0 00:00:00,330 --> 00:00:09,500 Okay. Here we go. Hi, this is Beth Hodder with Kjell Petersen. 1 00:00:09,650 --> 00:00:13,550 Both of us are with the Northwest Montana Look Out Association. 2 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:18,470 And it's January 22nd, 2021. 3 00:00:18,890 --> 00:00:28,880 We're here today to interview Bob and Marge, folks Dad about Bob's experiences as a lookout. 4 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:35,540 Marge wasn't with Bob at that time, but may be able to provide some stories and insights as we go. 5 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,770 And Kjell is here as a backup. 6 00:00:39,770 --> 00:00:45,079 If he has any questions or whatever that might be relevant that I'm not thinking about. 7 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:53,600 So I'll be the main interviewer. But we've we're just going to go with what we're doing here, if that's all right. 8 00:00:54,260 --> 00:01:01,580 So just to get started, these questions are really for Bob, but they're for you too, Marge. 9 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:07,380 Can you tell us about your childhood, Bob? 10 00:01:07,710 --> 00:01:16,470 Where did you grow up? Yes, I grew up in Whitefish, Montana, and then went to Minneapolis in kindergarten. 11 00:01:16,980 --> 00:01:23,700 We went back to North Dakota. My dad was a pastor and he was there for a year. 12 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:28,950 And then he went back to Whitefish, his favorite place because of Glacier National Park. 13 00:01:29,850 --> 00:01:34,920 As a young boy, we when we went hiking, we went camping and fishing. 14 00:01:35,730 --> 00:01:39,360 And I enjoyed those camping and hiking trips very much. 15 00:01:39,930 --> 00:01:46,050 It was on some of those trips in Glacier Park that we went one time and I was the only boy. 16 00:01:46,590 --> 00:01:58,170 And there all men were on this hike and we saw the countryside, beautiful cattle, green falls, the water come out of the falls as cold as ice. 17 00:01:59,250 --> 00:02:05,580 And we stopped at a lookout on the way in that circle trip that we took. 18 00:02:06,270 --> 00:02:11,160 And that was interesting for me to see the look out and see the people that were in it. 19 00:02:12,170 --> 00:02:21,480 And then when I was in high school, I applied to work for the Forest Service right out of high school. 20 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:27,530 There were several other boys that graduated that also worked for the Forest Service that summer. 21 00:02:28,340 --> 00:02:32,450 And as we worked on the Forest Service, we planted trees. 22 00:02:32,930 --> 00:02:36,740 We worked on campgrounds. We did all kinds of stuff. 23 00:02:37,430 --> 00:02:42,350 And it was interesting. And it's spurred an interest in me to apply for a lookout. 24 00:02:43,070 --> 00:02:47,630 So the next year, when I got out of college at Seattle Pacific College, 25 00:02:48,470 --> 00:02:58,940 I was granted the lookout and I scored high marks on the tests of the fire guard school and was very 26 00:02:58,940 --> 00:03:09,470 interested in and I was really in touch with the goings on of fire suppression and fire detection. 27 00:03:10,420 --> 00:03:18,670 And I looked forward to going up on the Aston Martin Lookout, and I had a great time there. 28 00:03:19,150 --> 00:03:24,220 I had my dog with me, my favorite dog, your only dog. 29 00:03:26,710 --> 00:03:34,360 He was with me all the time and we were on the Aston Martin lookout, and it was a tower 65 feet in the air, 30 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:40,690 and the water supply was all about a half a mile down the mountain. 31 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,820 And that was my main exercise, going for water. 32 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:54,549 I carried the water in a in a backpack of five gallon backpack and sometimes another gallon in my hand. 33 00:03:54,550 --> 00:04:06,280 So be six gallons. And it was really exercise, demanding exercise, getting back to the lookout, going up to the top and. 34 00:04:07,590 --> 00:04:14,130 So the dog would tear down the stairs and scared the deer away. 35 00:04:14,940 --> 00:04:20,330 When we got up in the morning to go out for water. And what about the murals? 36 00:04:21,630 --> 00:04:35,610 Oh, yes. My my supplies were brought up by a mule train and they had two no cans, big, you know, the big milk cans, $20 metal ones. 37 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,420 Yes. There were two of them strapped to them. 38 00:04:39,420 --> 00:04:44,040 One of the mules and the rest of my food supply was there for the whole summer. 39 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:49,820 I had to buy things in canned goods, things they would keep and. 40 00:04:51,790 --> 00:05:02,950 And they brought that up and I hiked up with the mule train and we got there and they unloaded it and everything went up into the lookout itself. 41 00:05:04,130 --> 00:05:09,590 We stopped in, looked out. Oh, go ahead. We slept inside the lookout. 42 00:05:10,950 --> 00:05:14,130 There were beds on the side of the. 43 00:05:15,460 --> 00:05:21,670 Of the room up there and like a cot, but it was built. 44 00:05:22,450 --> 00:05:27,730 So you put your sleeping bag on top of that and sleep that way. 45 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:32,990 What was the dog's name? Tanner. 46 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:48,460 Anna. What kind of dog? It was a small dog, but it was reddish and I thought it was like a setter, but I don't know what make it was. 47 00:05:49,580 --> 00:05:58,550 So I have to ask you, just backing up a little bit, Ashley was your first look out, is that correct? 48 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:05,540 That's correct. And what year were you in school and then what year did you start up at Ashley? 