Working and playing in the forest

The forest behind our second house in Ekalaka was a source of great enjoyment to me. I spent a lot of time in it either alone or with others. We called this forest the short pine hills and the forest further south and east we called the long pine hills. I knew every inch of the short pine hills up to about seven miles back. We used to live in what we called the Opeechee Park place and it was seven miles from Ekalaka. Since then, Jesse LaBree called it the Kinsey place. I loved that place, I lived there when I was four. In that stretch of forest I found caves and lots of other things. I once found a rusted six shooter beside a big rock, kind of down in the valley. I always wondered what the story was on that.

The Long Pine hills were more densely forested and the trees were taller. A relative of my Christiansen cousins, the Berry's, lived way back in that forest and I went back there a few times. I suppose that Lantis Springs was in the Long Pine hills and we went there quite a bit for a picnic in the summertime. There was a nice spring and there was a fire watch tower there. If a watchman was on duty we were usually allowed to go up there and see all over the forest just like he did.

One of the things that I remember about my Dad, Lee Lavell, was when we were going through the forest. He always had his trusty 30-30 under his seat. We would be going down the road, trees on every side, he would say, "Grab the wheel, son." Then almost before the car stopped he would be out of the car and then, BLAM. Then we would walk through the woods and find a deer kicking his life out on the ground. He was absolutely the best at that. This happened with my brother Charles also.

You have elk in that forest now. We didn't have elk but we saw lots of deer and sometimes porcupines and other things. David Lamphere and I swore that we found and followed mountain lion tracks once. I don't know if we did or not for sure.

I also spent time working with my Dad in the forest. He would get what he called a “pole claim,” for poles to make corrals etc. The forest ranger would go out with him and mark what he could cut. I don't think they even charged him for them. I bet that's not true today. Then sometimes the local sawmill, down by the airport would hire Dad to cut trees for them. They also had a claim through the Forest Service. Either way, I helped him when I could, like during school vacations and such. I will tell you two stories about the times I helped Dad in the forest.

One time we were working in the forest somewhere out behind Carlisle's. It was a nice warm day during Christmas vacation. We saw bees buzzing around and traced them to a downed, dead tree. A few days later, it had turned cold so the bees were not so active. We cut a flap out of the dead tree and stole a little of their honey. Way back there away from fields etc. it was all wild flower honey. It was the best honey I ever tasted in my life.

When Dad and I usually worked together in pretty good harmony. Sometimes he would take an adult man along and then he would yell at this guy by yelling at me. Of course, I didn't appreciate it very much but there was nothing I could do about it.

This was the days before chainsaws. We cut trees with a crosscut saw or a bucksaw. We limbed trees mostly with an ax. My hands would get extremely sore until I got used to it. I enjoyed those times in the forest.