Mountaineer Memories

Alva Simpson Interview

Alva Simpson began working for the Forest Service on May 1, 1909 after passing the Ranger Exam.  His first job was on the Hayden Ranger District of what was then Medicine Bow National Forest in Colorado (now Routt NF).  He went on to be the Forest Supervisor on the Arapaho National Forest (1914 – 1915) and, in 1937, moved to the Regional Office in Region 3 where he was the head of the Division of Personnel and later became the head of the Division of Range Management. 

On October 6, 1964 Edwin Tucker recorded an interview with Alva in Santa Fe, NM.  The entire interview is about 75 minutes long.  In this 8 minute segment, Simpson describes an incident that occurred in 1910 on the Hayden District at the time that sheep were first being allowed on rangeland in Colorado.

This oral history interview is part of the collection of interviews of Forest Service employees in the Western History Department of the Denver Public Library.

Listen to the interview:

 

 

CLICK HERE to go to Mountaineer Memories Page