Marshall McClung
* Part 2 of a 3-part series
Soon after it began, the senior citizen workforce at the U.S. Forest Service began to grow rapidly. We were allotted 41 slots and kept them filled.
Almost no one quit unless their health prevented them from working any longer.
What began as one crew clearing roadbanks became several crews working at different tasks. We had two recreation-maintenance crews that worked in our campgrounds and picnic areas, performing such duties as collecting campsite trash, cleaning restrooms and mowing grass. One crew with Willie Phillips – and then Verlie Jones as a crew leader – were assigned to Cheoah Point, Horse Cove and Rattler Ford campgrounds; picnic sites at Joyce Kilmer and Snowbird Creek; dispersed sites at Pine Ridge, Big Snowbird Creek and Long Hungry; boating access sites at Massey Branch, Cheoah Point, and Avey Branch; and an observation site at Maple Springs.
Another crew with James Kerr – and later Hobert Cable as crew leader – were assigned to Tsali and Cable Cove campgrounds; Tsali, Cable Cove and Lemmons Branch boating access sites; Stecoah Gap picnic site; and dispersed campsites on Panther Creek. Most of the crew that worked in this area were from the Stecoah area, or nearby.
I had permission for a forest service vehicle to be parked at the crew leader’s home, rather than drive back and forth across Stecoah Mountain each day. Some of this crew were widow women who had no vehicle. I told the crew leader to pick them up at their homes and take them back each evening.
I didn’t request authority to do this; it was easier to ask for forgiveness, rather than permission.
Inez Riddle was the timekeeper for the enrollees. Mildred Anderson kept the Cheoah Ranger Station clean. Mildred Holder and Lillian Slaughter performed the same service at the work center complex.
Ted Hedrick had a skilled crew of men that built the entire work center complex – replacing one that dated back to CCC days – and an addition to the ranger station (not the one seen today). Hugh Lane had Eugene Holloway in vehicle maintenance and Melvin Wiggins small engine repair.
One comical event occurred during construction of the office addition. Dave Gustafson worked in the front office adjacent to where the new construction was taking place. He was from Minnesota and had not yet become accustomed to our “Appalachian English.”
He said he was puzzled about something. Gustafson said had done some carpentering himself, but had never heard of a tool the workers mentioned. He would hear one worker tell another “Hand me that enire.”
He would rush to look around the corner and see one man handing another man a board.
About that time, I heard a man ask for that item. What I heard him say was, “Hand me that’en nere” (Translation: “Hand me that one there”).
A good laugh lifts the burden of the day.
Other crew members did trail construction, boundary line maintenance, new road layout, sign construction, and many other jobs too numerous to mention.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He is retired from the U.S. Forest Service and can be reached via email, mcclungs828@gmail.com.