HomeMy Public PortalAboutSanders, NeilState biew9 1.,4ne 42yr tgRs
Man fights to reopen river tram
BY ROGER PHILLIPS
The Star -News
The closure of an aging tram across
the Salmon River has tensions be-
tween a nearby resident and the For-
est Service running as high as the
river below.
The Forest Service locked up the
French Creek tram after an engineer's
report stated the tram is unsafe for
public use, according to Jack Carlson,
the Slate Creek ranger for the Nez
Perce National Forest. The report also
estimated repairing the tram would
cost approximately $200,000.
An article in a travel magazine
featured the tram as a recreational
opportunity on the Salmon River,
which prompted the agency to inspect
it for safety, Carlson said.
When the 56-year-old tram was
closed, it stopped more than recre-
ational use, it also stopped Neil Sand-
ers from crossing to the ranch he
leases on the north side of the river.
"They should have left it alone or
done the needed repairs, but no, they
had to come in and mess it up," Sand-
ers said.
Sanders, 64, has been living at the
Scott Ranch for several years. Losing
use of the tram would force him to
drive over the mountains to the north
to get to Riggins, where he buys sup-
plies and receives his mail.
The trip over the mountains —
when it's passable — is 80 miles
round trip, roughly twice the distance
he travels when he uses the tram to
access the road that parallels the river,
Sanders said.
The tram, which was originally
built by the Civilian Conservation
Corps in 1939, is not as dangerous as
the Forest Service is saying, Sanders
said. He said as far as he knows, there
has been no accidents or lawsuits since
the tram has been in operation.
"That tram is not unsafe to the
point it should be locked up," he said.
"Anything is unsafe if you're not
watching what the devil you're do-
ing."
Sanders also said he has invested
$400 in repairs and upkeep on the
tram. Carlson couldn't verify the
amount of money Sanders spent, but
acknowledged Sanders has done
maintenance on it.
Carlson said the Forest Service is
willing to allow Sanders use of the
tram if three conditions are met.
• The owners of Scott Ranch,
Beverly Eason and her husband, who
live in Jordan Valley, Ore., must re-
view the engineer's report and sign
that they are aware of the tram's con-
dition.
• Permission must be obtained from
the land owners on the south side of
ferently. "We felt it had very limited
use except for Neil," he said.
The Forest Service has tried in the
past to turn the tram over to private
citizens or another agency, but no one
has been willing to take it over thus
far. That's another idea at which Sand-
ers takes exception.
"It doesn't make any sense to me
to put it in a private individual's hands;
only a fool would take it over," he
said. "It needs to be put in the
government's hands and let the tax-
payers support it."
Neil
Sanders
Wants tram
re -opened
the river onto where the tram crosses.
• The Easons have to acknowledge
that Sanders is their agent.
"We're trying to find ways to solve
this situation," Carlson said. "In the
meantime, we have to keep it locked
up "
Sanders is not satisfied with the
arrangement, and he has not received
a key to the tram, but he said that
won't stop him from using it.
"That tram is very essential to me,"
he said. "I haven't stopped using it
and I won't stop using it." '
He also feels the public is being
denied access, not just him. "I' m fight-
ing for the public," Sanders said.
Sanders says many people used
the tram, and many people want it
repaired, but Carlson sees things d
Photo by Neil Sanders
The Dave Hambright family of Pinehurst stands by French Creek tram, which the Forest Service closed.
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LIFE IN THE WEST
BOXED Oui ON THE
SAo RNER
Story by Art Lawler -- Photos by Chris Chung
The sun has worked its way far-
ther to the west than Neil Sand-
ers prefers on this hot summer
afternoon.
Heat, like federal officials, is some-
thing for which he has little tolerance.
He is tired of the government screwing
up his life. Tired of the man in front of
him snapping pictures. Tired of the man
behind him asking questions.
Tired of listening to his Suzuki ATV
strain to transport three grown men —
Sanders, a reporter and a photographer
— down the side of a mountain on a
bumpy 4-foot wide dirt road.
The sweat pouring from his bald head
has forced him to stop the tiny all terrain
vehicle on the incline and reach for his
handkerchief.
Above: Neil
Sanders has
lived in the cab-
in that he built
for 81/2 years.
