[elderbob]

This is a report Fred W. Cleator make in 1929 with an additon in 1937. It was a forest wide plan for the Olympic National Forest at that time. Some of his ideas were used and some were not. The site is still being tweaked. All the data was sent to me by Rod F. Some were old documents that were difficult to read. There will be grammer and spelling errors in the data. But probably 95% of it is correct. I am working with Rod to make some corrections. The page may be slow loading for some of you due to the size of the images. I will play with it and see if I can speed up the load time. It is on my web site, but not visible to anyone visiting my web site. I am posting it here for you to look at. Just keep in mind, it is not done yet. It will have a table of contents put at the start so you do not have to scroll through the whole page to read what is of interest to you. http://windsox.us/Cleator_1929/Cleator_Report_1929.html Rod F has a lot more historical data that I will be adding to my Web site. Next will be the personal reports by O'Neil on his exploration trips in the Olympics.

[Riverside Laker]

There is a peak called Cleator near High Pass in the Glacier Peak area. Do you know how to pronounce it? Is it like creator, or like cleat-or? Is it named after this Fred fellow?

[Phil]

[reststep]

Bob, thanks for posting the Cleator Report. I found this part of Paragraph I Roads and Trails about a proposed trail from the Hoh to Elwha Basin to be interesting.

[RodF]

What do the Oregon Skyline and Cascade Crest Trails (forerunners of today's PCT), Mt. Hood's Timberline Lodge and Trail, Olympic Primitive Area (later Wilderness) and the very name Enchanted Valley all have in common? They all were suggestions of, or resulted from plans developed by Fred W. Cleator. Hired as recreational planner for the USFS Northwest Region 6 in 1919, Cleator travelled extensively, in saddle and on foot, throughout the National Forests of Oregon and Washington. In Olympic, he was responsible for almost two dozen site-specific recreation plans, from Deer Park ski area to Lake Quinault. These came together in his 1929 Olympic National Forest Recreation Plan. Cleator clearly treasured the alpine! At Bogachiel Peak, he writes "Here is provided one of the very most remarkable mountain views... The extremely rugged north slope of Mt. Olympus is in the uninterrupted view. Blue Glacier strongly denotes its presence by the clear blue easily visible at eight miles distance. Just under the crest to the north lies 7-Lakes Basin." He also writes eloquently of Thousand Acre Meadows and Hayden Pass, and of what he suggested be named Enchanted Valley. Before his time, the goal of USFS trail construction was fire protection of river valleys. Cleator championed a new trails with a new goal: alpine trails built purely for their "scenic and recreational values". In the Cascades, he planned what was to become the Pacific Crest Trail. In the Olympics, he supported the completion of Hayden Pass, Bogachiel to Seven Lakes Basin, Queets Skyline, Obstruction Point and O'Neil Pass trails. Beyond that, he envisioned trails that were never to be realized, such as the Bailey Range, an Elwha-Hoh trail over Dodwell-Rixon Pass and linking Queets Basin to both Lake Beauty (the later Crisler route) and the Queets River Trail, the Elk Basin (Mount Hopper-Hagen Lakes-Lake of the Angels) route and one linking O'Neil Pass to Lake Ben and Six Ridge - high alpine traverses all! Throughout his writings are seen efforts to encourage recreational use of wilderness, to improve access and make hiking safer by providing trails and shelters. This contrasts with some wilderness advocacy of today. Cleator was influential in the preservation of both high mountains and of old-growth in the upper river valleys. In Olympic, he proposed creation of the "Olympic Primitive or Wilderness Area" which would extend wilderness protection to 687,000 acres. He argued "the high Olympics for the most part should be reserved permanently as a primitive area or as near primitive areas"; his vision "so the immense territories of mountain fastnesses would still be left untrammeled". Most of his proposal was officially adopted by USFS in 1930, and its entirety soon thereafter. This preserved the heart of what was to become Olympic National Park. Key, I think, to Cleator's influence within the USFS is that he was a forester by training, and accepted the multiple use mandate given the USFS by Congress and the public. While perfectly aware of the external pressures for timber, hydropower, roads and resorts, he directed "all officers of the Forest Service are instructed to carry on the administration of these projects with regard to, and the proper advancement of, the important recreational values involved. Timber exploitation and issuance of special use permits, as well as other activities authorized by the National Forest regulations should be carefully considered to the end that those recreation values might be protected and fostered." Although his plans often had a scope far beyond the reach of the USFS' meager budgets of the 1920s, their vision gave the Forest Service coordinated plan of action - one it was then prepared to realize with the explosion of 1930s New Deal programs - one which continues to shape the Northwest backcountry we experience today. References: David Lauter, NPS, "The Forest Before the Park - The Historic Context of the Trail System of Olympic National Park, 1898-1938", unpublished draft, Olympic NP Archives. J. R. Rooney, "Frontier Legacy: History of Olympic National Forest 1898-1960", NW Interpretive Association, 1997. National Archives, Pacific-Alaska Region, Seattle; Record Group 95 (USFS Region 6); History Files, 1905-1990; Box 67, file "Recreation: Olympic 1925-1937"; Historical Maps, 1908-1981, Map Case Drawer B.

[RumiDude]

Wow! This is really nice. Thanks so much for this effort, time, and expense. Rumi

[elderbob]

[Phil]

What a life! So interesting, the meeting of Cleator with events of his day.

[RodF]

[elderbob]

[elderbob]

[elderbob]

RodF has given his final approval to the Cleator Report. It has been updated and edited. It has been changed to load faster. Large image files have been replaced with thumbnails to enable maps to load faster. Some corrections made. The regional map he made on the 1937 report is now included. The large maps will appear when you click on the thumbnails. All known spelling errors have been corrected. We always open to suggestions or criticism or corrections. Not that we will always accept them, but we are open to them.

[wolffie]

Big Al on Mt. Cleator

Big Al thinks Fred Cleator was a great guy. Mt. Cleator is a 15' walkup from High Pass, and you can't see that view without thinking about our debt to our forebears, and our obligation to our future. Thanks for the info, we'll check it out.

[gb]

Fred Cleator's bio, which is an informative read has been moved: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=10014

[hikermike]

None of the above still shows the pronunciation of his name!