49 00:06:08,300 --> 00:06:14,240 I started off after my first year of college, and that would have been 60. 50 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:25,850 61, 62. And I see you graduated from high school in 61. 51 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:34,490 Yeah. So I guess that would be 62 that the first gen Ashley and Ashley. 52 00:06:34,500 --> 00:06:38,000 Yes. And it was how many steps? 53 00:06:38,840 --> 00:06:44,060 I don't count two steps. There was a whole lot or four big flights of stairs. 54 00:06:45,140 --> 00:06:48,440 I thought you said 65 steps at one time. 55 00:06:48,730 --> 00:06:52,910 Oh, I don't know. 65 feet in the air. Oh, okay. 56 00:06:55,540 --> 00:07:02,910 So. You answered a lot of questions that I had for you. 57 00:07:04,770 --> 00:07:10,770 And it was a long time ago. Were you what organization were you working for? 58 00:07:11,610 --> 00:07:20,250 I was underneath the Flathead National Forest and our ranger station district ranger station was at Whitefish. 59 00:07:20,970 --> 00:07:27,480 Okay. And do you remember who was the ranger there or who your boss was? 60 00:07:27,930 --> 00:07:31,500 I don't remember the names now. It's slipped my mind. 61 00:07:32,220 --> 00:07:35,360 Any stories about them? All. 62 00:07:35,370 --> 00:07:44,970 One time they came up to visit me. I had reported a smoke, I thought, from a lightning strike in. 63 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:53,280 And I went out looking for it myself with the dog and didn't find anything in the dark. 64 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:59,310 Came back late at night, worked our way back to the trail and back up to the lookout. 65 00:08:00,030 --> 00:08:03,750 And the next day, the ranger station. 66 00:08:04,620 --> 00:08:14,559 The. The. Two of the individuals are from the district office there came up and they they saw 67 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:21,129 me and they went out and checked out this this section of the land about the smoke. 68 00:08:21,130 --> 00:08:26,860 And they came back and didn't. So if there was a fire, they put it out. 69 00:08:26,860 --> 00:08:31,870 But I don't know if there was a fire or not. I was maybe chasing the moonlight. 70 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,690 That happens. It wouldn't be the first to do that. 71 00:08:38,630 --> 00:08:47,950 Yeah. Hmm. So you said the lookout was a tower and that it was about 65 feet tall, was it? 72 00:08:48,340 --> 00:08:57,700 Do you know if it was like an El four, which is, you know, a style or any any name that might have been associated with it. 73 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:04,819 I don't know what they called it. Look up, but it's about a 13 by 13. 74 00:09:04,820 --> 00:09:16,010 But look out room and windows and I can't walk around outside of it where you could put your your 75 00:09:16,010 --> 00:09:22,490 jello to get hard or your eggs to keep cool as cool as possible on the cool side of the lookout. 76 00:09:23,210 --> 00:09:32,240 And I cooked on dinner on a wood stove and got firewood from down below that just shed there. 77 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,630 There was plenty of wood there available for that. 78 00:09:36,570 --> 00:09:46,200 And it had to have a fire to have breakfast, have a fire to heat up lunch and have a fire in the stove for warming up supper. 79 00:09:47,130 --> 00:09:50,790 So it kept me busy just living. 80 00:09:51,270 --> 00:09:55,530 Yeah. So did you have to cut firewood, then? Supply yourself. 81 00:09:56,650 --> 00:10:05,410 No, I didn't have to cut any except maybe split some of it and and come up with the with it that way carried up by armloads. 82 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:11,220 So I had had previous people cut the firewood? 83 00:10:11,940 --> 00:10:18,780 I think so. Oh, okay. Probably had some fire crew or somebody up there do it and. 84 00:10:19,620 --> 00:10:27,940 Yeah. The benefit of their work I suppose. Did did they supply any water for you at all or did you have to. 85 00:10:28,140 --> 00:10:33,630 You said you hauled it about supplied the to the to milk cans of water. 86 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:43,760 To start with. How many gallons? I made 40 gallons, 20 gallon and each no can big heavy load for a mule. 87 00:10:45,020 --> 00:10:53,420 That would be a heavy, heavy load. And then you carried on your back a backpack to go down when you had to then supply yourself. 88 00:10:53,810 --> 00:10:57,530 Right. And you said there were how many gallons in there? 89 00:10:57,530 --> 00:11:00,800 Five. Five gallons in the backpack. 90 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:08,410 That's pretty heavy to leak. No, because I've talked with some guys. 91 00:11:09,190 --> 00:11:13,450 I sweat a lot going out with them in the early morning hours. 92 00:11:13,450 --> 00:11:21,130 I sweat. By the time I got to the top, the look out of that water, I was in drenching sweat. 93 00:11:22,150 --> 00:11:27,850 I worked up an appetite a few hours washing my clothes. 94 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:33,340 I can't remember anything there, except I must have washed some and hung them up to dry. 95 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:43,120 Oh, boy. So what about some precious visitors? 96 00:11:45,150 --> 00:11:49,920 Well, my my folks came up and hiked up there to visit me. 97 00:11:50,730 --> 00:11:54,840 And a friend, a lady friend of. 98 00:11:55,980 --> 00:12:03,210 My mom's was with them friends from the church, and it was good to see them there. 99 00:12:03,570 --> 00:12:13,370 They visited me and. And. Dad also visited me in the Oregon Lookout, where I was. 100 00:12:14,340 --> 00:12:22,500 Mm. So how far did people have to walk to get up to Ashley? 