Park Warden Alumni Society of Alberta Oral History Project – Winter 2011 !

Interview with Earl Skjonsberg 1

February 23, 2011 – Red Deer, Alberta !

! Banff National Park Dog Master Earl Skjonsberg and Jasper National Park Dog Master Alfie Burstrom !

Place and Date of Birth: Red Deer Alberta, 1922. Occupations: During the Second World War, Earl served with the 192 Royal Air Force Squadron where he made 31 missions over Europe in a Halifax Bomber. Following the war he returned to Canada where worked in the oil fields of Alberta. Ready for a change, Earl then joined the warden service in Banff National Park in 1961, where coincidently he was given warden badge 192. He started as an assistant warden in the Healy Creek district with warden Ole Hermanrude. After taking a promotion to a fulltime warden in Riding Mountain National Park, Earl returned to Banff where he became a dog master for the park. He retired in 1980, after 19 years of service. Additional Information: Once Earl retired from the warden service, he spent twenty years farming in Alberta. He has two sons, David and Terry. His son Terry also became a warden starting in Banff and retiring in 2010 from Kluane National Park in the Yukon. !

• Earl - (0:00:23) I was born in 1922, in Red Deer.

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Earl’s son Terry was present for the interview. 1

!• Earl - (0:00:42) I worked in the oil fields for 12 years…I made enough money that I could kind of sit

back and look at things. So I was looking for something different to do. I thought this (the warden service) sounded really good. That’s why I applied for the warden service. My wife wasn’t too happy! !

• Earl - (0:01:25) Yes, (Earl started working for the warden service in Banff), in the 1960s. 1961? In 1980 I had 19 years in. It must have been 1961… !

• Earl - (0:01:58) I started as an assistant warden with Ole Hermanrude (in the Healy Creek district)…in the old house there. !

! Warden Ole Hermanrude !

• Terry - (0:02:22) 1963 through 1966 (the Skjonsberg family was at Healy Creek.) Then we moved to Manitoba in 1967 (to Riding Mountain National Park). !

• Earl – (0:02:37) I was only there a year wasn’t I? !• Terry - (0:02:28) Two years…He went there as a fulltime warden because (in Banff) he was only an

assistant. That is why he took the promotion. !• Earl – (0:03:04) I had a chance to come back to Banff. !• Terry – (0:03:10) In 1969, because in 1967/68 you were in Riding Mountain. !• Terry – (0:03:29) We were out at the Buffalo Paddock (when the family came back to Banff). !• Earl – (0:03:33) I was in town more or less, but I was at the Buffalo Paddock. !

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• Terry – (0:03:40) But there were still some guys out in the districts…Were there guys in the remote districts? Or were they all highway related then? !

• Earl – (0:03:57) I think they were just bringing them in. !• Terry – (0:04:02) I was thinking Sid Marty lived down at Minnewanka, but there was a road there,

right at the edge of the Cascade Fire Road. !• Earl – (0:04:09) There was a (fire road to) Stoney Creek and then the other way up to the Spray… !• Terry – (0:04:17) There was nobody living on the fire roads was there? !• Earl – (0:04:20) You know Terry, I can’t remember…There probably wasn’t…but we weren’t all in

town that time when I first went there. !• Terry – (0:04:31) No they still had Healy Creek. !• Earl – (0:04:33) But I didn’t go back to Healy Creek. !• Terry – (0:04:35) I know you didn’t, but they had all the stations where there was a paved road to. !• Earl – (0:04:47) Was there two wardens at Healy Creek? Yes, I think there was. !• Terry – (0:04:50) Yes because those two wardens died in that traffic accident…in 1971 I think two

wardens died on the Trans Canada Highway, didn’t they? They were stationed there. They were driving into town… 2!

• Earl – (0:07:02) Jack Woledge…and I went to the course (dog training course at the Innisfail Dog Training Kennels) together and he went to Lake Louise and I stayed in Banff (In response to the question, “Then when you came back to Banff did you become the dog master?)…Yes…(as the dog master for Banff National Park, Earl was involved with search and rescue). Well, it kind of gave me a new lease on life that dog, you know. At that stage of the game, everyone was in town. I’ll admit, I didn’t like it (being in town)…I have a picture here of us graduating from the dog school at Innisfail. ! !

