The signature
moment in the career of Forest Ranger Hiram “Doc” Smith involved 2,000 nudist
hippies who invaded Wyoming back in 1973.
Smith was the
most effective District Ranger that I ever dealt with and how he handled this
event so eloquently displayed his vast skills.
I was the
local newspaper editor-publisher in Lander when we started hearing rumors about
hordes of hippies headed our way.
Known as the Rainbow Family of
Living Light, this international motley crew of hippie-type people would meet
annually in some pristine alpine place.
They would show up in their old trucks and VW vans and totally dominate
an area for one long week each summer.
On this year
they chose the St. Lawrence Basin area in the Wind River Mountains on the Wind
River Indian Reservation northwest of Lander.
Tribal
officials would have nothing to do with the hippies! Some members of the
Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes were advocating violence to any of these folks if
they occupied Indian territory.
Thus enters
Doc Smith, who was the Lander District Ranger for the southern end of the three
million acre Shoshone National Forest, which borders the reservation.
If they were
headed to this area, could Smith find another place for them to land other than
the reservation?
Long-time
local Sheriff Campbell “PeeWee” McDougall also got involved but there was no
way his small force could handle a major squabble between tribal members and
the invading hippies.
Doc and PeeWee
put their heads together and came up with a plan. They approached the leaders of the hippie
horde, who were already trying to set up on the reservation and enduring some
serious threats. A compromise was
reached and the Rainbow Family agreed to move to an area near Limestone
Mountain on the east side of South Pass. Now, all Doc and PeeWee had to worry
about were bands of Wyoming Cowboys heading up there with intent to scalp some longhaired
members of the Rainbow Tribe.
The irony was
that Doc Smith had picked a site that was a two-mile hike to the base at the
foot of an imposing mountain – Freak Mountain! Yes, that is the name of the
mountain where 2,000 nudist-hippies would be spending the next week.
As a 27-year
old journalist, I had only seen one event that was remotely similar to what was
happening on Freak Mountain.
Three years
earlier, the second largest outdoor event behind Woodstock happened in my
little hometown, Wadena, Iowa, a little hamlet with a population of 316. Some 50,000 music enthusiasts attended a
raucous event on a farm.
There was
nudity and drug use. The atmosphere was
claustrophobic and otherworldly. My brothers and I staked out the place with the
intent of protecting our little town and our family house. It ended up being fun and memorable.
Here in
Wyoming, we only had 2,000 of the most peaceful folks you would ever hope to see. Most were dressed like hippies and as soon as
the famous Wyoming sun came up, off came their clothes.
Doc and PeeWee
worked with state officials and tribal officials to keep the peace.
An oddity we
noticed was the severe sunburn suffered by many of the males especially on
their private parts. The high altitude caused the brilliant Wyoming sun to scald
their tender parts a more rapidly than they anticipated.
One of the
rangers’ biggest assignments was making sure the nudists were applying enough
sunscreen.
In my
interviews, I found the people to be nature lovers who tried to live a carefree
life without stress. Drugs that were
natural such as marijuana and mushrooms seemed to be their vices of choice.
Despite many offers, I did not take them up on their offering.
Each morning
and each evening the hippies would gather in a big circle and do some kind of
chanting and nature prayers. At least one actual rainbow did appear and it
caused a sensation.
You might
assume rampant sex would be occurring; but if so, it certainly was not
obvious. We were not there after the sun
went down, though.
Both Doc Smith
and PeeWee McDougall rank as two of the most interesting characters I have had
the pleasure of knowing and working with.
Each deserves his own column at some point in the future but for now, I
will let them be the stars of my recounting of this storied event, which
occurred 46 years ago this past summer.
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