Ranger Trails: The Life and Times of a Pioneer U.S. Forest Service Ranger in the West on the La Sal, Santa Barbara, Cache, and Deschutes National Forests, 1907-1913

by John Riis, Gifford Pinchot (Introduction), Les Joslin (Editor)

"The life and times of a pioneer U.S. Forest Service ranger in the west on the La Sal, Santa Barbara, Cache and Deschutes National Forests, 1907-1913"

Reprint of the original book by John Riis.

Genres: Biography

Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

John Riis (1882-1946) was the son of Jacob August Riis. John served as a U.S. Forest Ranger from 1907-1913.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This adventures if John Riis, an early Forest Ranger. This book is a product of its time, and its frequent political incorrectness detracts a bit from it's otherwise fascinating story. But it's a great story

[LAB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Among the many suggestions I received from local people when I moved to Monticello was that I should read Ranger Trails by John Riis. It is a story of his life as a forest ranger, and his career had begun in the very area that I had come to as the new ranger. The book was then out of print and it took me a couple of years to secure a copy and several more before I read it for the first time. It was reprinted in 2008 but I recently reread my old copy that had been printed in 1937.

John Riis had been raised in the East, son of the well-known writer and activist Jacob Riis. In the early 1900s John decided to try life in the West. He ended up at the Cunningham and Carpenter Ranch at La Sal, Utah were he learned how to be a cowboy, the etiquette of the range, and several other skills that qualified him, in 1906 or 1907, to be the first forest ranger on the new Monticello Forest Reserve. His description of his arrival in Monticello is a local legend. On his shoulders fell the challenges of making the pioneer livestock growers pay for the range they had been using for free since at least 1875, then forcing them to reduce the number of cattle and sheep they put on summer pastures.

From Monticello, Riis moved to Moab and then to other forests in California, Utah, and Oregon. He remained a ranger, the field-going administrator of some section of a national forest. His was a life of horse, dog, gun, and paperwork enjoyed from remote ranger stations planted in scenic locations. He was sent to Idaho to help fight the massive wildfires of the Pacific Northwest, and his view of those efforts is brief but poignant.

Riis was a man of his times and the telling of his story reflects the values and vocabulary then common. By today's standards he would be politically incorrect on many fronts. The book is easy to read and many of the author's descriptions of events and places are charming and evocative. There are few dates in the narrative on which you hang your historian's hat, which I found annoying, of course. I think it was an interesting book in need of smoother segues, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in 1937 so the writing reflects the times in terms of approach to wildlife and people from cultures other than northern Europe. I enjoyed the glimpse into the life of an early forest ranger in the burgeoning US Forest Service and the author had a flair for language.