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Terry left during the interview to get more information on the two wardens killed in the traffic accident. 2

! Graduation Class at the Innisfail Dog Training Kennels – Innisfail Alberta – 1973

Second from left – Earl Skjonsberg, Frank Burstrom Sr. and Jack Woledge !• Earl – (0:09:12) I had three different dogs. At first, Jack and I, they let us go out and look for pups.

So we each picked up a pup, but my pup had hip dysplasia. So they wouldn’t train him. Then the RCMP got me a dog from Vancouver. !

• Earl – (0:10:24) It was really a hit and miss thing, that dog…I always found it hard to keep your dog up you know. Like you had to spend a lot of time working on your dog to keep him up to what you wanted…That’s what I found. But it changed my life completely, the dog. Well one thing about it, you didn’t get out in the back woods like you used to. You had to hang around town and I didn’t care for that too much. But all in all, like I said, it was a lot better than being the town warden. It really was…Nobody seemed to bother you. You know for all these petty little things! !

• Terry – (0:11:53) 1972, not 1971, (wardens) James Brink and Robert Marak (were killed in a traffic accident in Banff National Park)…They died on the Trans Canada highway. !

• Earl – (0:12:10) They were Lake Louise wardens…They weren’t Banff wardens, I don’t think…New guys? !

• Terry – (0:12.39) There are 12 wardens who have died so far in service. !• Earl – (0:13:07) I remember the names now, but just vaguely that’s all. !

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• Earl – (0:13:14) Yes, (Earl spent the rest of his warden career as the dog master in Banff National Park). When I left I took the dog with me. Faro (was the dog’s name). !

• Terry – (0:13:31) You had three dogs didn’t you? !• Earl – (0:13:33) Ruff, didn’t last too long. Remember, he got killed on the highway. I shouldn’t say

this, but he was a poor effort anyway! He wouldn’t stay with me, he would run away. I’d get out in the bush and he would run away. He would run himself until he was just played right out. He chased animals. I could never break him of that. I put a shock collar on him and everything and he wouldn’t quit. That’s why he got killed, he ran out on the highway… !

• Terry – (0:14:24) The two main dogs were Ruff and Faro. Ruff only last two or three years? !• Earl – (0:14:29) A couple of years…I was on training with him for six weeks I think. !• Earl – (0:14:51) In 1980 I retired. !• Earl – (0:15:33) Well, I kind of always liked that country you know (in response to the question,

“What did you like best about being a warden?) There you got out. God, you were gone for ten days on your own and you didn’t have no phone and no radios. It was perfect I thought! When I first went there I had the boys. Not so much with Terry, but David travelled with me quite a bit. Nobody ever questioned anything then. You were pretty well on your own. When I went out Ole did a lot of that work around the district because I was gone for ten days. You got to know your district pretty good. !

• Earl – (0:16:59) It worked out really fine (being the dog master). I think it did for me… !• Earl – (0:17:14) Your dad (warden Keith Everts) tried to get me to do a little paperwork. Keith, he

liked reports you know…I was poor at writing up a bunch of reports. So I used to really stall him along all the time. It was always ready tomorrow! !

! Keith Everts and Earl Skjonsberg at a warden climbing school - 1971 !

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• Earl – (0:17:48) That’s for sure! (Paper work was what Earl liked least about being a warden). !• Earl – (0:18:08) No, like I say I had a few good rescues and a few interesting things happen, like

people stole things or died out in the bush. !• Terry – (0:18:20) The RCMP actually could call on them (the warden dog masters). !• Earl – (0:18:22) I did a lot of work with the RCMP, except in wintertime with the slides, you know

the avalanches. I was thinking about when Stevie Wonder went missing. Alfie and I, he had his dog too. We must have spent a week out there. Nobody knew where he had got to from Bow Summit… I think it was Christmas day when we were out there and found him. Alfie’s dog found him. I just happened to be in a different spot on the mountain. But Alfie’s dog found him. !

• Terry – (0:19:04) Stevie Wonder was a staff member at Sunshine Village. !• Earl – (0:19:06) That wasn’t his name. They called him Stevie Wonder, I can’t remember his real

name…He’d been missing for a couple of weeks or so…His car was in the parking lot at Bow Summit. !

