Cowboy Rangers of the early U.S. Forest Service

"The Forest Ranger" by W. Herbert Dunton,
 c1913 (Library of Congress)

(True West) Today, a forest ranger may call to mind a friendly guide who leads nature walks and gives campfire talks. But 100 years ago, forest rangers who worked west of the Mississippi River were closer in spirit and appearance to cowboys.
During the early days of the U.S. Forest Service, these rangers rode horses, packed mules, and carried Colts and Winchesters. Their story is a little-told chapter in the history of the American West. Continued