From 1915 to 1949, the Heber Ranger Station stood at this site. In 1910, becoming a Forest Service ranger required knowing the local country, being able to care for oneself and one's horses, enduring severe physical hardships, living under any condition, making one's own food, and engaging in combat when needed. Most rangers who came before lasted only a couple of years, and some only a few months, because the isolation and hard work eventually got to people. Because the station was so close to the cliffs, it was said that the sun did not rise until noon and went down about 3:30. Early rangers came from many backgrounds, including prospectors, lumbermen, farmers, cowboys, gunmen, and a sprinkling of professors and newspaper men. In 1915, rangers were paid $75 a month and had to own and care for 2 to 6 horses. They covered vast roadless areas alone, and all work was done on horseback. If a fire broke out, a ranger would grab his axe and saw and head out on his horse to put it out by himself. Phone lines required frequent repairs, and phone insulators and wire can still be found strung across the forest today. Other duties included building trails, reporting abandoned homesteads, squatters, and illegal fences, re-blazing survey lines, piling and burning brush, and managing timber sales.