Cover Page

Preface

Introduction

In Search of an Identity

Photofile

Bibliography

Notes

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

National Park Service Uniforms In Search of an Identity 1872-1920	Number 2
In Search of an Identity (continued)

The 1911 season opened with the annual missive from Mount Rainier, by now sort of a tradition, to the department concerning uniforms. This time Hall requested that the department provide $30 from the park's revenues for uniforms for two temporary rangers and require the ranger at Longmire Springs to furnish his own. [26]

Maj. William Logan, superintendent, Glacier National Park, 1910-1912. Logan, apparently tiring of Departmental waffling, arranged for Parker, Bridget & Company in Washington, DC, to furnish uniforms for Glacier's rangers, thus more or less forcing the Department to present this option to the other parks. NPSHPC - GLAC/HPF# 9623

This year was to be different. Maj. William R. Logan, superintendent at Glacier National Park, had arranged for Parker, Bridget & Company of Washington, D.C., to supply uniforms for his rangers. The uniform consisted of "one Norfolk jacket, one wool shirt, one pair riding trousers, one pair leggings, and one felt camping hat after the Stetson style," all for $15. [27] Bowing at last to the constant requests for some type of uniformity within the various parks, the department decided after examining the material and information submitted by Major Logan to sanction, but not require, this uniform to be used throughout the parks. Letters stating this were sent to all parks, along with measurement blanks. Rangers would be required to purchase their own uniforms, but all transactions were to be handled through the secretary's office. [28] Logan promptly forwarded orders to the secretary's office for seven uniforms, and two more six days later. [29] In all, fifteen rangers from Glacier were uniformed in 1911.

U.S. Army button, c. 1910. Private Collection

Material samples attached to a letter from Parker, Bridget, & Company to W. Bertrand Acker, an Interior Department attorney, show that the uniforms were of a dark olive green wool. They were "equipped with United States Army buttons." The matter of special park service buttons was raised but dropped pending the determination of the future of the "national park service." [30]

In response to the department's letter authorizing the Glacier uniform, Walter Fry wrote that the rangers at Sequoia and General Grant had been wearing uniforms of "Forestry worsted wool cloth" since the 1909 season, but that "last season word was received from Fechheimer Bros., that the Forestry worsted cloth could be furnished us no longer, as some of the Forest officers objected to our using it, since which time no more of the suits have been purchased." Fry asked the department to "grant them the privilege of purchasing, at their own expense, uniform suits manufactured from either the Forestry worsted olive green wool goods, or Cadet gray wool cloth, fashioned after pattern now worn." He went on to explain that his rangers carried fatigue clothing in their saddlebags when on patrol, putting it on whenever necessary. Afterward they could bathe, change back into their uniforms, and continue their usual routine in a "comfortable and respectable manner." He reported that since the rangers had been uniformed, they commanded more respect from the tourists and general public than when they had worn mixed clothing. [31]

In response to Fry's letter, Chief Clerk Clement Ucker asked Bertrand Acker to consider whether the department should compel all the national parks to adopt one style of uniform. If he opted for the one-style approach, the superintendent at Sequoia should be informed as such; otherwise he should be advised that strict compliance was not required. [32]

Maj. James B. Hughes, 1st U.S. Cavalry, superintendent, Sequoia National Park 1911-1912. NPSHPC - SEQU/02881

Assistant Secretary Carmi A. Thompson subsequently wrote Maj. James Bryan Hughes, Sequoia's acting superintendent, outlining the uniform being furnished by Parker, Bridget & Company. He identified the "wool shirt" as the regulation Army shirt, which means that it was olive drab with a plaquet front. The uniform was for summer wear only. He enclosed material samples and order blanks in case the rangers desired to order suits for themselves. "If they are not satisfactory, and it is so stated, the Department will then authorize the rangers to provide, at their own expense, suitable uniforms of Forestry worsted olive green wool goods, or Cadet gray wool cloth," Thompson wrote. [33]

Possibly because they had been wearing the forestry green wool for the past two seasons, the rangers did not jump at the authorization of the cadet gray they had been so adamant about before. Or it could have been that they were just satisfied to have an authorized uniform in the parks. At any rate, Fry immediately ordered one of the uniforms for himself. [34]

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