101 00:12:22,740 --> 00:12:26,430 Just. Just Ashley itself when they came to visit you? 102 00:12:26,910 --> 00:12:30,120 I think it was five or six miles. Mm hmm. 103 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,700 It was a little distance. Yeah. 104 00:12:34,310 --> 00:12:39,890 Do you have any idea of how high they had to go before they walked the steps? 105 00:12:40,700 --> 00:12:47,120 No. I wasn't there at the time. 106 00:12:47,140 --> 00:12:57,549 So that's fine. You're asking fine questions. But what about other buildings at the lookout itself? 107 00:12:57,550 --> 00:13:02,410 Were there other outbuildings? There was a woodshed and. 108 00:13:04,430 --> 00:13:07,950 And wood that and in firewood. 109 00:13:08,780 --> 00:13:14,809 And there was an outhouse. Of course you had to use the bathroom there. 110 00:13:14,810 --> 00:13:26,420 And the outhouse. One time I left the outhouse and I saw a cat, a wild animal slithering by. 111 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,830 And I wondered. Boy, that's a cat there. 112 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:39,860 I was surprised to see him. And I got the dog and we headed back up the lookout and got the look. 113 00:13:40,270 --> 00:13:46,070 We love he was not waiting, did mess with us and we didn't want to mess with him. 114 00:13:47,270 --> 00:13:50,919 Now, when you say a cat, how big? Oh. 115 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:55,660 Like a mountain lion. Mm hmm. Pretty good size. 116 00:13:56,710 --> 00:14:02,690 I wouldn't want to mess with that either. Okay. 117 00:14:03,460 --> 00:14:07,240 I have life experiences. You said you had deer up there. 118 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:16,300 Yes. I had some visitors come up from the valley down to the south. 119 00:14:16,810 --> 00:14:23,320 There was a ranch clear down in there and they came up by horseback and stopped to see me. 120 00:14:24,070 --> 00:14:28,330 And we had a good time there. 121 00:14:28,330 --> 00:14:38,580 And a while. And then. I went down one time and found them down in the in the valley where they were and stayed with them one night. 122 00:14:39,150 --> 00:14:42,520 Well, but was that in Montana? In Montana? 123 00:14:42,540 --> 00:14:46,340 Yes. Oh, okay. And. 124 00:14:48,020 --> 00:14:51,589 They were kind to me and I was glad to see them. 125 00:14:51,590 --> 00:15:01,640 And the mother of one of them was there during the cooking and the boys looked after cattle in that place there. 126 00:15:04,900 --> 00:15:17,810 Then in Castle Rock in Oregon. I was up on the lookout there, sat right on the ground, but there was still the cat around it. 127 00:15:17,830 --> 00:15:22,330 And all was the same similarity to the look out in Montana. 128 00:15:22,660 --> 00:15:26,000 I was on the ground. And. 129 00:15:31,100 --> 00:15:35,239 Trying to think what I was going to say. Visitors? Oh, yes. 130 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:48,740 There were some Dominican students, priest for the priesthood, that had a rough resort where they stayed in the summertime and they came up to see me. 131 00:15:48,740 --> 00:15:56,540 And that was interesting to talk to them and find out about them a little bit about that and. 132 00:15:58,020 --> 00:16:06,960 Well, after my experience in college, I was when I met the Lord and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and. 133 00:16:08,730 --> 00:16:14,820 God began to call me to be a missionary, and that's when I turned my course of study toward that. 134 00:16:14,820 --> 00:16:23,639 In college, I was in college for five years and up on the lookout. 135 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:33,640 I read the Bible a lot and and had time to do that because you don't you can't be looking for fires all the time but me. 136 00:16:33,750 --> 00:16:40,200 Maybe 20 minutes after the hour is a good rule of thumb, but. 137 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:49,790 Anyway, these Dominicans entrusted me and then they invited me down there if I could go down there sometime. 138 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:58,550 So I did come off to look up and had time off and stayed with them for one night. 139 00:16:59,450 --> 00:17:03,860 They had a good meal and a good place to sleep. 140 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:12,890 And it wasn't. And John was another look out there was this is in Oregon, Castle Rock. 141 00:17:13,630 --> 00:17:18,000 And there was another lookout. That's quite a ways away. 142 00:17:18,540 --> 00:17:23,640 And I visited that lookout one time and and saw the fellow that was there. 143 00:17:24,300 --> 00:17:29,430 But my job at my local here had a weather station on it. 144 00:17:29,430 --> 00:17:39,690 So I had to get the wind and the temperatures and the visibility all that and turn that into the headquarters of of the Air Force. 145 00:17:41,290 --> 00:17:45,220 Down in Eugene, Oregon. But what about the Montana? 146 00:17:45,580 --> 00:17:50,200 Did you do any weather in Montana? No, not not formal weather, no. 147 00:17:51,190 --> 00:17:59,680 You didn't have to do any kind of weather at all, like in the morning in the or whatever, you know, swing the. 148 00:18:02,410 --> 00:18:06,340 To get the temperature closer. Yeah. Thank you. 149 00:18:06,970 --> 00:18:10,390 The name just disappeared. You didn't have to do that. 150 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:14,710 No, but I had a complete weather report. 151 00:18:14,860 --> 00:18:19,210 And then Castle Rock called in by radio. 152 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:28,370 So how speaking of radio, then, how did you communicate as a lookout? 153 00:18:28,730 --> 00:18:33,680 With with your. With the forest. 154 00:18:35,290 --> 00:18:42,550 Well, we had telephones. The old fashioned telephone line and telephone. 