Before that,
Sanders lived
for 31/2 years in
the shack on
the right. The
cabin has hot
and cold run-
ning water and
electricity. At
left: Sanders'
cabin sits on
land that he
leases on the
Scott Ranch,
which is owned
by Beverly Ea-
son of Rome,
Ore. He sleeps
with a pistol un-
der his pillow to
ward off bears
and cougars
that venture
near his door at
night.
Mountain man says feds taking him for a ride
by padlocking tram that takes him home
Tranquillity for Sanders ended Jan. 27
when Forest Service officials closed the
French Creek tram east of Riggins. For a
dozen years, the wooden box suspended
from a cable has carried him over the
Salmon River, between his mountain
home and civilization, according to his
own timetable.
Built in 1939 by the Civilian Conserva-
tion Corps, the tram had operated ever
since without incident. Then in January,
fearing that a recent news article would
bring more people to the site, the Forest
Service ruled the tram unsafe and
chained it shut, cutting deeply into
Sanders' wilderness lifestyle.
"It's rotten that the Forest Service can
walk up to the tram, have the engineer
condemn it, lock it up, walk away and to
hell with me after 12 years of use," Sand-
ers said.
Federal officials insist the tram is a
safety hazard, that its timbers are rotting
and that fixing it would cost $200,000.
That's too much, they say, for a contrap-
tion used mainly by Sanders.
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Neil Sanders rides his ATV high above the Salmon River to make the 21/2 mile trip from
"He's asking the American taxpayer to
accept liability for his private use," says
Jack Carlson, a district ranger in the
Nez Perce National Forest.
Cooler heads are trying to work out a
solution that would preserve the tram —
not only for Sanders but to keep open the
access it provides recreationalists and
historians.
Some of them do use it, if not the thou-
sands claimed by Sanders. There's a pop-
ular hot springs on the other side, and a
path recognized as Idaho's first North -
South road.
A man who likes to keep to himself,
Sanders has been forced into the lime-
light during his campaign to keep the
tram. He's written letters to politicians,
collected signatures on a petition, and
driven his motorcycle 150 miles to Boise
to present those documents to Sen. Larry
Craig, Gov. Phil Batt and Rep. Helen
rhPnnwPth
his cabin to the tram. Sanders worked the trail for
years to make it suitable for travel.
He even invited the Forest Service to
come watch him last month as he
used a torch to cut away the chain
they had used to lock up the tram.
The service videotaped the inci-
dent, and Sanders now faces an ap-
pearance in federal court.
The handkerchief clears away
the perspiration on Sanders' face,
but it does little to wipe away his
declining disposition.
"No way I'm going to be able to
catch the evening news tonight,"
he complains.
The fight has just begun
There's a good chance none of
this would have come up but for a
mountain bike publication that en-
couraged readers not to miss the
ride over the French Creek tram.
That prompted Forest Service offi-
cials to have their engineers check
it for safety.
It was out of fear that users
might get injured and the Forest
Service would be held liable that
they decided to shut it down.
Since then Neil Sanders' mood
has been on the snappish side.
"They're a bunch of damn liars,"
Sanders says. "This has nothing to
do with safety. They just don't
want it (the tram) in there."
So the defiant, 65-year-old moun-
tain man with a grizzled white
beard and a steaming red face took
matters into his own hands. He
freed the locked tram and let it sail
across the Salmon River.
With him in it, of course.
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Sanders is nothing if not honest
about his law -breaking. Not only
did he invite the videotaping of his
violation last month, he plans to
keep on doing it, unless he's
thrown in jail which is another
possibility. He has a date in federal
court in Moscow on Nov. 15,
where he faces charges of damag-
ing government property and vio-
lating the special order of the for-
est supervisor. The fine is expected
to be small, but if Sanders persists,
as he says he will, he could ulti-
mately be given a jail sentence and
a $5,000 fine.
For now he continues to get to
and from Riggins by riding his
ATV 2 % miles from his cabin to
the north side of the tram. He steps
into the wooden carriage, pulls a
brake stick out of the pulley, and
hauls himself 360 feet across the
Salmon River.
On the other side, he collects his
mail from a box and hops into his
parked Jeep pickup and drives 18
miles into Riggins, the nearest
town. He makes the Riggins trip
two or three times a week, for med-
ical attention and other provisions.
