"USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky" tells of part of the summer of Maclean's 17th year, 1919. He spent that summer, as he had the previous two, working for the United States Forest Service, this time at Elk Summit, Idaho, west of Blodgett Canyon and approximately 34 miles (55 km) walking distance almost due west-northwest of Hamilton, Montana, near White Sand Creek, and north of East Fork Moose Creek.[5]
Working for the Forest Service in a very remote part of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in the Selway National Forest (now Clearwater National Forest), Maclean had to extinguish wildfires, build trails (with a sledgehammer, chisel, and dynamite), pack horses and mules, spend time alone on lookout duty at 7,424 feet (2,263 m) Grave Peak, and string telephone wire.[5]
The Elk Summit Work Center is located at the junction of Horse Creek and Hoodoo Creek, north-northwest of Hoodoo Mountain and north-northeast of Hoodoo Lake, at 46°19′36″N 114°38′51″W / 46.32667°N 114.64750°W / 46.32667; -114.64750 (46.3265874, −114.6476053)[6] and an elevation of 5,748 feet (1,752 m).