155 00:18:42,820 --> 00:18:46,300 You hang it up and you could call. 156 00:18:46,540 --> 00:18:50,020 There was a guard station down below. Ashley, look up. 157 00:18:50,770 --> 00:18:54,340 And I talked to them. They were people that I knew from school. 158 00:18:55,030 --> 00:19:02,650 And there was another look, too, that was was connected to telephones. 159 00:19:03,430 --> 00:19:11,890 So in the evenings, we were on the phone quite a bit with each other, talking about various things and chess. 160 00:19:13,190 --> 00:19:16,370 Marge thinks I might have played chess with them. I don't know. 161 00:19:17,180 --> 00:19:20,960 But I agree. We entertained ourselves anyway each other. 162 00:19:21,740 --> 00:19:31,260 And that helped. Take away the monotony of being alone all the time. 163 00:19:31,980 --> 00:19:37,050 So. And then the radio contact was with the district office. 164 00:19:38,070 --> 00:19:46,680 And with the with the forest headquarters in Eugene calling in the weather. 165 00:19:48,760 --> 00:20:03,000 One today. And when you had if you had any kind of fire traffic or whatever on the radio or. 166 00:20:04,470 --> 00:20:09,480 How did you how did you connect with, say, the fire people themselves? 167 00:20:10,020 --> 00:20:15,150 If you if so, you had to call in a lightning strike or you had to you had a smoke or something. 168 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:29,660 Well, I would just call the station, the district station in Whitefish and. 169 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,140 We had got a code, we had the ten code and the four codes. 170 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:41,530 Ten four was okay. 1020 is your location. 171 00:20:41,530 --> 00:20:45,460 What is your location? What is your 1020 and. 172 00:20:46,740 --> 00:20:54,270 And I could, if it was a strike, a lightning strike that I was reporting lightning for always, 173 00:20:54,270 --> 00:21:03,810 exciting times on the lookout, because you were aware of electrical activity all around you and you kept track of it and. 174 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:08,640 And wrote down. The azimuth. 175 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:12,010 On the fire finder. 176 00:21:13,970 --> 00:21:27,620 So the location was the best and you could figure out how far along that is according to how you understand the country on air finders. 177 00:21:27,860 --> 00:21:34,190 All the information helped to locate the fire or locate the strike. 178 00:21:34,790 --> 00:21:43,330 And. And that was it. I. I didn't get any fires from those strikes that I know of, 179 00:21:43,340 --> 00:21:56,900 but I checked them every time and the radio contact was in touch with the daily thing with the district office. 180 00:22:01,860 --> 00:22:05,250 So what were your main duties you had? 181 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:11,160 Mostly I know dealing with fires, but what did you have to do up there? 182 00:22:11,430 --> 00:22:20,750 What were your requirements? Is this only at Ashley knowing others as well? 183 00:22:21,470 --> 00:22:34,070 Okay. It's to to study the country, to be aware of the surroundings and to use the binoculars and to locate things on the map. 184 00:22:34,070 --> 00:22:41,870 So you knew them where things were. And you're very familiar with your country, the country around you. 185 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,670 And you studied the land. 186 00:22:47,750 --> 00:22:53,990 When you just look over the country with binoculars and just naked eye. 187 00:22:54,800 --> 00:23:00,990 You could. Be familiarized with your territory. 188 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,930 And so that when when a strike did. 189 00:23:07,510 --> 00:23:11,020 Light up a tree or something or smoke you. 190 00:23:11,590 --> 00:23:14,920 You reported it and. And called it in. 191 00:23:15,940 --> 00:23:26,470 And if it was turned out to be a fire, then of course, there was the need for to verify that with the officials. 192 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:32,950 Now you say you called in a. 193 00:23:34,930 --> 00:23:39,910 The moon or something. What? What did you say? That one time or some light. 194 00:23:41,900 --> 00:23:48,560 You know, it seems that it would be very easy to call in something other than a fire. 195 00:23:48,950 --> 00:23:56,780 And how do you determine then say, if you have dust from a road or or if it's a fire? 196 00:24:01,110 --> 00:24:12,470 Well. Usually you could know the roots of fire pretty easily because you can see it and bring it in and. 197 00:24:13,460 --> 00:24:19,600 Not so many miles away. Such a direction on your map. 198 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:28,219 And you call up the information to the on the radio, to the district, so they have it to go by. 199 00:24:28,220 --> 00:24:40,040 Then they can send people out to that spot and get to the fire or where my report went to and they could follow it up and the speed things up. 200 00:24:40,460 --> 00:24:49,310 There was also airplane surveillance that was coming into being in those early days of my being on the lookout. 201 00:24:50,120 --> 00:25:01,820 And they they could call in fires, too, as they fly over the country, the whole large country around and about. 202 00:25:02,990 --> 00:25:06,230 I think two people must clean on the airplane, at least. 203 00:25:07,460 --> 00:25:12,080 One was looking and spotting and one that was flying the plane. 204 00:25:15,830 --> 00:25:24,460 So, Bob, I have to ask you, were there any time on a lookout after a rainstorm went through, you always got fooled by the water dogs. 205 00:25:24,470 --> 00:25:32,120 Did you have some water dogs? You watched for a long time. I don't know what you're speaking of, perhaps. 206 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,570 Well, they're after after a rainstorm comes through, 207 00:25:35,570 --> 00:25:42,020 then there's little fingers of fog that come up through the trees and make you think that there's a fire out there. 