The alternative is to drive 80
miles round trip over a mountain
road, which is closed nine months
but of every year. That's more thar
an inconvenience, Sanders says.
Lt's a major added expense for
Somebody who leases his land and
Lives on a little over $700 monthly
Social Security check.
!Save the tram'
Each day brings on new prob-
lems. On this day he's been abus-
Lng his Suzuki with too many pas-
aengers, and the small engine is
ovation could run as much as
$200,000.
Sanders shakes his head at the
estimate for what basically is a
box, a cable and rope attached to
posts at each end. "No wonder the
government is always running in
the red," he says.
His life on the mountain
Sanders has never found any-
thing in life an easy proposition.
He reached the eighth grade, but
admits he's only got about a fifth -
grade education.
"They just passed me to get rid
of me," he said.
He's had his share of disappoint-
ments with family and with a mar-
riage that went bad after 19 years.
He was a journeyman auto body
worker, then a farmer.
Then he suffered a disabling in-
jury to his back in the '60s that
didn't help matters. He hasn't been
able to hold down a job since. But
before Jan. 27, for 12 years, Sand-
ers could relax, even recover from
some of those disappointments.
"This is the only place I've ever
been able to get any peace," he had
said from the living room of the
small, modern cabin he built with
his own hands.
The battery packs in his cellar
keep a charge from the windmill
on his roof and the generator on
his deck, and they provide the pow.
er for the television, which links
him to civilization via satellite
dish.
In his cabin he can lie in his bed,
the one with the .44 Magnum pis-
tol under the pillow, and read from
any of the 800 or so books he has
stored neatly on the shelves.
@himng noticeably in protest. Or, he can read from one of his
- Writing letters to politicians and Bibles.
Liewspaper editors and getting peti- "Yes, even though I'm frequently
tins signed takes away from the disappointed in my fellow man, I
wilderness experience he craves. do love the Lord," he says. One
instead, he's fighting for the tram. gets the feeling, though, that Sand -
A chief point of contention is us- exs is disappointed the Lord didn't
age. Sanders claims thousands of
Pecreationalists ride it each year —
aotjust him.
He says he has gathered 2,300
signatures of support from friends
gong the Salmon River and in the
Biggins area.
"They wouldn't have signed it if
they weren't interested in using
it," he says.
Carlson, with the Nez Perce Na-
ional Forest, insists he never sees
mone but Sanders use it.
- Carlson, who still considers him -
elf a friend of Sanders', is willing
to see if there is enough interest to
warrant a major renovation effort.
The question is will that support
hold up if people who use the tram
are asked to help pay to bring the
tram up to government standards?
A forest service engineer's report
estimates the price tag for the ren-
invent a more deserving species
than the two -legged kind.
Something he might have some
respect for, like the four -legged
cougar who ate all but five of his
40 chickens in a week's time re-
cently.
"What a beautiful animal," he
says. "They were just chickens. I
wouldn't kill him for something
like that."
The ride to Sanders' cabin is 2 %
steep, errorless miles on a narrow
dirt road overlooking the Salmon
River much farther if one hap-
pens to steer off the edge, which
drops 300 to 400 feet to certain
death.
Sanders rails against the govern
ment as he drives. Rails against
women, too.
"I'm too good for the women
who are available now," he says.
"And the others are all taken. But
the next best thing to a good wom-
an is the wilderness."
Without his unsolicited volun-
teer labor, this stretch as histor
ic a North -South route as the Ore-
gon Trail is east to west would
have faded to a narrow path by
now, Sanders says.
Five years, working on and off,
has provided a fairly consistent
trail, just enough for the ATV, or
for hikers to ride the tram and
then walk up to the hot spring.
Sanders has improved that, too.
For more than 100 years, a wooden
tub filled with hot spring water has
greeted bathers. But Sanders got
tired of seeing them naked on his
trips to the tram.
So, he built a room around the
tub, even put up a mirror inside
without bothering to get a building
permit.
Sanders is a '90s mountain man,
maybe the only one with vanity
plates for his Jeep ("Mountain
Man"), and for his motorcycle
("Mountain Men").
Sanders lived 31/4 years in a
shack while building the cabin.
