Pardon Joe Cosley - phooey

As always, columns about North Fork homestead days have generated the most positive comments from readers. That included columns this winter about early-day rangers Norton Pearl and Frank Liebig. I have to admit I had a little bit of a hidden agenda in writing about those two interesting men.

Columbia Falls in the last 15 months has put out a lot of information about another early-day ranger, Joe Cosley. While I admit he was an expert outdoorsman, he was also a convicted criminal.

His most famous exploit was racing on foot across Glacier National Park to remove furs he poached in the Park while serving as a Park ranger. He had to hurry to prevent the furs from being seized by Park officials.

Just one more crime on top of the crime of killing the animals he was hired to protect, along with the other resources of Glacier Park.

Both Pearl and Liebig made similar crossings of the Park every month and kept daily logbooks.

The Cosley story is an interesting one, and I enjoyed it along with everyone else — until I heard that a petition was being circulated asking that Cosley be pardoned.

Phooey. He did what he did and was convicted fairly. He lost his job as he should have. An interesting story, but as a citizen he was a louse compared to Pearl and Liebig and the rest of the early-day rangers who carried out their work with pride and integrity.

Pearl did not stay long in Glacier Park, and if I remember correctly, moved to Arizona where he raised his family.

As noted, Liebig went to work for the Forest Service from 1902 until 1935. When Glacier Park was established in 1910, Liebig left his home at Lake McDonald Ranger Station. He held a variety of Forest Service positions, including posts in the Kootenai and Flathead national forests.

Liebig was different from many of the early rangers in one regard. He collected and pressed thousands of plants and was known for his ability as a taxidermist. His collections are owned today by Glacier Park, and I went with his daughter on at least two occasions to urge the Park to display them.

The Park always claimed lack of space, but with talk of a new visitor center between Belton and Apgar, perhaps that will change sometime in the future.

His tales of shooting a grizzly bear with a single shot .22-caliber rifle, capturing a live mountain goat, and rescues, firefighting and much more are fascinating.

For these stories and more, I suggest the book “The First Ranger” by C.W. Guthrie. The book is mostly about early rangers Fred Herrig and Frank Liebig and their stories, but it also tells a lot about the early Forest Service. It’s full of information about Glacier Park and the North Fork, and it’s a fun read.

I hope to hear no more talk of a pardon for Joe Cosley.