On July 5, 1944, at 5: P.M. Morrell Mountain Lookout reported a smoke. The plane, Travelair, was ordered soon after and we ate supper at 5:30 as usual. At 6: Wag Dodge designated Paul Shrock and myself, Allen Moyer, to jump. We loaded the equipment on the truck and took it to the landing strip where we suited up. The plane arrived at 6:50, we crawled in, loaded our fire packs and took off immediately.
We flew over toward the base of of Morrell Mountain and looked for the smoke. The smoke was hugging the ground so we didn't spot it until we had flown over the area until 7:20. Shrock was the first to jump. He was spotted for a small patch of short reproduction. He landed on the edge, his chute hung up in a tree about 30 feet. I jumped next and found that the new method of steering worked excellenty. I turned my chute N.E. thinking the drift was toward the S.W. As I neared the tree tops my chute turned wonderfully as I dodged several snags. About 80 feet up a cross drift hit me & started the chute oscillating. I slammed into a fir about 25 feet from the ground and on the back swing I hit the ground. It was my first backward landing and was an easy one. My chute draped over about 25 lodge poles ranging in size from 8 to 15 feet. I jumped up & waved my streamer, then took off my equipment.
The cargo was dropped 50 feet from my chute. Paul & I had our equipment together and chutes retrieved at 8:20 and in 10 minutes we found the fire, a large yellow pine snag. The fire was confined to the snag so we went to work with the crosscut saw and dropped the snag. We then used moist earth to cool off the hot areas and then knocked all the charred pieces loose & mixed them thoroughly with earth. By 11:30 we had the fire out & the log trenched. We then crawled into our bags & fought mosquitos.
The next morning we carried our equipment to the nearest trail. The packer picked it up and we walked to a road and came back to Seely Lake in a pickup in time for lunch.
This was transcribed by John Moyer in 2016.
- https://www.google.com/maps/place/Morrell+Mountain/@47.2049821,-113.4256635,12z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x535d0d91763c258f:0xbe7f29b90ab15451!8m2!3d47.2049378!4d-113.3556251
- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mount-Morrell-Lookout-Tower/506842032725961
- http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3832688.pdf
- https://forestservicemuseum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/68BB220E-AB48-46FC-B796-216481784345 retrieved June 20, 2021 Has a photo of the Smokejumpers at Seeley Lake, Montana including Allen Hoot Moyer.
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https://scholarworks.umt.edu/civilianpublicservicesmokejumpers_oralhistory/28/ retrieved June 20, 2021
Description
Oliver Huset describes his experience as a smokejumper at Ninemile, Montana, during the summers of 1944 and 1945, during which time he made 17 jumps. He talks about sustaining a minor injury during the training tower jump, and a major concussion on his last fire jump, in August of 1945. He talks about some of his more interesting fire jumps, including one done in the dark, and his work on the Meadow Creek fire. He also praises the pilots, including the Johnson Brothers, for their skill at backcountry flying. Huset then discusses his philosophical views, including his opposition to systems of conscription such as the draft, and describes how he and his wife, Martha, a former Japanese internee, met and were married. He describes his post-war career as a civil engineer, and also talks about spending the summer of 1951 on a lookout tower in Washington with his wife as their honeymoon.