• Earl – (0:19:38) You always felt good if things worked out. I did a lot of searches… !• Terry – (0:19:43) You didn’t know if anyone was in the slide or not, did you…So it was more a

double check sort of thing. !• Earl – (0:19:45) That’s right. A lot of times Yes...That guy that went over off Brewster’s there. We

didn’t know for sure where he was. Ruff found the ski pole there so we knew he must be there somewhere because Jack’s (Woledge) dog picked him up anyway. So those things were kind of interesting. He was up on Brewster’s….those cornices used to build out and I think he must have went out and he didn’t see where the edge was. He must have got out there and it broke off…They used to take the snow cat up there. There was no lift up there then. !

• Earl – (0:21:12) We had a few bears around Healy Creek (in response to the question; “Do you have any wildlife stories that stick out in your memory?”), but nothing serious. Often going into Egypt Lake you would run into the odd grizzly, but I never had any problems. !

• Terry – (0:21:33) Didn’t you check for unexploded avalanches shells (with your dog)…When they were doing the bombing? You had to go up and look for duds. !

• Earl – (0:21:58) Oh, with Walter (Perren). They used a gun and fired up there. Yes, just off the Goat’s Eye (at Sunshine ski hill)…I remember that because you were along with us…Terry was still going to school there (in Banff) then…Like I say they used to fire up there with a gun, but that didn’t last too long…I think we found one (dud) Terry. Boy that is a long time ago. We took the dog Yes. !

• Terry – (0:22:59) You trained the dog to smell for explosives with the RCMP. So you had to go to the training school for a week? !

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• Earl – (0:23:15) We would do refresher courses once every year I think. Spend about a week at Innisfail, or maybe two weeks. I can’t remember just how long. !

• Terry – (0:23:31) What else did you train with the dog? Didn’t you train for dope? !• Earl – (0:23:41) I don’t think he ever went searching for dope…I don’t think there was that much

around. I’ve never gone on a search for dope. !• Terry – (0:24:03) No, but the dog was trained to indicate wasn’t he? !• Earl – (0:24:09) He would indicate lots of things, a dog will. !• Terry – (0:24:13) But you practiced with him. !• Earl – (0:24:15) Not really with dope. Where would I get the dope? From the RCMP? !• Terry – (0:24:19) Yes, you had a little plastic bag of it at home. You used to hide it in the yard. !• Earl – (0:24:28) Oh, I smoked that... Okay, my bag, you carried a little bit of that. I suppose I did

some (practicing with the dog to indicate the smell of marijuana). I probably picked it up in some camp. You know what those hippy camps were like around town. You found lots of strange things… !

• Terry – (0:24:57) So you used to hide it in the yard, didn’t you and the dog would search it out. !• Earl – (0:25:00) I hid money in the yard I remember that…there is more scent on money then on

anything…Yes, we used to play with, silver. I thought it was really a good search when he picked those things up. It is amazing what they’ll do. You have to keep them (the search dogs) going. I used to borrow everybody from the warden office there to go out and hide out in the bush someplace…He was with you, so you always did something with him. !

• Earl – (0:26:20) Oh, you know it changed (in response to the question. “In your 19 years with the warden service, did it change much?) Centralization…You can’t bring 15 people in and park them in town. I don’t think that you can do that and then you send them out into the district for ten days. !

• Terry - (0:27:03) I heard you talk about how the morale went down…Like you said you had guys ride out into the district for ten days, but they don’t have ownership of the district…because they knew in the next ten days they were going to be in town. !

• Earl – (0:27:34) Can you imagine two truckloads of wardens driving downtown to have coffee? You know it was ridiculous. Apparently it hasn’t gotten any better either…Terry (wasn’t called) a warden the last year or so that he worked, were you? !

• Terry - (0:27:58) We were called resource conversation staff because the park wardens are strictly the law enforcement people…I had a uniform, but they took our badges away and the flashes off …

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They are kind of switching over to that (getting all park staff in the same uniform), but they are in the throes of it. You guys, just had one uniform the whole time? !

