US Forest Service Diaries
Daily work diaries of Reuben P. Box, US Forest Service Ranger for the North Butte Protection Unit of the Lassen National Forest, stationed at Stirling City, California. These diaries document forest management, fire suppression, law enforcement, road construction, and daily life in the northern California mountains from 1927 to 1945.
These family records were scanned and digitized by Lance Orner. Handwriting transcription by Mistral OCR. Text summaries and indexes built by Anthropic Claude. Hosting by DreamHost. In partnership with Working Toast, LLC and Stirling City Historical Society. For more information, contact Lance at lance@orner.net.
Highlights:
- March 1927 — Diaries begin at Stirling City; transferred to Klamath National Forest
- February 1928 — Returned to Stirling City, North Butte Protection Unit
- April 20, 1931 — Stirling City town fire
- July 22, 1931 — Mud Creek Fire, largest fire of 1931, 10-day operation
- October 1932 — Federal arson arrests and Grand Jury testimony in Sacramento
- January 1938 — Transferred to Hat Creek District
- December 7, 1941 — Pearl Harbor attack, forest watches set up
- March 31, 1945 — Retired from the Forest Service
