Sunday, June 1, 2008

Fury at Wind River!

I was at a meeting at the Hemlock Training Center on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest the other day. It's a beautiful building, built in 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a tremendous FDR program in the depression--see the picture to the left.





During the 1960's, the TV series Lassie--or at least the intro and a few scenes--was filmed at the Gifford Pinchot. One particularly exciting episode, Fury at Wind River, is described in the series synopsis as follows:"Fury at Wind River" (12/03/67):Deer are eating seedling trees that will be used for watershed, so the rangers plan to move them across the river to a nature preserve. But when Lassie tries to help one deer family, they meet with unexpected dangers, including an almost drowned fawn.


Now there is some excitement, eh? Deer eating tree seedlings. Lassie helping a deer family. Why would anyone prefer Sex in the City or The Sopranos to a deer family eating Douglas-fir?

Here's a shot of the "Lassie House" as it's known on the Gifford Pinchot. I didn't see any collies near by, but I did see some deer. Probably the great-great-great-great-great-great grand fawn of the one saved by Lassie.

1 comment:

Ronna said...

Love it John! That Lassie, saving deer and all that. I bet that episode was a cliff hanger. You think it's available on YouTube?