• Earl – (0:28:29) Yes. !• Terry - (0:28:30) Except they changed shoulder flashes on you guys a couple of times, didn’t they? !• Earl – (0:28:41) No, I don’t think so Terry. I am pretty sure they always stayed the same. !• Earl – (0:28:54) Oh, the funny stories! Well…Faro was pretty possessive that dog. Actually, he

didn’t need aggressive training…But we had it anyway and he was really hard to handle with strange people. You remember Toby Burkes? Toby was kind of a smart character. But I was on night duty, I had the dog with me and Toby came up and…was standing there yapping and I turned the window down and I said, “Just don’t put your hands anywhere near the dog. Just leave him alone.” Because he (Faro) was really watching old Toby. Toby put his arm up on the window and the dog grabbed him. That wasn’t the bad part... The next morning I go to work and somebody came along and they said, “Did you hear what happened to Toby? He’s in the hospital.” “With what?” “He’s got rabies!’ And I believed him! I was just about sick you know. All of a sudden Toby comes down, he was up at Minnewanka…he was on the (fire) tower up there. Man alive! Well it was funny for those guys, but I didn’t forgive them for quite a while… !

• Earl – (0:30:47) I was going up to Sunshine. We were all sitting there waiting for the gondola lift and I had the dog with me and this little girl runs out and she says, “Oh, you haven’t got a ticket.” And she goes to put a ticket on me and the dog grabs her. I don’t think he hurt her (he didn’t break skin). But they had to take her to the hospital. She got so damn nervous and everything she couldn’t do any work anymore because the dog scared her so much. Some people are like that I guess. But that’s how he was. You didn’t do anything around me because he really would protect me…No one got in my truck when he was there… !

• Terry - (0:31:48) You didn’t even have to lock the truck because nobody was getting inside! !• Earl – (0:31:53) If somebody was going to ride with me, they could get in first and then he would

get in. He wouldn’t pay that much attention to them. But you couldn’t get in there by yourself…No. !• Terry - (0:32:09) There was a lot of people who walked by the truck and he barked and leapt at

them. !• Earl – (0:32:16) Nobody came into our yard. I used to let him have the run of the yard there at

Banff. Nobody came into our yard until they phoned. !• Terry - (0:32:26) That was in town too. We lived on Squirrel Street (after living at the Buffalo

Paddock). !• Earl – (0:32:33) Well we had that little kennel, but I pretty well used to let him have the run of the

yard. He never tried to get out and he never left. !! 8

• Terry - (0:32:42) And the fence wasn’t that high. He could have jumped over the fence if he had wanted. He stayed in the yard, but nobody came into the yard unless he was in the kennel… !

• Earl – (0:32:56) He was a little tricky. You had to really watch him. !• Terry - (0:33:00) Well like you say, he was possessive of you and of his yard and of his truck. !• Earl – (0:33:07) But I thought he was a super dog for what he was trained for…Yes (Earl kept Faro

once he retired from the warden service)…Well he got dysplasia and finally he got so crippled up that I had to put him to sleep. He got so that he could hardly get around. Yes, (Faro was a German Sheppard). !

• Terry - (0:33:39) But he was pretty much at the end of his working life, eh, when you retired. !• Earl – (0:33:41) Yes, he was…seven or eight years old (when Earl finished with the warden

service)…Their hips usually go. He had an operation on his hips. They cut the cords in his hips and that helped him. It gave him another year or so… !!!

! Earl and Faro !

• Earl – (0:34:21) Well you know, I guess I worked with old John Wackerle more than anybody. (In response to the question, “Is there anyone that you worked with that sticks out in your mind?”) We did all our travelling together…We spent a lot of time together and we still visit back and forth. He’s still out there in Sundre… !

• Earl – (0:35:17) Where the heck did Jim (Robertson) come from? Pincher Creek? (In response to the question, “Did you know warden Jim Robertson?”) !

• Terry - (0:35:21) He was at the Buffalo Paddock…before we moved there. !! 9

• Earl – (0:35:30) I kind of lost track of Jim…Yes we were all cowboys. Heck we came from Cardston and we brought three horses with us when we moved up to Healy Creek…David and Terry had to have a horse and I had to have a horse. Actually the first year I was there, I used my own horse because the mare I got she was having a colt…She was a little pinto horse, but I had her for quite a few years afterwards. But the first year I used my own horse. In fact I used her every once and a while after that anyways. Nobody complained… !

