Entry - July 8, 1936

Went up the trail to Avalanche Lake at the foot of Mt. Cannon and seen more natural beautiful scenes in one hour than I had in the rest of my life put-to-gether. The captain announced that the company is giving a dance Friday night. I am going to be there with bells on. I bought two rolls of films tonight.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -


Luckily enough, I have many of the photos from the rolls of film Robert mentions. I'll include those when I can. I'm trying to find other photos as well that help tell the story while also keeping in mind copyright protection.

Over this past 4th of July weekend I made a great find. While looking through some of Robert's old CCC photos, I came across a map which he had in 1936. I consider it a big score. I'll use that now when he mentions places he has been.

Back of photo says "Avalanche Falls"

From Robert's Photo Collection

Robert's Map - Avalanche Lake and Mt. Cannon are shown

"Avalanche Lake" by Glacier National Park - Flickr: Avalanche Lake. 
Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Entry - July 7, 1936

7:00 P.M. I had a nice swim in Lake McDonald today. The water is fed by the streams coming down from the glaciers so its breathtakingly cold. I also got a good picture of me standing by a bear. I talked with a couple of people from Illinois and they didn’t give me a very favorable version of things.

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

The lake only gets up to about 70 degrees in the summer. The next time you go swimming, take a look at the water temperature for comparison. This is cold water.

I'm not sure what was going on back in Illinois. Keep in mind, Robert was 20 at the time, this could be anything.

Glacier National Park has webcams! Take a look here at Lake McDonald.

Robert with the bear

From Robert's Photo Collection

Entry - July 6, 1936

6:00PM. Just finished supper after a hard days work. I worked all day at the foot of Mt. Cannon. We have a scenic ride on the way to work. We pass through the Belton Hills and ride all along the length of the Lake McDonald and by the Sperry Chalets and Mt. Brown the by Avalanche Lake, Reynolds Mt., Clements Mt. then Hidden Lake then we reach Mt. Cannon.

Mt. Cannon 8,900

Robert

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Comments From Chris -

From what I can tell, the camp was in the Apgar area at the southern end of Lake McDonald. Remember at this time the Going-to-the-Sun Road had just been completed and other roads were still to come. The travel he mentions would have been cross country on a rough roads. These guys were developing access to virgin ground that has now been used by millions.

To make it easy, I'm probably going to reference the National Park Service map of the area throughout this blog. For this entry you can see most of the places Robert mentions. Mt. Cannon is not listed, but it is located close to the Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail. Here is a good view of it.

Back of photo says "Mts. Brown, Cannon, Heavens Peak, and Lincoln Ridge"
From Robert's Photo Collection

National Park Service map of the area

View looking north-east at Lake McDonald. The camp would be on the very right end of the lake.
Photo from Google Maps

Foot of Mt. Cannon where Robert mentions working.
"McDonald Creek Valley Glacier NP1" by Acroterion - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons