Now that is real cowboy poetry. Good job, Jim!
You know, there's always a little truth to every story and legend.
In Norman McLean's book "A River Runs Through It" there are a number of novellas, including one called "The Ranger, The Cook, and the Hole In The Sky." One of the main characters in that book was Bill Bell, "The Best Damn Ranger in the United States Forest Service." You can see Hollywood's version in the movie "Hole In The Sky," with Sam Elliot playing the role of Bill Bell. imdb.com Except for Bill Bell and the places depicted in the story, the entire novella and the movie based on it are a figment of McLean's imagination.
Bill Bell was a real person, and probably was the best damn ranger in the Forest Service in his day. There are details of his exploits in The Lochsa Story, amazon.com and Bud told us other stories about Bill Bell that I may want to forge into fiction myself someday.
Suffice it to say that one of the cabins we found last week was a cabin that Bill Bell claimed for his own the first year my friend Bud Moore trapped over on the Lolo Trail back in 1936. Bill Bell failed to use the cabin that year, and the following years Bud Moore used it to trap out of. It's nothing but rubble now. Legends and ghosts, known but to a few. |