• Terry - (0:37:04) We took Lady and Banner to Riding Mountain. !• Earl – (0:37:10) We only brought Lady back. !• Terry - (0:37:15) But he got to take his government horse from Banff to Riding Mountain too. !• Earl – (0:37:18) That’s right too. Chili…I remember that. !• Terry - (0:37:27) Which was quite unusual because she was a Banff National Park horse. !• Earl – (0:37:31) But nobody really liked her anyway. !• Terry - (0:37:41) You couldn’t trust her. !• Earl – (0:37:44) No, you couldn’t really trust her…She was a good little horse, but… !• Terry - (0:37:51) Every once in a while she would blow up. !• Earl – (0:37:59) No I didn’t grow up on a farm. I grew up in north Red Deer here. But it was just

like a farm. I spent quite a bit of time on a farm. !• Earl – (0:38:17) I liked the people there (in Riding Mountain)…But I was quite happy to come back

to Banff….Ed Stewart was down there. He was a warden here and he went down there too. So I had somebody I knew down there pretty well. !

• Earl – (0:38:45) Oh, there was about four of us who went up there to try for this (dog master) job. (In response to the question, “How did you become the dog master?”) Jack and I…Jay Morton and Paul Kutzer. I think he went up there. Anyway Jack and I were the two oldest guys there, so we got the job. I don’t know why, but we did. Well when I think back to it, it was the same thing when I first got hired (on the warden service), they weren’t hiring any young people…We were all about 40 years old… !

• Earl – (0:40:43) I think it (the warden service) has changed so much, I wouldn’t have a clue…now it is all computers and that stuff. We would be lost and I am not so sure…that they do any backcountry work or anything anymore. Do they? !

• Terry - (0:41:20) They still do patrols but they are trying to document some of the wildlife stuff (with cameras set up in the backcountry). It is not really to check on people…it is more wildlife related stuff.

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!• Earl – (0:41:39) Oh sure! (In response to the question, “Did you enjoy being a warden?”) It was a

good life. Oh it was. It sure was! !• Earl – (0:41:57) No, (in response to the question, “Did you ever miss being a warden once you

retired?)…I bought a stupid farm…so I spent another 20 years trying to farm. Lots of work. !• Terry - (0:42:14) It was one of your life dreams to own a farm…Started out a little too late in life to

be a farmer. !• Earl – (0:42:28) I raised a bunch of horses and a few cows… !• Terry - (0:44:11) I started (with the warden service) when he (Earl) was still working (In response to

the question, “When did you become a warden?). I started in 1975, 1975/76 I was on the two man horse trail crew until 1977…So I worked with dad for two or three years in Banff there. It was interesting Yes. Then I moved to Lake Louise in 1979…until 1993 (In response to the question, “How long did you work in Banff?). Then up to Kluane…Yes, oh Yes (in response to the question, “Do you know Smokey Guttman?) Last year (Terry retired from the warden service). !

• Earl – (0:45:30) He (Smokey) must have had a few stories… Smokey has quite a museum up there (in Haines Junction)…We went up there a couple of years ago…I still remember Smokey when he was at the Crossing (Saskatchewan River Crossing). Smokey used to come to town and if you’ve ever seen a person smartly dressed that was Smokey. Man alive! Everything just about shone on him! The best uniform and he looked pretty sharp. That’s the way he came into town. !

• Earl – (0:46:54) I used skis (in response to the question, “Did you use skis or snowshoes with the dog?) I never used snowshoes that much, mostly skis. I made a few snowshoe trips with Ed Carleton, I remember that. !

• Terry - (0:47:07) That’s all he (warden Ed Carleton) used…anybody that knew how to ski would ski. !• Earl – (0:47:31) I learned to ski at Sunshine with Ole Hermanrude. !• Terry - (0:47:36) Because the wardens were the ski patrollers there. !• Earl – (0:47:40) I went up there the second year. The first year Ole stayed there and the second

year he was off elk hunting…I wouldn’t say I was in charge; I had a lot of help up there from the guys that were there, the ski patrol. !

• Terry - (0:47:59) There were two guys hired by the government for ski patrol and there was normally a warden that oversaw it. They did all the first aid, because you guys hauled the injured skiers off the ski hill back then. !

• Earl – (0:48:24) We had to run the ambulance then too…We had that station wagon. !! 11

• Earl – (0:48:53) I never liked it (skiing) to start with. But once you could ski a little bit, it was good. The ski instructors at Sunshine were really good then…Gerry Johnston and somebody Anderson, he worked for Gerry. He was really good, he ran the ski school up there and…he used to take you on one of the ski schools because I couldn’t ski worth a darn when I went up there. I enjoyed it Yes… !

! Earl Skjonsberg skiing in the mountains of Banff National Park

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