Episode 31 : Dear Mother and Father : a letter by Gifford Pinchot [transcript]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:29:15 Debbie Lee: Welcome to the Subway Bitterroot Wilderness History Project, which is made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The University of Idaho, and Washington State University. Part of the project’s mission is to collect, preserve, and make public oral histories documenting the history and people of the subway. Bitterroot wilderness. For more information, please visit our website at SPW lib argue Idaho redo.

00:00:29:17 - 00:00:55:16 Unknown Speaker: And then I think people, I think people get so much out of being in a wilderness setting once you take away cars and money and telephones. People are different and they are different to each other, I think. And, and, and then they draw on things in themselves that maybe are a little rusty from our crazy life out here now.

00:00:55:18 - 00:01:26:08 Unknown Speaker: I think the ways that people get along when they’re isolated in a place like that, that they place that they want to be, are really it’s a wonderful thing.

00:01:26:10 - 00:01:49:26 Debbie Lee: Thank you for joining us for the 31st episode of the Selway Bitter Wilderness History Project. In this episode, titled Dear Mother and Father, we hear the reading of a letter now preserved in the Library of Congress, written by one of the early chiefs of the Forest Service. Gifford Pinchot. Gifford Pinchot graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University in 1889.

00:01:49:29 - 00:02:13:13 Debbie Lee: His father, whose fortune came from timber and land sales, urged Gifford to join the new forestry movement to become a forester and to begin developing concepts of long term forest management. Because of the family wealth, Gifford was able to pursue this passion full time. He served in various political offices, including the chief of the Division of Forestry, what would later be named the United States Forest Service.

00:02:13:15 - 00:02:38:17 Debbie Lee: And as the Governor of Pennsylvania. Working closely with Theodore Roosevelt. Although he supported forest management, he never went so far as to support preservation of wilderness for the sake of scenery, a policy which put him at odds with idealists such as John Muir, but which won him more political support as he attempted to put more wilderness land under the protection of the federal government to preserve as a resource to the growing country’s economy.

00:02:38:20 - 00:03:01:09 Debbie Lee: Gifford Pinchot wrote this letter to his parents in 1896, shortly after his graduation from university. His father had sent him to tour the great western forests as inspiration for his future life’s work and his decision on this particular trip to spend some weeks in the Bitterroot Mountains, rather than to accompany John Muir to the Alaskan wilderness, would impact his future policies and rhetoric.

00:03:01:11 - 00:03:11:07 Debbie Lee: Additionally, this handwritten letter offers a fascinating glimpse into the culture and times of the western United States. Just before the turn of the 20th century.

00:03:11:09 - 00:03:43:11 Unknown Speaker: Dear mother and Father, there has been a complete change of plans since I wrote you two days ago. Or was it yesterday? The Commission has decided wisely, as I think, that I can be more useful by spending three weeks in the Bitterroot Mountains than by going to Alaska with John Muir. Of course, the Alaska trip would be the most pleasant, but I hardly think it would do as much either to help the general cause or to give me a knowledge of the forests.

00:03:43:13 - 00:04:09:10 Unknown Speaker: The plan is now as follows. On Monday, Harry and I start from a place called Hamilton, 50 or 60 miles from here, with a pack train and cross the mountains. Lieutenant Ahearn of the 25th Infantry is going with us. It is most fortunate that he is, for I suppose it would be impossible to select a better companion for a mountain trip.

00:04:09:13 - 00:04:34:19 Unknown Speaker: As his colonel told me, he is past master in all that relates to mountain travel. He has done a great deal of exploring and from his great success, is evidently a skillful and prudent woodsman. He is also an enthusiast about forestry, and has been instrumental in getting the agitation started for a gray area, which he first explored and which I believe will someday be reserved.

00:04:34:21 - 00:05:05:04 Unknown Speaker: So I am greatly delighted that I am to have his company beside all his other qualities. He is a very pleasant companion. The region where we are going is one of the most interesting in the country. We shall cross the mountains about 60 miles south of Missoula and 80 down the Clearwater, traveling westward until we reach the neighborhood of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation and then return through Elk City and the Nez Perce Pass in the Bitterroot Mountains.

00:05:05:06 - 00:05:29:21 Unknown Speaker: Reaching Missoula again in 20 or 25 days. Graves arrives here tomorrow, and I suppose we shall start early Monday morning from Hamilton. We have the man recommended as the best in this region for head guide, the man he prefers of all he knows, he tells me, will probably go a second man, and Ahearn will bring a man of his company as cook.

00:05:29:23 - 00:05:50:15 Unknown Speaker: His men are all colored, so we shall be fitted out in the most beautiful state. And as to provisions, we are going to take five pack horses. Not to mention that this country is famous for elk and trout, so I don’t think we could be much better fixed. It is a good bear country too, but mostly black and brown.

00:05:50:17 - 00:06:17:10 Unknown Speaker: Also, as the berries are not yet ripe. We shall probably not get any bear. I’m furnishing this beginning with first part of the 24th. The party has just left for Spokane via the Coeur d’Alene region. I shall miss certain things I would like to see by staying here, but expect to meet the company in Portland and see the Cascade Reserve and all of California with them.

00:06:17:12 - 00:06:41:09 Unknown Speaker: So what I miss will be nothing compared to what I shall gain this morning. I shall spend getting my accounts in shape to transmit to Washington. But in the meantime, I must ask for another deposit. This trip will cost about $500, and I shall have to pay for it when I come out of the mountains. The commission pays Harry’s expenses while in the mountains.

00:06:41:11 - 00:07:11:22 Unknown Speaker: I’m as well as possible and weigh 171, which is 6 pounds more than usual in the woods. If that wretched sergeant had only made plans in advance, this would have been an ideal trip for Amos. But I can’t tell anything about my movements. Even a short time ahead. So far as the plans of the commission are concerned, if Amos could join me here, or better in Portland, for he would not be alone there if I were a day or two late and I wouldn’t have to wait for him.

00:07:11:22 - 00:07:32:03 Unknown Speaker: I am sure we could get into the woods in Oregon and California and have a delightful time. Please address letters to Missoula. I shall be back here in route to the coast, as soon as I come out of the mountains. With much love to you all, your loving son. Gifford.

00:07:32:06 - 00:07:59:06 Debbie Lee: Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness History Project, which has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The University of Idaho, and Washington State University. The project coordinator is Debbie Lee, recorded and produced by Aaron Jepson.