208 00:25:42,380 --> 00:25:49,930 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well. 209 00:25:51,460 --> 00:25:57,220 I was fooled at least once when I went off that that moon shining to the trees. 210 00:25:58,540 --> 00:26:02,230 I don't think it was a fire. And if it was, it went out with the rain. 211 00:26:07,370 --> 00:26:12,380 So can you tell us about meals you had and how you cooked? 212 00:26:12,500 --> 00:26:19,460 You said you had a wood stove. But what types of meals did you fix and all? 213 00:26:20,410 --> 00:26:23,990 For breakfast pancakes sometimes. 214 00:26:24,700 --> 00:26:29,650 Maybe some cereal? 215 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:43,900 I'm not sure. My memories escaped me about the meals bug, but I enjoyed preparing the meals, heating them up. 216 00:26:44,890 --> 00:26:57,970 I liked Vienna sausage and vegetables and fruit in a can, and I had my three square meals a day and washed up. 217 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,750 The dishes and put things away and kept things tidy. 218 00:27:03,750 --> 00:27:09,230 And the look out. I. 219 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:17,060 I didn't get fat because of the good exercise that I had and outdoor living. 220 00:27:18,170 --> 00:27:23,910 But praise the Lord, I. Enjoyed the whole experience. 221 00:27:24,570 --> 00:27:28,620 I probably would have stayed in Montana, but my folks moved to Oregon. 222 00:27:29,340 --> 00:27:36,360 So when I came up to look out of there, it was a fire, little fire going on somewhere. 223 00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:44,580 And I went out on that fire and stayed overnight and then mopped it up and was had that experience. 224 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:56,430 And then I had my car and a 51 Plymouth Belvedere and I put my all my things in the car. 225 00:27:57,030 --> 00:28:06,350 And my folks had already moved to Oregon, up to Albany, Oregon, and took the dog in with me up, 226 00:28:06,450 --> 00:28:10,230 sitting up on high on the sleeping bags and things in the backseat. 227 00:28:11,340 --> 00:28:19,650 And we drove all the way to Portland, Maine, and on down to Willamette Valley to Albany. 228 00:28:20,490 --> 00:28:24,900 And so the dog stayed with my folks when I went to college. 229 00:28:25,470 --> 00:28:31,510 But when I came back from another college year, the dog was mine. 230 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:35,070 The dog was ready to go when he saw me. Getting things ready. 231 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:39,240 Getting things packed up. You like being a lookout dog? 232 00:28:40,410 --> 00:28:45,510 Yeah. Did he have experiences up there of his own? 233 00:28:47,660 --> 00:28:53,250 The dog? Yeah. Like with wildlife or people who visited or anything. 234 00:28:54,260 --> 00:28:57,440 Oh, he was friendly enough. 235 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:04,520 He didn't bark and get restless when people came up to look out. 236 00:29:05,690 --> 00:29:14,480 We were just there. But one time he must have I, we might have split some wood or something. 237 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:28,790 Anyway, it injured his his foot so that he had to go on three legs and he would still run down to the water thing and back up again. 238 00:29:29,450 --> 00:29:36,140 And evidently the injury to his foot took care of itself and healed. 239 00:29:36,270 --> 00:29:39,530 And indeed he was better. His old self. 240 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,800 Her old self again. She was a. 241 00:29:43,970 --> 00:29:50,390 Tremendous blessing to me. You know, they're pretty, pretty wonderful company, aren't they? 242 00:29:51,300 --> 00:30:01,250 Yeah. They don't complain about the weather and they don't cheat at cards. 243 00:30:02,330 --> 00:30:08,160 Yeah. So. 244 00:30:10,630 --> 00:30:15,100 You. You were at Ashley the first year and then you went to Castle Rock. 245 00:30:15,100 --> 00:30:18,970 Is that the next place you went to? Yes. Castle Rock. 246 00:30:19,330 --> 00:30:22,540 I thought you were at Ashley for two summers. 247 00:30:23,990 --> 00:30:33,120 I was two summers at Ashley. Oh, okay. And then 64, I think I was 64, 65 and 66. 248 00:30:33,770 --> 00:30:41,540 I was then a Castle Rock. And that had a good view of the Cascades, good view of the three sisters. 249 00:30:41,540 --> 00:30:44,720 Three, three mountains all over 10,000 feet. 250 00:30:45,380 --> 00:30:53,330 I was still some distance to the west from there in the Mackenzie River Valley, but. 251 00:30:58,020 --> 00:31:08,510 So then I had my last summer, which was a half a summer only that was 67, and I was on a different lookout. 252 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:14,430 This one was on the crest of the Cascades, where the wind could really howl and blow. 253 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:23,910 And the volcanic rock surroundings up there was called Sand Mountain because of the results of the. 254 00:31:26,590 --> 00:31:32,890 Explosion of the volcanoes in that part of the forest and. 255 00:31:35,210 --> 00:31:39,710 That went by pretty fast because it was just half a summer. 256 00:31:42,990 --> 00:31:46,080 It was a big farm, was there. 257 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:52,560 You were only up there half a summer. Was it because of the weather or some other thing you have? 258 00:31:53,340 --> 00:32:02,460 I was planning a trip with the Young People's Group Ministry Book Group of our church, the Free Methodist Church. 259 00:32:03,390 --> 00:32:07,970 And I had raised the money for the trip and. 260 00:32:09,620 --> 00:32:16,050 I was part of that and. You went to the to the Philippines. 