From 1930 until 1953, the Ninemile Remount Depot north of Missoula, Montana, provided experienced packers and pack animals for fighting fires and for back country work projects throughout the vast roadless areas of the Northern Rockies. Modeled after the U.S. Cavalry Remount Depots, the Ninemile Remount Depot could provide as many as twenty pack trains during the peak fire season.
The standard pack train consisted of nine mules and a horse for the packer to ride. The packers preferred riding a horse, but considered a mule to be a better pack animal. A mule can carry between 250 and 300 pounds so nine mules could haul enough equipment to set up a base camp for a 25 man fire crew. However, the Ninemile pack trains were known for their ability to haul anything anywhere. In any given year, they might haul bed springs, culvert, dynamite, gravel, lumber and cement.
Getting to the trail head was a trip in itself. For the first few years, it took two trucks with each carrying five animals. Later they switched to a Kenworth chassis with a specially designed body that could carry all ten animals and the necessary equipment. In the twenty plus years of operation, Ninemile trucks carried pack trains to trail heads as far away as Yellowstone and northern California.
Located just over the hills behind the Remount Depot was Ninemile's sister facility, the Winter Range. The Remount Depot was a working ranch, with a square mile of surrounding land and the ability to irrigate the hay fields and pastures. With that resource available, the Forest Service decided to give the facilities the responsibility for providing winter quarters for all the animals in the Northern Region. Fifteen hundred horses and mules called the Winter Range their off-season home.
The thirteen interviews recorded for Jane Reed Benson's project in 1977 as part of the U.S. Forest Service History Project, describe the Ninemile Remount Depot from the 1930s through the 1960s including daily activities and responsibility for personnel and animals, procedures for training and moving supplies to remote areas, the history of the facility itself and seasonal changes, and the position the Depot held in the Forest Service.
Benson was also contracted to write a report for the Forest Service. That report, preceded by a detailed account of her interview and research process, became her 1978 thesis at The University of Montana-Missoula.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana-Missoula.
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to The University of Montana-Missoula.
Jane Reed Benson Ninemile Remount Depot Oral History Project, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
The interviews were held by Jane Reed Benson prior to donation.
Donated by Jane Reed Benson.
OH 086-001: Interview with Jerry Coball and Tom Reese, recorded August 1981, was deaccessioned from the collection, because it wasn't part of the Ninemile Remount Depot Oral History Project. The audio quality was extremely poor and the speakers were inaudible.
This institution also holds Jane Reed Benson's 1978 thesis titled
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Alma Thompson discusses her husband, Boyd Thompson, and his work at the Nine Mile Remount Depot. She describes Boyd Thompson’s work with mules and horses at the Depot, where he was a supervisor or pack strings and an overseer of saddle horse breeding. Thompson also discusses her husband’s work at the Big Draw Ranch, individuals and families at the Depot, and her children.
Clyde Fickes discusses founding the Nine Mile Remount Depot, including the difficulties he faced getting the project accepted, fires in the area, and undependable hiring stock. He describes the Perma Ranch used for wintering stock, hiring Boyd Thompson as a saddle horse breeder, the transition from renting trucks to purchasing, and early recruits who were ranchers and loggers, not foresters. Fickes also discusses the invention of the lookout house on the property.
Marion Duncan discusses his various occupations with the U.S. Forest Service, mainly as it pertained to the Nine Mile Remount Depot. He describes working in the warehouse where many supplies for firefighting were stored, the construction of the Nine Mile Remount Depot in 1930, techniques for loading and hauling mules, and changes to the Depot over time. Duncan also discusses driving stock trucks, the designing of the trucks, and how the trucks ran and were operated. He describes how the use of airplanes and smokejumping replaced the use of mules in fighting fires.
Henry Viche discusses his numerous roles as the superintendent of the Nine Mile Remount Depot and the Winter Range during the 1940s. He describes the difficulties that the Montana climate posed on tending horses and mules, the transportation of livestock, and the saddle shop. Viche also discusses the student fire camp that ended in 1942 due to World War II, his wife Bernice Viche, and what it was like to live at the Winter Range.
William B. Russell discusses the various projects that he oversaw during his time working for the U.S. Forest Service at the Nine Mile Remount Depot during the 1930s. He describes his experiences supervising and directing Civilian Conservation Corps crews stationed at the Depot during the Great Depression, delivering supplies to camps during forest fires, and early firefighting equipment.
Donald “Don” Harrington discusses his experiences working as a truck driver for the Nine Mile Remount Depot north of Missoula, Montana. He describes his experiences hauling mules and horses to forest fires in Montana, Oregon, and California during the 1940s and 1950s. He discusses the types of trucks used, the horse and mule breeding program that existed at the Depot, and the various breeds of horses used. He also briefly discusses driving livestock to the Winter Range.
Eugene Polette and Marian Polette discuss their respective work as a truck driver and as a secretary at the Nine Mile Remount Depot north of Missoula, Montana. Eugene Polette describes driving livestock to northern California during the 1950s, haying for the Winter Range, and visitors that came to the Depot. He also discusses the film Red Skies of Montana, which was partially shot at the Depot and nearby areas, and the changes in firefighting he witnessed after the introduction of airplanes and smokejumpers. Marian Polette describes her day-to-day duties as a secretary at the Depot, as well as her experiences working as an assistant to the Depot chef.
John Christensen discusses his experiences working as a packer for the U.S. Forest Service at the Nine Mile Remount Depot north of Missoula, Montana for two seasons in the early 1950s. He describes responding to fire calls, how mules were used around camp, and how livestock were trained, cared for, and wintered. He also discusses working at the Winter Range, ranching, and breeding horses.
W. C. “Cap” Evans discusses the founding and history of the Nine Mile Remount Depot north of Missoula, Montana, spanning from its inception in 1930 to its closure in the 1960s. He describes how the Depot became the showplace of the Northwest for the U.S. Forest Service, as well as how the Depot housed the only horse breeding program in the history of the Forest Service. Evans describes working with the Civilian Conservation Corps, the saddle repair shop, and the Forest Service’s use of Kenworth trucks. He also discusses Evan W. “Major” Kelley and raising a family at the Depot.
Johnny Breazeal discusses his experiences working as a fire control officer and with the smokejumpers who were located near the Nine Mile Remount Depot north of Missoula, Montana. He describes the use of pack mules in fires, detailing the coordination required to make sure all the necessary components of firefighting were ready at all times.
Walter “Walt” Peery discusses working as a horse and mule trainer at the Nine Mile Remount Depot north of Missoula, Montana during the 1930s. He describes livestock breeding, the traits of different breeds of horses, training practices, and handling mule stock in general.
William Longpre discusses the history of the Nine Mile Remount Depot, including the land the Depot was built on, the Depot itself, and people such as Lucky Stewart, Ed MacKay, Evan W. “Major” Kelley, W. C. Evans, Hank Viche, Jesse “Jake” Williams, Hugh Redding, and Harold Dunn. He also describes his experiences with rodeos, bucking contests, and breaking mules.
McCoy “Coy” Rice discusses his experiences working as a packer and blacksmith at the Nine Mile Remount Depot from 1943 to 1953. He describes working on the film Red Skies over Montana, breaking mules, horse breeding, loading packs, and problems he faced with predators and livestock.