Cover Page

Preface

Introduction

In Search of an Identity

Photofile

Bibliography

Notes

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

National Park Service Uniforms In Search of an Identity 1872-1920	Number 2
In Search of an Identity (continued)

Everything was not uniform. There were many small variations, such as breeches with and without belt loops, side versus back buckles, and experimental breeches made from 22-ounce overcoat material and waterproofed for winter wear at Glacier. Then there was the coat for Ranger Cyrus C. Bellah at Glacier. He ordered and received a coat with three outside pockets, the usual two bottom ones and one on the top left. [48]

The first major complaint that appears in the records, other than about size or minor design corrections, was about a pair of trousers ordered by Chief Ranger Haney E. Vaught at Glacier on April 12, 1913. The material seemed to "collect in small round balls or knots and these wear off leaving the cloth very thin." Eisner replied that this was the first complaint he had received about the uniforms and noted that the material was the same as that used in the U.S. Army uniforms. He suggested that a better material be used because the ranger uniforms were worn "more in the woods and for regular wear." [49]

In response to numerous requests for the uniform regulations and material samples from other contractors, the department's standard reply was, "This Department has no specifications or samples of the cloth for distribution." Petitioners were advised to contact Sigmund Eisner. [50]

On March 17, 1914, Superintendent James L. Galen of Glacier ordered a uniform for Chief Ranger Haney Vaught having a coat with four outside pockets (two top and two bottom) and a military collar. They requested "the letters G.N.P. about 1/2" high sewed on all uniform coat collars, using jet black felt" and "one single braid, of material similar to the uniform, sewed around the cuff of the coat sleeve on all uniforms." Eisner replied that this was practical, "excepting that the U.S. Army uses O.D. Braid on the sleeves of their coats for the officers, and black braid for officers of the general staff and we do not know whether it would be an infringement on the Army style or not." The department denied Glacier the G.N.P. on the collars, although the four outside pockets were agreed to and ordered.

Joe Cosley, c. 1911. Cosley was a ranger at Glacier National Park, 1910-1914, and was one of the first recipients of the new 1911 uniforms. Photograph was taken prior to the arrival of the uniform. He is wearing 1910 US Army coat. Note GNP on collar and flower (his trademark) painted under brim of hat. NPSHPC - GLAC/HPF#1987

Glacier also wanted shirts made out of a material the department termed white duck instead of the olive drab flannel, but Adolph C. Miller, Stephen T. Mather's predecessor as assistant to the secretary, deemed this too drastic a change from the color and material then in use. "The Department desires that the olive drab material originally selected by it be used in the uniforms of employees in the national parks, and will not approve of any departure in the use of other material," he wrote Galen. [51]

The request for collar ornamentation is illustrated by an earlier portrait of Joseph Cosley, a ranger at Glacier, showing him in what appears to be the regulation Model 1910 U.S. Army is sue coat. Stitched on the collar is a patch with the letters GNP applied to it. The letters appear to be about one inch high and of a darker shade than the coat, but not black. The coat has shoulder tabs and top outside pockets. Cosley also has on a hat with a stiff brim and a rose painted on the under side. There is another photograph of Cosley sitting in a chair wearing this same uniform. In this image he has a mustache. Both photographs were probably taken before June 1911 be cause he was one of the original recipients of the new uniform.

Cosley worked as a ranger at Glacier National Park from 1910 to 1914. He probably got to know the park and ranger routine rather well, so well, in fact, that he returned fifteen years later and set up his own fur business. On May 4, 1929, Ranger Joe Heimes while on patrol one day discovered Joe's illegal camp and staked it out. Ten hours later, as it was getting dark, Cosley re turned and settled in among his furs and traps. As he started to build a fire Heimes moved in. Heimes said later that when he approached the camp, "this poacher looked a lot like Joe Cosley." After a sleepless night and several scuffles, Heimes "managed to bump Cosley's head against a tree and sort of knocked him coo-coo." Cosley finally gave up when two more rangers showed up. [52]

William Gladstone Steel, 1915, superintendent Crater Lake National Park, 1913-1916. Sunday Oregonian Newspaper, 18 Dec., 1915

Superintendent Galen started investigating complaints by the rangers at Glacier about the quality of the clothes they were getting from Sigmund Eisner. He found such things as shirts shrinking. One example was a shirt that required a two-inch string to connect the collar; the tail had shrunk to about half its original length. On another shirt, the collar opened very noticeably to one side because of a cutting error. Apparently Eisner had also sent out two different material samples with the same number. While they were of the same shade, one was of a much inferior grade. Galen had priced the better goods and found that they would cost almost twice as much, $22.00 versus $13.00. Even so, he said, the "rangers do not object to paying a larger price provided they can get a durable uniform." [53]

Assistant Secretary Lewis C. Laylin wrote Eisner expressing Galen's views and including the order for Chief Ranger Vaught's uniform, but with only the two bottom outside pockets. This may have been an oversight, because that same day he ordered a uniform for Ranger Thomas E. O'Farrell of Mount Rainier with a coat with four outside pockets. [54]

There always seems to be some one who does not get the word. Although he had been receiving the current uniform information, Superintendent William R. Arant of Crater Lake may not have passed it along to his successor, William Glad stone Steel. In September 1914 Steel wrote the secretary asking whether there was "such a thing as an approved uniform for the Park Rangers?" If so, he wanted to have all of the employees in uniform for the 1915 season. [55]

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