261 00:32:16,650 --> 00:32:24,130 Oh, wow. How long were you gone? A good month or so. 262 00:32:25,430 --> 00:32:32,390 I was gone and Marge was up and working in Edmonton, Alberta, her home city. 263 00:32:33,500 --> 00:32:38,780 And we wrote letters as we wrote letters from the Lookouts. 264 00:32:39,380 --> 00:32:43,030 And she wrote back to me from British Columbia. 265 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:48,410 She was the student ministry program there with the Indians. 266 00:32:48,710 --> 00:32:52,250 Well, that was still in 1966, wasn't it? 267 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:58,700 Yeah. Yeah. Then 67, I was back up in Edmonton getting ready for a wedding. 268 00:33:00,030 --> 00:33:05,569 Let me think that was. Yeah, but there was a big fire there. 269 00:33:05,570 --> 00:33:11,380 I don't know if anybody was on the lookout or not or whether the fire reached the lookout. 270 00:33:11,390 --> 00:33:24,470 I don't I'm not sure this does now back in 1967 and Mt. Lookout, and it was restored eventually and they kept kept it up. 271 00:33:24,470 --> 00:33:31,970 I know some of the lookouts have been rented out to people that want to stay in a place like that. 272 00:33:32,870 --> 00:33:44,270 And so they're still used that way, I suppose, and they're open to the public that way can can be booked. 273 00:33:44,780 --> 00:33:54,830 Or are there any tourist attractions in in Montana, you know, for people to just camp out on the lookout there? 274 00:33:54,840 --> 00:34:01,100 There is a rental program. Yes. And, you know, there are there are a number of. 275 00:34:02,100 --> 00:34:08,460 Places that people can rent, in fact. Are you familiar with Warner Park outside of Whitefish? 276 00:34:09,390 --> 00:34:12,480 It's run by the state. It's right. 277 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:16,150 By what? It's run by the state, but it's subtle. 278 00:34:16,620 --> 00:34:20,459 What's. What's the name of that range held up by Big Mountain? 279 00:34:20,460 --> 00:34:24,690 Kind of. Yeah. It's in the northern part of the Whitefish Range. 280 00:34:25,470 --> 00:34:29,310 Okay. Yeah. And you can drive to that lookout and you can rent it. 281 00:34:29,310 --> 00:34:32,580 So if you ever get lonesome, you can go up there. 282 00:34:33,180 --> 00:34:39,229 Okay. So yeah, it's it's amazing. 283 00:34:39,230 --> 00:34:46,480 They are trying to preserve as many lookouts that are, you know, run by agencies as possible. 284 00:34:46,730 --> 00:34:50,030 And some of them they do offer as rentals. 285 00:34:50,510 --> 00:35:01,280 Some they're just restoring or not restoring, but rehabbing, I guess, you know, and trying to keep them up and running, 286 00:35:01,730 --> 00:35:11,540 but leaving them as they are and others, they're trying to staff either with volunteers or with paid staff people. 287 00:35:12,290 --> 00:35:15,830 So it's a good thing. Yeah, that's good. 288 00:35:16,460 --> 00:35:19,580 No. And I think Sand Mountain is being used that way. 289 00:35:20,620 --> 00:35:25,430 And. I always wondered about that fire that they had. 290 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,740 It was a big one and but it was a long. 291 00:35:28,980 --> 00:35:38,460 Well, what do we. It happened after I left and went to the Philippines and closed out my lookout experiences there with that. 292 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:44,490 But you know the lookouts were my home in the summertime was a good job. 293 00:35:45,060 --> 00:35:48,480 I didn't spend any money. You couldn't spend the money up there. 294 00:35:49,290 --> 00:35:53,790 Were your checks stacked up and you got them all at the end of it. 295 00:35:54,300 --> 00:35:58,380 And all that went to college expenses and. 296 00:36:00,070 --> 00:36:03,580 Well spent. Yeah. So. 297 00:36:05,340 --> 00:36:10,040 Why do you have certain things about your experience, 298 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:18,980 experiences that were especially endearing or memorable or something to you, whether they're good or bad memories? 299 00:36:21,380 --> 00:36:28,250 They're all good memories. I appreciate the Forest Service. 300 00:36:29,770 --> 00:36:41,020 They were good to me. And I was trying to be good to them and I'm glad for the look out experience. 301 00:36:41,650 --> 00:36:50,500 I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Did it teach you different things that, you know, maybe you think. 302 00:36:50,530 --> 00:36:55,630 Yeah, I learned that by doing that. Having those experiences are not really. 303 00:36:57,720 --> 00:37:01,830 Well, my whole world view was sort of shaped. 304 00:37:03,100 --> 00:37:08,920 Like being on the lookout in the summertime and going to college in the fall. 305 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:16,330 Being called to be a missionary was formulated there. 306 00:37:18,430 --> 00:37:25,630 My Bible study, my Bible reading was very effective and I still carry on my Bible reading every morning. 307 00:37:26,380 --> 00:37:38,530 And the Lord's been good to me. He sent me to Africa, to Mozambique and South Africa, where we got independence, came to the country and Mozambique. 308 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:45,070 We had to leave in a hurry. We left everything just about there with 12 pieces of luggage. 309 00:37:45,730 --> 00:37:49,540 We were called. Our independence had come. 310 00:37:50,320 --> 00:38:02,490 And the. The tendency of the freedom fighters that God gained independence for Mozambique in the Portuguese left turned it over to them. 311 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:07,400 They were a communist leaning. People. 312 00:38:08,150 --> 00:38:18,140 But still, I was there during that independence time and a month or so afterwards, and it was a good experience for us. 313 00:38:18,980 --> 00:38:30,380 There was three missionaries in jail when we left and thank God that we didn't have to go to jail. 314 00:38:30,890 --> 00:38:36,670 But we got out and we stayed a part of Mozambique because we left it. 315 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:41,120 We joined the mine ministry in South Africa. 