Dear Senator Dworshak:
"I am sure you have heard of Campbell's Ferry on the Salmon River. It is where the trail from Dixie to Thunder Mountain crosses the Salmon.
"The first ferry was built about 1890, and from then 'till now, the only way to cross the river is on the ferry. We cross the river only 4 or 4 1/2 months in a year. The rest of the year-the water is too high in summer, and the ice stops the crossing in winter.
Only in low water can the ferry operate. A row boat can run free with the current, and cross in higher water than the ferry, for the ferry is fastened to a cable across the river and it must go straight across.
Have you ever been on a ferry when the river was too high, and felt the floor tip, saw the water start to curl over the bow into the boat and prayed that the cable would break so the boat could ride level again and not be sucked under? I have, and it was a wild ride-Three times we pulled out the "deadman" before we learned exactly what is too high for the ferry.
The water gets too high in April and stays up until July or August. In 1953 it was August 6 before we could cross.
This is the primitive area of the Payette National Forest, yet the oldest way into it is closed to the public. We no longer cross strange stock. The ferry is old and a mean horse or mule could kick it to pieces -and I cannot swim. So two years ago we "closed the door to the primitive area." We closed that door over the protests of some people who thought we had no right to control a public crossing.
The Payette Forest wants to build a bridge here where the trail crosses the river. The Payette Forest needs a way to cross the river here. While the high country will not burn until in July, the canyon gets hot and dry early in May, and it could bum then.
The trail to Chamberlain Basin is blocked with snow until July, and so, from the start of high water, until the Chamberlain Trail opens (April to July) we are completely isolated.
Perhaps, because this is the primitive area, you say there should be no bridge. I know a bridge is contrary to the primitive area idea. There is a bridge across the Salmon at the mouth of the Middle Fork, another across the Middle Fork at the mouth of Big Creek, another on the Middle Fork at the Crandal Ranch. Should those bridges be tom down? The Forest Service needs them. So do the people who come into the forest on pleasure trips.
People have a right to come into the forests. It is 'just plain people' who pay the bills. The airports are contrary to the primitive idea, yet there are airports scattered over the area. When you get down to the primitive idea, back in the days when this world was young, there were people here. So you can leave, here, the people whose homes are here, but the Forest Service is a modem improvement. Should the Forest Service move out? Personally, it is a comfortable feeling to know there is a Forest Service ranger station in Chamberlain Basin.
I have told you all that can be put into a letter. I could write a hundred letters and each would be just like this one, for I have left nothing out and I have not lied about the necessary uses of a bridge and a soft trail. In my letter to Mrs. Pfost, I asked her to come and see. I ask you the same. Come over my trail and cross the river on the Ferry. My husband will meet you at the end of the road with horses. I asked him if he would bring Mrs. Pfost down, he refused. He won't bring a woman over the trail even if it meant getting a safe trail, so I told Mrs. Pfost that I would meet her with horses. As I told her, so I will tell you, should you rather we did not pack you, the Ranger at Dixie or Red River Ranger Stations would be glad to do so.
I am sending a copy of this letter to the Regional Forester at Ogden, Utah. When I talk on paper to Senators and Members of Congress about Forest Service business, I think the Regional Forester has the right to know what I say.
If the Idaho County Free Press will print it, a copy will appear in the paper, for perhaps the people of Central and North Idaho do not know why we closed the door to the Primitive Area in their collective faces.