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)

Forest Reserve Ranger Badge, 1898-1906. This badge was probably issued to forest and park rangers since both were called FOREST RANGERS. Private Collection

The first permanent appointment of rangers in a national park occurred on September 23, 1898, when Charles A. Leidig and Archie O. Leonard became forest rangers at Yosemite. The authorization letter stated that they were to be compensated at the rate of $50 per month and that "Each Ranger is required to provide himself with a saddle horse and equipments at his own expense, for use in the discharge of his duties." [5] Dress was apparently optional, but the rangers were issued badges to show their authority. It is not known for certain what these badges looked like, but there is a badge in a private collection that was issued by the Department of the Interior to the rangers in its forest reserves. It is the same size as the "Yellowstone Park Scout" badge (two inches in diameter) and made of German silver. In the center there is a "US" in one-inch letters with "Department of the Interior" superimposed. Around the outside it reads "FOREST RESERVE RANGER." All of the rangers were called "forest rangers' whether they worked in the parks or the forest reserves. Because all were employed by the Interior Department and did more or less the same job, they more than likely were all issued this same badge.

Left: James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, 1897-1913. Secretary Wilson acceded to Secretary Hitchcock's request to have the Forest Service pay the four rangers that remained with the Park Service at the 1905 separation until the Bureau obtained it's own funding. LC / USZ6-1817 Right: Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior, 1899-1907. LC / USZ62-66577

William Watts Hooper, c. 1900. Hooper was appointed forester in the Kenosha Range country sometime after 1887 and remained with the Forest Service in the 1905 separation. He is shown wearing the 1898 Forest Reserve badge. Forest Service / 477445

On February 1, 1905, an act of Congress transferred the forest reserves from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture. Along with this went the money to pay the rangers in the parks, thus, in effect, making them among the first employees of the new Forest Service. Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock, in an exchange of letters with Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, outlined the history of the rangers in the parks and asked to maintain some of them in their present status until July 1, when Interior would again have funds for them. Wilson agreed and asked which rangers wished to remain with the parks. Four of them expressed their desire to remain: Archie Leonard and Charles Leidig in Yosemite and Lew Davis and Charlie Blossom in Sequoia. [6]

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