316 00:38:41,630 --> 00:38:54,500 The gold mines and the coal mines were familiar to me and that's where I started work visiting in the coal mines and came home on furlough. 317 00:38:55,690 --> 00:39:06,940 And margin. I had not been able to get any pregnancy and we prayed for a child and suddenly she got pregnant. 318 00:39:07,540 --> 00:39:12,849 Up in Edmonton, Alberta. So we went back to the field. 319 00:39:12,850 --> 00:39:18,610 We went back to South Africa, and that's where Linda was born in Klerksdorp. 320 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:26,830 And I continued my ministry to the gold mines and seeing Mozambique men all the time. 321 00:39:27,310 --> 00:39:35,500 And from other tribes, many tribes from other countries around South Africa come to the mines and worked. 322 00:39:36,530 --> 00:39:43,430 And I sold literature to them, to them Bibles and handbooks and things, and provided for them, 323 00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:53,659 kept track of our church people and leaders that were in the mines going back and forth from their period of time working in the mines. 324 00:39:53,660 --> 00:40:01,640 They would go back to Mozambique, be with their families for a while, and then they would come back for another contract working. 325 00:40:02,700 --> 00:40:09,960 For the for the gold mines. Well, it sounds like you've got a pretty rich life. 326 00:40:11,100 --> 00:40:15,260 It was. Yeah. Um. 327 00:40:16,910 --> 00:40:21,260 Am I missing anything? Is there anything, general, that you can think of? 328 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:26,970 Um. With the lookouts or anything? 329 00:40:27,890 --> 00:40:35,270 No, I can just tell by listening to you talk about your little lookout time, Bob, that it was just really an awesome part of your soul. 330 00:40:35,810 --> 00:40:39,080 Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yes, it was. 331 00:40:39,590 --> 00:40:47,690 Yeah, I did have one question. You said that you liked to cook, but you didn't say anything about spam. 332 00:40:48,050 --> 00:40:53,760 Did you eat spam when you were on the lookout? I must have eaten about a ton of spam. 333 00:40:53,790 --> 00:40:57,980 Oh, yeah, I had spam. I forgot about that. 334 00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:03,650 Yeah. And how many ways did you cook spam or fix it? 335 00:41:05,660 --> 00:41:09,680 Well on the lookout in Castle Rock. 336 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:17,120 I was fortunate. We had a we had a propane, propane stove. 337 00:41:18,460 --> 00:41:26,140 So I could heat it up in the oven or heat it up on top of the stove just about any way you want. 338 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:33,880 I could even bake bread. Ooh, that's pretty good. 339 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:41,620 Yeah. And he still. After 53 years, he hasn't forgotten how to wash dishes. 340 00:41:42,110 --> 00:41:45,520 Yeah, that's wonderful. 341 00:41:48,530 --> 00:41:52,420 Yeah, well, I don't have any more questions. 342 00:41:52,690 --> 00:41:59,580 If you've got any more comments, that's wonderful. Well, thank you for interviewing me. 343 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:07,280 I enjoyed it. I would like to be on the lookout one more time by chance. 344 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:15,559 Yeah, he did say to me hours or days ago that he also played his trumpet. 345 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:19,420 He practiced his trumpet on. Was that it? 346 00:42:19,450 --> 00:42:29,990 And the guitar? Yeah. When I left the room, the look of a castle on Ashley Mountain in Montana. 347 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:39,110 I had my hands full of guitar, a horn, a suitcase and some of my clothes and things like that. 348 00:42:39,710 --> 00:42:46,430 And I had to walk that hike around the other to go there, but I made it out of there. 349 00:42:46,430 --> 00:42:51,680 Okay. And now he's met by the forestry personnel and taken out. 350 00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:56,690 And as I said, I went to a fire. When I got back to the station, they had the fire. 351 00:42:56,690 --> 00:43:08,450 So I was gung ho to go out on and one more time to be employed for the good of the forestry, for the good of the country. 352 00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:14,900 Well, thank you very much. We appreciate that you were there and knew you did what you did. 353 00:43:17,180 --> 00:43:22,430 Thank you. Thanks for asking us interview and I hope you enjoyed it. 354 00:43:22,610 --> 00:43:27,200 I certainly did. Thank you. Thank. 355 00:43:28,180 --> 00:43:32,320 Bye bye. Bye bye. Okay. Bye bye. 356 00:43:32,350 --> 00:43:36,820 God bless. And you stay well, too. 357 00:43:36,830 --> 00:43:42,720 Bye bye. Okay. So do they have to do their own leaving? 358 00:43:43,730 --> 00:43:47,660 If you guys can find your end button. 359 00:43:48,050 --> 00:43:51,290 Yeah. Or in this case, it's leave. 360 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:57,890 That's right. But before you go, I need to tell you I've stopped recording, so we're off the record now. 361 00:43:58,100 --> 00:44:04,340 But it was just absolutely delightful to spend time with you this afternoon. 362 00:44:04,380 --> 00:44:13,460 Yes. Just the life helps you. And at some point at our age, we remember the old days. 363 00:44:15,530 --> 00:44:18,920 Of course we do. There you go. 364 00:44:19,460 --> 00:44:21,350 Now, the two of you were just delightful. 