Olof Jefferson Olson (1896-1998) became the third district ranger for the Huachuca Forest Reserve, succeeding Robert Thompson (See Glimpses, Aug./Sept 2026).
Olson’s first assignment in the Forest Service was in 1919 at the Rosemont Station in the Santa Rita Mountains. He served in the Santa Rita, Tumacácori and Rincon districts before moving to the Huachuca district/Canelo Station. He was joined at Canelo by his wife, Blanche (1893-1970) and daughter, Ruth (1917-2003).
Several Forest Service initiatives demanded much of Olson’s attention in 1930. In May, crews began work on a three-mile addition of the Crest Trail on Miller Peak. [Arizona Daily Star, 5/20/1930] Construction of 12 miles of telephone lines, stretching from Parker Canyon to Miller Peak, began in August.
“One hundred poles will be erected, and the remainder of the line will be hung on trees.” [Arizona Daily Star, 8/28/1930]
The Forest Service was also working with ranchers to install fencing between grazing allotments. This project required considerable negotiation to obtain agreements on the location of the fence lines in addition to supervising crews cutting fence posts and ordering/delivering wire.
Olson’s diary entry on May 7, 1931, records that while camping: “I was awakened out of a sound sleep and realized after several seconds that a skunk had me by the nose. I caught him by the throat and choked him to death . . . ”
He returned to Canelo and called the doctor at Fort Huachuca, who told him to treat the wound with iodine and come to the post in the morning. There Olson learned that he would need to undergo “the Pasteur treatment,” consisting of twelve daily injections. He continued working while traveling daily to Fort Huachuca for treatment.
In 1932 work began on the construction of a new residence at the station. Luis Tapia was hired to make the adobe bricks, and Juan Telles did the excavating. The house was completed by May 1933. A new office building was constructed in 1933. In June 1933, the Sunnyside Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp opened west of the Sunnyside community on a section of Jim Hathaway’s ranch. [Nogales International, 2/17/1934] The Canelo rangers worked closely with the CCC men as they completed many projects on the Forest until the camp closed in October 1935.
Most district rangers encounter personal complaints, and Olson was no exception. In 1934 rancher W. W. Rodgers began circulating “a petition to have me transferred or removed from office altogether.” [O.J. Olson FS Diary, 2/19/1934] On Oct. 18, 1934, Olson was arrested by U.S. Customs officers for having allegedly smuggled liquor in his Forest Service truck.
One of the arresting officers was rancher Jim Hathaway, who was no fan of Olson. Olson’s version of the events was that he was helping a man whose vehicle was disabled — the man managed to escape arrest after hitting Hathaway on the right temple. [Arizona Daily Star, 10/20/1934]
Olson’s diary entries from October 1934-March 1935 document many meetings at Coronado National Forest headquarters about his “case,” including efforts to locate the escapee. Norman E. Johnson, who worked with Olson, recounted in his oral history.
“I think that eventually, through the efforts of the Regional Office, it was determined that this whole thing was a frame-up. Of course, this is all a matter of record and can be verified. Olson was furloughed and removed from the Canelo Ranger Station during the period of the hearing.” [E.A. Tucker, The Early Days: A Sourcebook of Southwestern Region History, Book 3, 1992:18]
After Canelo, Olson worked for the Forest Service on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico until his retirement in 1954. He died in 1998, age 101, in El Paso, Texas.