Show CREATION OF FOREST RESERVE forest ranger julian thomas is in possession of a compilation of historical data concerning the establishment and management of tha la sal and monticello forest reserve lands which copy lie he is loaning to us in order that we may take from it some of the interesting facts as they pertain to some of the people and to conditions within this territory since 1906 07 when land was first set aside by the government for cattle and sheep men at this time when the morman people are celebrating the anniversary of this settlement of utah by their f forefathers we believe that some of the information concerning the establishment of this service e will be of value to our local readers and of interest to many who are in distant places sirree it includes references to monticello when it was little more than a one lane village without improvements of any kind we shall therefore begin a series of articles in this column using excerpts from irom the material mr thomas offers for publication altho prefacing it with mention of the passing of john riis last fall who was the first forest ranger appointed to serve in this district mr riis also wrote an interesting book entitled ranger trails in which he tells of experiences during his ten year period of service john riis was born on july 30 1882 in brooklyn and was educated at pratt institute and hill school in pennsylvania he died on september 26 1946 leaving his wife two married daughters and four grandchildren in the year 1903 he started west working as a farm hand ranch helper cow puncher in nebraska colorado and utah he passed the necessary egami examination nation and became a ranger on the la sal national forest in southeastern utah with headquarters in the little town of monticello in 1907 of j this however we will have more to say at another time A fine tribute was paid to john riis by jno D guthrie of virginia in a public relations report sent to mr thomas with the suggestion that it be published in our paper so folks around here who remember mr riis may know of his passing and the high regard in which he be was held by those who knew and worked with him in richmond virginia where he spent the rest of his days da ys when he resigns resigned ad following his marriage the richmond papers carried word of his passing and the news leader published an editorial part of which follows carrying his own load inconspicuously he always looked for the tha person whose burden was too heavy if he could take part of that load he would or he would cheer the passerby with friendly words he was as seldom alone way farers sought him out he would make a new acquaintance by that thal ready smile and those twinkling eyes of his almost every acquaintance became a friend because of the warmth and gentleness of john riis manner his deathless sense of humor and his interest in the fortunes of others which made every stranger wish to know him better the tribute ute ends with this all his impulse was to do his fullest duty not to his paper alone he was a staff writer on the news leader but to his city also and to his fellow men we of the news leader never had a member of the staff more devoted or more beloved these characteristics must have been in evidence during his term of service as forest supervisor too judging from some of the material we have read which will be relayed to you along with other sidelights that refer to the early days when monticello was but a small village next week we will tell of the establishment of the la sal and monticello forest districts and each week if space permits include an item or two taken from news printed in the grand valley times and reprinted in times inde pendant in 1940 under the caption forty years ago this week the first of such items follows april 7 1905 HLA culmer ST whitaker and CW holmer composing the exploration party sent out by the salt lake commercial club to explore southeastern utah between the blue alts and the san juan river reached moab the first f of the week and after spending a day taking observations in this section went on south mr whitaker is the artist of the party and i will take photographs of scenes along the way this expedition is for the purpose of securing information inform atio n of f a section of which very little is known probably the greatest natural bridge in the world was discovered a short time aboin the district they will visit |