365 00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:30,770 And I'm going to try to figure out a way to send a file of the recording so that you can rewatch it at some point if you'd like to. 366 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:34,580 Oh, good. You know, I was thinking about that at some point. 367 00:44:35,090 --> 00:44:36,310 Yeah, we'd like to. 368 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:44,000 I have to tell you, Marge, if I didn't already if I hadn't already heard that you had a little Canadian in you, I can hear that brogue in your voice. 369 00:44:45,140 --> 00:44:48,680 Yeah. You know, I just. I can't get rid of it. 370 00:44:50,150 --> 00:44:53,420 No, you don't. You got rid of it. Don't try at all. 371 00:44:54,080 --> 00:45:00,710 Oh, you didn't come, my sisters, until nine till 2013. 372 00:45:00,740 --> 00:45:03,920 She finally became a U.S. citizen. Oh, my gosh. 373 00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:08,840 That's incredible. She's been an enthusiastic go praying for our country. 374 00:45:08,910 --> 00:45:12,440 Mm hmm. Well, it's needed practically full time. 375 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:16,160 Pray. Yeah. Yeah, very much so. 376 00:45:16,640 --> 00:45:20,390 Well, okay. Well, we'll keep track of what's going on. 377 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:24,770 Praise the Lord. Still got brains. You go. 378 00:45:25,370 --> 00:45:26,269 We'll be in touch. 379 00:45:26,270 --> 00:45:37,780 And I'll let you know when your when your recording is available on our Web site after it's been logged in at the University of Montana. 380 00:45:37,790 --> 00:45:44,630 So then you can go in there and and let all your friends know that you have a place in history. 381 00:45:45,180 --> 00:45:53,840 Oh, okay. One other thing. If we find a photograph, because you know how we remember photographs. 382 00:45:54,230 --> 00:45:57,680 Well, there was a picture of his lookout. 383 00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:01,450 I think it was the Montana lookout, wasn't it? Yeah. 384 00:46:01,780 --> 00:46:10,150 If we find those pictures again, who do we send them to send them to me or to tell you could send them to. 385 00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:17,260 Well, send them to me. Okay. Yeah. So I would I would love to have them. 386 00:46:17,260 --> 00:46:22,300 We keep asking people if they have pictures from their lookouts and they don't. 387 00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:29,350 A lot of people, especially people who are like in their nineties and that now they don't have cameras. 388 00:46:29,950 --> 00:46:33,339 So, you know, it was too bad. 389 00:46:33,340 --> 00:46:37,300 I did interview one guy who had a camera in 1948. 390 00:46:37,330 --> 00:46:41,470 He sent some marvelous photos. Oh, yes. Anything he can find. 391 00:46:41,860 --> 00:46:50,050 And do you want my your snail mail address or your address? 392 00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:57,850 Yeah. I'll give it to you now, if you'd like, it would be P.O. Box 294294. 393 00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:06,890 Yeah, that's West Glacier. West Glacier, Omaha, 59936. 394 00:47:07,580 --> 00:47:11,450 Well, I know where West Glacier is. Oh, yes, you do. 395 00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:18,380 You have 59936. Yes. In my last name is H o DDR. 396 00:47:18,890 --> 00:47:23,270 Very good. All right. Well, thank you very much. 397 00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:28,190 Yeah, well, we our our second daughter is named Beth. 398 00:47:28,430 --> 00:47:31,730 Oh, is that right? Yeah. It's not hard to remember your name. 399 00:47:34,310 --> 00:47:37,820 Well, this this is, without question, the highlight of my day. 400 00:47:38,300 --> 00:47:42,830 Oh, bless you. Well, yeah. You get in later in your day, huh? 401 00:47:43,070 --> 00:47:50,240 Yeah. We were so surprised to see Snow this morning that it feels like December to us. 402 00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:53,960 Is it still on the ground then? Yeah. Yeah. 403 00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:59,420 Stacked up and. Well, enjoy it. Och, I was. 404 00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:06,500 I don't know what the temperature is, but it's somewhere around 30, so my neighbor does the does our yard work now. 405 00:48:06,830 --> 00:48:15,500 And he, she came shoveling the walk this morning. I'm glad to pay him something to get the walks and the driveway plowed out. 406 00:48:15,590 --> 00:48:19,210 Yeah. All right. Take care. 407 00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:23,980 You too. All right. Well, bye bye. Well, bye bye. 408 00:48:24,250 --> 00:48:28,490 Bye bye. Hmm. 409 00:48:29,450 --> 00:48:32,660 Did you hit the leave? Yeah, I did. Huh? 410 00:48:33,890 --> 00:48:38,150 Didn't I go? No. You're okay. 411 00:48:38,630 --> 00:48:42,680 I'll grind up the starter. Here we go again. 412 00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:46,810 Bye bye. Nope. 413 00:48:47,780 --> 00:48:55,150 Nope. You're still there. No kidding? You're really you're hitting down at the bottom where it says leave. 414 00:48:56,710 --> 00:49:00,230 Yeah. I might be able to end you here. 415 00:49:00,250 --> 00:49:03,660 Let me see if I can end you. Okay. 416 00:49:03,670 --> 00:49:09,730 I'll push the little X in the upper right close. 417 00:49:12,410 --> 00:49:18,680 There. I think we're gone. Nope. Hmm. 418 00:49:19,190 --> 00:49:25,190 Tells me you're on every box now and I don't see you. 419 00:49:25,190 --> 00:49:30,080 And I pushed. Pushed the X in order to turn you off. 420 00:49:32,450 --> 00:49:36,830 Hmm. I'm going to try to remove you. So let's see what happens. 421 00:49:37,490 --> 00:49:41,240 Hold on a sec. Okay. Jill, I'm still recording. Can I turn this? 422 00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:42,980 Yes, you should turn it off.