Some Yaak AFS Notes

Contributed by Basil Stephanoff

The mailing address for Yaak AFS was through Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Bonners Ferry was approximately 70 miles from Yaak. 30 to 35 miles of the trip was on a one lane logging road. There was no fence around the installation.


Found at http://www.myplanet.net/goodmantravels/montana_3.htm

The only building outside the compound was a place called "The Dirty Shame Saloon". It was a combination bar, grocery and it had a barbers chair. That was it.

Yaak is located in the Kootenai National Forest close to a river. The operations building was about five miles north of the base camp. I had occasion to read an article about Yaak in a Washington (state) newspaper but they didn`t mention anything about the radar site. There is also a book out written by a fellow who lives somewhere in Yaak. He writes how the logging owners have ruined the land. The author of the book on Yaak also omitted anything about the radar site but did mention the "Dirty Shame Saloon" still being there. Back in those days there were no patches or emblems to put on your uniform. There were trailer homes for those who brought their families on one end of the site. The trip to the top of the mountain was a series of switch backs.

Call sign of the site was "Frosty" if I am not mistaken. Other sites were Igloo, Goodbook and Waterloo.

This part of Montana is very beautiful, but desolate as all get out. When I left there one on the guys cried because he had been there for 17 months and was losing his grip on things because of the desolation. Since there was no fence around the site, there was plenty of wildlife coming and going. A lot of guys poached deer and the cook would serve it at mealtime. Ahh...venison steak!

Basil

Return to Search Page