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WILLIAM F. WILL : 1915 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY A YOUNG MAN WORKING HIS FIRST JOB AS A FOREST RANGER WITH DUTIES THAT INCLUDE DRAWING MAPS, SURVEYING HOMESTEADS, AND FIGHTING RAGING FOREST FIRES AND ANTAGONISTIC RANCHERS

16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall. On offer is an interesting diary, written in the early 20th century by William F. Will, a young forest ranger working in the Medicine Bow National Forest of Wyoming. The diary kept a log of his daily activities from April 1, 1915 to January 31, 1916. There is an entry for every day during this time period. Will’s duties were many and varied, and he often logged the hours spent on each task in the diary. The young ranger spent a good deal of time throughout the course of the year working on several maps showing boundaries, domestic grazing allotments, telephone lines, several types of fire maps, and others. “Finished drawing protractors on fire location map and wrote memo on some. Started to make a map showing location of stool-boxes and caches, etc.” After reporting for duty on May 24 at Laramie, a great deal of his time was spent in the repair and installation of telephone lines. Especially in the summer months, Will often joined other Park Service employees to fight forest fires, often for several days at a time. He also monitored campsites to make sure fire prevention techniques were being followed by the residents or campers. He was called upon to search for a missing woman, and on one occasion he even searched for a lost horse. In the fall he helped build a bunk house at Brooklyn Lake, and got ready for winter by moving the horses to a ranch and making mouse proof storerooms. The firefights make for very interesting reads. For example: “July 17, 1915. Rode Woolfs range with him and Herder. Showed him the allotment lines and the closed area around Brooklyn Lake. Started out on telephone work but lookout man reported Turpin Lake Sawmill on fire at 1:30. Duther called up and said to wait until he talked over long distance. He called up and said to get Chase and go to the fire...arrived at fire at 6pm then rode to Turpin Saw mill found four of Bueoly’s men there. Men started to arrive at fire had 9 men on fire that night. Fire suppression - 11 Hrs. Munroe, the camp watchman, stated the fire started from the sawdust pile and he tried to stop it from burning the mill but found it impossible to check the timber fire.” The grazing of domestic livestock was permitted in the park in certain areas. This practice continues today and is still the subject of some controversy. It was one of the ranger's duties to make sure that the boundaries for grazing were adhered to. There were times when the local ranchers and the Park Service employees did not get along, “August 18. Rode over to So ____ Fork, hunted up the herder. I told him the sheep had been in my pasture and he had to keep them out. Then rode the range between Brooklyn Lake and Coney Ridge and found a little pocket that Woolf had just run through...Started to storm, hail, and ran so started back to Brooklyn Lake.”; “June 8. Repaired telephone line Rayfork to Ropers ranch, got wire all spliced but not tied in, called on Roper to see about moving telephone camp in there. He informed me that his place was closed to all Forest Service men and we could not stop there, and he wanted all Forest Service equipment at his place, including telephone, taken from there.” Census records of 1910 show a William F Will living with his parents in Laramie, WY. The Census shows his year of birth as 1897, making him 18 years old when he joined the Park Service. The diary measures about 3 1/2" x 6 1/2". It was issued by the US Department of Agriculture. The front page reads: “United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Notice. This book is Government property. The finder is requested to mail it to The Forester, Washington, D.C. or to deliver it to any officer of the Forest Service. There are over over 150 handwritten pages. The covers and spine are in good condition both aesthetically and structurally. The pages within are without any age-toning or significant rips or tears. The paper is a grid-lined yellow paper. The handwriting is easy to read and legible throughout in black ink and without significant fading or smudging. OVERALL: VG.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Very Good

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