Old Seeley Airport Traditional Cache
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Cache located near an abandoned air strip now used as a heliport by the U.S. Forest Service and a snowmobile trailhead during winter months.
Not long after the end of World War 1 in 1918, the U.S. Forest Service became interested in providing aerial fire detection over some of the forests of the Western States. In 1925 they began aerial fire patrols in this area.
During the late 1930s a contingent of Civilian Conservation Corps was stationed at Seeley Lake. They constructed Camp Paxson and some forest access roads. They may have also constructed this landing strip to support the pioneering aerial activities of the Forest Service A local resident lived just north of here when a young boy and remembers skiing across the perimeter fence in the winter of 1938.
During the early days of aerial fire patrols some Forest Service officials began thinking about dropping fire fighters by parachutes to fires. Based on some 1934 experiment in the use of parachutes to drop men on fires in Utah and later tests to drop cargo, in 1940 the Forest Service in this region decided to train seven people to continue the smokejumping experiment.
The training site selected was at the Seeley Lake Ranger Station. It was considered to be the ideal site since it was isolated from spectators' interference and aircraft traffic, and had sufficient variations in topography and timber cover to provide for conditions that would be found when parachuting to actual fires. A Johnson Flying Service single-engine Travel Air--NC 450N--was used for the training jumps and it was flown from Missoula each day.
The first Region 1 "parachute loft" was made from two 14 by 16-foot tents, placed end to end on tent platforms. Frank Derry hung a parachute in a tree and told members of the squad what its various parts were--apex, risers, secondary lines and guide lines. The next day they made the first jumps--and for most, the first plane rides--in their lives. The men drew straws to see who would make the first jump the next morning at Blanchard Flats. Training in the Seeley Lake area commenced June 22 and ended July 3 of 1940. The men were considered well trained and ready for action as fire-fighting smokejumpers. Thus, Seeley Lake could be debated as being a birthplace for smokejumping.
After observing smokejumper training methods at Seeley Lake in June 1940, then-Major William C. Lee of the U.S. Army went on to become a major general and establish the 101st Airborne Division. Can Seeley Lake claim to be the birthplace of the army paratroopers?
By 1943 many able bodied men had been summoned to military service, leaving a lack of bodies able to continue the smokejumping crew. Men who refused to enter military service on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion had an option to enter the The Civilian Public Service (CPS) to serve their country. The smokejumper program was resumed using CPS volunteers. One of the “spike camps” was located at Seeley Lake. Their quarters were at Camp Paxson and they rowed across the lake to train at the Ranger Station. This landing strip served as their take off point in the Ford Tri-motor plane to make their jumps. CPS ended in 1946 as men returned from the war.
In addition to the old foundation, remnants of the windsock footing can be found at the north end of the strip. The old grade of a service road is still visible along the tree line.
A new airport was built east of Seeley Lake in 1964.
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