Harold E.D. Brown photograph collection, approximately 1920-1950

Harold Elbert Dempsey Brown, a longtime employee of the U.S. Forest Service, was born in Plessis, New York on March 31, 1895 to Ulysses E. Brown and Sarah Dempsey. During World War I, he served with the 2nd Battalion Canadian Machine Gun Corps of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, earning a Distinguished Conduct Medal. He began his career with the U.S. Forest Service in 1911, first working at the Deschutes National Forest in southern Oregon. Later, he worked in the Umpqua National Forest, also in southern Oregon. In 1931, he became the the first U.S. Forest Ranger to serve at the Koma Kulshan Ranger Station in the Mt. Baker Ranger District of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. In this position, he was directly responsible for the planning and supervision of all the buildings and activities, the work being done by Civilian Conservation Corps personnel.

On July 6, 1933, he married Miss Margaret H. Chapin in Concrete, Washington and they moved into the Koma Kulshan Ranger Station. He served as the U.S. Forest Ranger in the Koma Kulshan area until 1935, when he transferred to the U.S. Forest Service office in Bellingham, Washington. Mr. Brown worked for the Forest Service for 31 years. After a break service, he retired in 1965 from the Mt. Baker National Forest as a Forestry. He died on May 18, 1983 in Olympia, Washington.