Now he has much of what he needs
to sustain him through the bitter
cold of winter, including a dozen or
so guns.
Two or three times a week, he
just needs to go to town. Some-
times to see his doctor about his
blood pressure, or for some sleep-
ing pills to take his mind off the
feds. Sometimes he just needs addi-
tional supplies. The windmill pro-
vides electricity but still he hauls
two propane tanks over the moun-
tains and into Riggins for refueling
twice a year. The propane runs two
freezers and a fridge.
Between his frequent moments
of angst an animated social crea-
ture briefly emerges.
For a man who likes his privacy,
Sanders finds a lot of reasons to be
around people.
He's contributed to school -spon-
sored events in Riggins, and to the
Boy Scouts, who have a camp on
the other side of the river, just
south of the tram.
Still, he would rather be out on
his deck, surveying the majestic
Salmon River Breaks and the deer,
elk and bear that inhabit them. "I
live quiet comfortably up here," he
says.
Burgeoning support
He seems to have a sympathetic
ear in Idaho's Republican Sen.
Larry Craig. "We have contacted
the Forest Service and right now
we are pressing them to keep it
open," says Maria Bolz, the Sena-
- tor's representative.
"If a lot of people are willing to
enter into a challenge, cost share
something like that — may be a
possibility," says Carlson of the
Cabin location
c
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ins
oRiggins
Salmon River
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French Creek
N
Nez Perce Forest.
Such a solution might involve
pooling private and federal funds
to complete the project. Or it could
be a partnership between a state
and a federal agency.
According to a briefing of the
Nez Perce National Forest, the
tram does need work: The timber
supports are rotting; the anchor-
ing, pulley and car systems are
questionable; and the tram does
not meet American National Stan-
dards — the government standard
for structures such as the tram.
The Forest Service also consult-
ed the Occupational Safety and
Health and Administration about
the tram and determined it does
not meet OSHA standards.
As for the $200,000 price tag,
Carlson says, "That's just a rough
estimate."
The Forest Service findings
don't necessarily line up with the
conclusions of Dean Briggs of
Briggs Engineering in Boise, ei-
ther. Briggs is working on a struc-
tural analysis on the tram.
"I told him (Sanders) while I was
up there it looked in pretty good
shape except for certain things,"
said Briggs.
Of the $200,000 estimate, he says,
"I don't know what they had in
mind, per se. But one never knows
what the government is thinking."
He does hazard a guess.
"I've got a feeling they think it's
just a liability for their system at
this point. I don't think they've
done an investigative study, other
than to just take it down."
He hopes, with modifications,
the tram can be brought up to
standards that provide the protec-
tion the Forest Service needs.
The current cable, though nearly
60 years old, has sustained only
minimal wear and should last an-
other 40 or 50 years, according to
Briggs. "I didn't see a whole lot of
deterioration of the cable, maybe a
little flattening on top where
wheels run over it," he said.
The wooden carriage, which
Sanders built a few years ago, will
have to be replaced.
"When you get done, I'm guess-
ing, to meet all regulations, we'll
probably be in the tens of thou-
Sanders parks his Jeep, with "Mountain Man" vanity plates, in a ga
rage near the tram on the opposite side of the river from his cabin
for the trips when he ventures into town.
sands of dollars," said Briggs. "But the wrong way, but ..."
I can't tell you whether it will be
$20,000 or $50,000." The hard ride home
Sanders has other allies, groups Whatever happens will take
that are interested in seeing the time, and that's a major problem
tram preserved for historical rea-
sons. Lynn Brown of the Trail Rid-
ers and Walkers Association is one "Given the time," Brown says,
of them. "We have the ways and means to
tt
B it
We came down through Neil keep it (the tram) going. ut
property in 1990," he said. The club does take a lot of tune." crossed one motorcycle and rider As for the current safety of the officials checked the tram riodi River near Riggins on the French
tally after giving him the key, they 'C
at a time.
Brown wants either the Histori- i
cal Society of Idaho or the Idaho
Parks and Recreation Department -
to take over liability for the tram.
He even questions whether the
government has the legal right to
remove the tram. Brown says
money really isn't a big problem if
the Historical Society of Idaho de-
cides it's interested.
"A key link is Briggs' analysis,
because a number of people in the
Riggins, Grangeville area have
agreed to volunteer time and mate-
rials," said Brown.
