Company 952
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The 952nd Company was organized at Fort Missoula on May 11, 1933, by Captain Ben Stafford, 4th Infantry. That same day the company, forty-six Montana Enrollees, four Army enlisted men, and impediments, moved to Superior, Montana, but it was an error . . . four days later the company was at the forks of the Little Joe Creek, St. Regis, Montana, for the rest of the summer. The Camps occupied since then have been Camp Nine Mile in the winters of 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1937; Deep Creek, Idaho, forty-nine miles southwest of Darby, Montana—the summer camp of the years 1934-1937. In the fall of 1934 the company was transferred to the Fort Douglas District, to work on the Bear River Bird Refuge, the world’s largest Migratory refuge near Brigham, Utah.
In the Spring of 1938, the company moved to Camp Bridgehead, F-48, sixty miles east of Kalispell, Montana, on the banks of the South Fork of the Flathead River. Later in the summer twenty-five enrollees were sent to Camp F-77, Flathead, ten miles north of Columbia Falls, Montana, to improve a campsite and put up portable buildings that came from Shiloh, Illinois, for the permanent home of Co. 952. The present site has been occupied since September 19,1938.
The company has worked for the Forest Service every year since it was organized. Except for the winter spent in Utah on the bird refuge. Outstanding accomplishment have been in Forest Fire Fighting, where at Deep Creek the summer of 1934 was similar to the “winter of blue snow”, it was a summer of many fires. The road connecting Darby, Montana, and Elk City, Idaho, was built over a mountain range at 8000 feet above sea level . . . the only road connecting Montana and Idaho for 500 miles from eat to west; Coram-Spotted Bear six strand metallic telephone line was completed. Finally, the hazardous work of felling snags in the 1929 Half Moon Fire Area (127,000 acres, north of Columbia Falls) was done with a minimum of lost time accidents, no fatalities, the enrollees felling as many snags a day as good lumberjacks, so says the Supervisor of the Flathead Nation Forest.
In the Spring of 1938, the company moved to Camp Bridgehead, F-48, sixty miles east of Kalispell, Montana, on the banks of the South Fork of the Flathead River. Later in the summer twenty-five enrollees were sent to Camp F-77, Flathead, ten miles north of Columbia Falls, Montana, to improve a campsite and put up portable buildings that came from Shiloh, Illinois, for the permanent home of Co. 952. The present site has been occupied since September 19,1938.
The company has worked for the Forest Service every year since it was organized. Except for the winter spent in Utah on the bird refuge. Outstanding accomplishment have been in Forest Fire Fighting, where at Deep Creek the summer of 1934 was similar to the “winter of blue snow”, it was a summer of many fires. The road connecting Darby, Montana, and Elk City, Idaho, was built over a mountain range at 8000 feet above sea level . . . the only road connecting Montana and Idaho for 500 miles from eat to west; Coram-Spotted Bear six strand metallic telephone line was completed. Finally, the hazardous work of felling snags in the 1929 Half Moon Fire Area (127,000 acres, north of Columbia Falls) was done with a minimum of lost time accidents, no fatalities, the enrollees felling as many snags a day as good lumberjacks, so says the Supervisor of the Flathead Nation Forest.
- Forest Fire Fighting
- Helping at a bird refuge
- Build road from Darby, MT to Elk City, ID
- Strung telephone wire
- Felling snags after fire
- Frank C. Quinlin - Company Commander
- Frederick W. Searles - Subaltern
- Morris S. Golden - Educational Adviser
- Dr. Robert F. Miller - Camp Surgeon
- Russel Peterson - Project Superintendent
- James W. Hellman - Project Staff
- Royal Hopkins - Project Staff
- O. W. Meyer - Project Staff
- L. L. Scharmota - Project Staff
- Carl Widdowson - Project Staff
- Evan W. Thomas - Project Staff
Clinton H. Alexander, Charles W. Allum, Earnest A. Arcirro, , Frederick E. Baker, John A. Bargy, Erwin E. Barker, Ernest C. Betcher, William A. Blansky, Kenneth R. Bower, James M. Bowers, Donald E. Boyd, John R. Brekke, Gerald L. Brick, Myron A. Brown, Joseph G. Carson, Vernon Chagun, Ellis E. Chaney, Clarence B. Chesmore, Frank E. Coleman, Griffith G. Collins, Oren J. Collins, Bennie R. Cornelius, Wayne D. Crumpacker, Louis Cyr, Laren M. Davis, Norman F. Davis, Lloyd W. Dewell, Clarence E. Dupler, Marvin A. Edwards, Phillip L. Egasque, Epharim Elhard, Frank J. Ereth, Robert J. Fauske, Lyle R. Flesch, Joe A. Fox, John E. Freeman, Harold L. Freese, Howard R. Fullerton, Ray G. Gadbow, Daniel C. Gallagher, John H. Germeraad, Berton Gloyne, Edward R. Goodua, Russell B. Gottenbrog, Robert C. Hallas, William H. Hammond, Ray R. Hartsoch, Lawrence W. Haworth, Jr., Earl E. Hendershot, Merlin F. Hinrichsen, Agner Hofman, Victor W. Hoppus, Byron C. Hoylman, Conrad L. Hudson, Veren E. Jones, Donald M. Keding, Leo G. Kellog, Bob Kiefer, Victor L. Klein, James R. Knott, Glenn C. Koenig, Robert H. LaMotte, Wesley W. Lander, Dominick Z. Larosa, Leslie A. Lawrence, Robert E. Livesay, Raymond J. Lyons, Robert B. Macdonald, Frank M. Marsh, Claire L. Mathison, Steve E. McCann, Jr., Robert K. McClure, Claude L. McDaniels, Lawerence J. McDonnell, Lenard J. McKenzie, George L. McShane, Fred H. Meins, Robert S. Messenger, Armon W. Miller, Frank Miller, John M. Minnick, Louis W. Moran, Walter Mudgett, Morris D. Murphy, Vincent Murphy, Jacon Naasz, Charles R. Nault, Charles R. Ness, Raymond E. Ness, Charles E. Newman, Edwin N. Nielson, Earl O'Connor, Walter Oster, Leamon E. Otis, Marvin O. Overton, Frank A. Pettinato, Max B. Pierce, Ray E. Plum, Billy Pope, John W. Ramey, Olav Risdal, Felix S. Rizzie, Thomas J. Rorick, Dale H. Rounds, Eldon A. Rytter, Gilbert F. Samuelson, Eugene J. Sawyer, Thomas E. Schoonen, Norman H. Solheim, Rudy J. Spraycar, Dumond D. Stahlecker, Arvin E. Stenehjem, Arnold Stennes, Donald J. Stratman, Charlie M. Stulc, Vernon W. Sturdevant, Michael M. Sutich, Anthony L. Swartz, Gordon O. Thomas, William D. Thompson, Alan E. Turk, Frank Urbanitch, Kenneth L. Vadman, Jack Weimer, Robert E. West, Bob White, Gordon P. White, Milton F. White, Ernest D. Willington
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