As for Sanders breaking the law,
Brown finds that interesting.
He wants to know if the Forest
Service had permission to go on
private property on the south side
in order to lock up the tram.
"Why didn't they lock it up on
the government's land on the
north side?" he says.
When he asked that question of
Forest Service officials a few
weeks ago, he said it was greeted
with silence.
"They had to trespass on private
land, to lock up the tram" he said.
"There are no signs that say no
trespassing, but still, it's private
property. I didn't mean to rub them
01-7'f4q,,,-5-
tram, Briggs says, "If I thought it
was unsafe I wouldn't have gone
across it. There's a degree of what
it can carry. You need to limit the
size of the load, and you need to
make the carriage more accessible,
and the cable less accessible to
hands.
"It's not made for the general
public," he said. "But there are
ways to accommodate that."
What the Forest Service has
done to recreationalists may be de-
batable, but there seems little ques-
tion about what it has done to Neil
Sanders.
When the tram was shut down,
the rope that made it easier to to
pull the tram across was left in the;
river. The 65-year-old Sanders got
a friend to help him fish it out.
He'd still like to reattach it to
make the ride across much easier,
but he needs help — and some le-
gal authority wouldn't hurt, either;
Even if he does decide to keep
breaking the law, and ride the
tram home, it is a much more phys-
ically demanding process to lift his
arms and pull himself across with
the steel cable above his head. At
first, Forest Service officials of-
fered to give Sanders a key, figur-
ing he could ride the tram safely
because of his experience.
But all that did was raise anoth-
er question: If the tram is unsafe
for tourists, why is it safe for Sand-
ers? Sanders feels strongly that the „.
public has just as much right to
use the tram as he does
said they frequently found it un-
locked. So they decided Sanders
couldn't use the tram, either.
For his part, Carlson of the For-
est Service has been checking with
people like Brown, looking for a
solution. He just doesn't want any-
one riding the tram until the prob-
lem is solved.
But people like Brown want
Sanders to be able to use the tram
now. Sanders agrees.
"Don't lock it up or out," he says
in one of many letters to political
leaders, "let the people enjoy it
while they can, their kids and the
kids' kids.
"Even God will smile."
Then too, when Forest Service Sanders pulls himself over the Salmon
Neil Sanders gets out of the French Creek Tram after crossing the Salmon River to get to his home nea
Riggins. On the beam of the tram is the closure notice put up by the Forest Service.
Sfd e5 M ah 41,14i, 199b
Trial of `mountain man'
from Riggins postponed
Neil Sanders, the self-pro-
claimed mountain man, will
wait for another day to battle
the federal government.
The Riggins-area man was
scheduled for Federal Court in
Moscow on Thursday. He is
charged with defying the Forest:
Service by cutting a lock so he
could use an aging tram to cross
the Salmon River.
The trial was postponed until
June 26. It is the second time the
case has been continued.
Sanders used the tram to
shave 40 miles off the trip be-
tween Riggins and his isolated
mountain home. Forest Service
officials videotaped him cutting
the lock after he invited them to
the site.
Sanders faces a penalty of up
to $5,000 and a possible jail sen-
tence, if convicted.
-7-4/5 /c(aLi 6 54a &• ss--!a `e -
Forest Service settles with
Riggins man over tram use
moscow — Charges have
been dismissed against a man
who feuded with the Forest Ser-
vice over use of a tram across
the Salmon River.
The complaint against Neil
Sanders, 64, was dropped this
week after Sanders agreed to
pay the $75 cost of the lock and
cable he cut last year to use the
tram after it had been closed for
safety reasons.
"He paid that and we agreed
to dismiss the case," Assistant
U.S. Attorney Barry McHugh
said Wednesday.
Sanders dives in the remote
mountains 20 miles from Riggins
and for years has used the tram
— a wooden basket suspended
from a cable on pulleys — to
cross the river from his cabin on
the canyon breaks to the road to
Riggins.
When the Forest Service
closed the tram last year, Sand-
ers faced charges of damaging
government property and violat-
ing a Forest Service closure or-
der after he cut through the lock
to use it.
He maintains the tram is the
easiest access to his cabin.
Forest Service officials said
the tram will be removed next
week.