Strong, Clarence C. (Clarence Charles), 1895-1982

Clarence Charles Strong was born September 7, 1895, in Arago, Oregon. A veteran of World War I, he graduated from what is now Oregon State University in 1924 with a degree in forestry. He worked for ten years in blister rust control in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho area before accepting a position with the United States Forest Service in 1924. His service for the USFS culminated in his appointment as an Assistant Regional Forester in Region One, Missoula, Montana, and a special mission to Afghanistan as an advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture. He retired from the Forest Service in 1957.

After retiring, Strong was called upon by state governments to advise in land zoning concerns. He remained an active member of the Society of American Foresters, the American Forestry Association and the Forest History Society. In 1970 Strong published his only book, White Pine: King of Many Waters, about the history of the lumber industry in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains of Idaho and Montana.

Strong was well known and liked in the Forest Service and the timber industry and was characterized by co-workers and family as a man of integrity and character. Strong also possessed a deep interest in history and compiled valuable interviews, notes and research sources for the purpose of preservation. His many interviews were a result of his desire to capture the history of pioneering forestry in Montana before those who lived it passed on. Strong married Marie Tonseth in 1925 and raised two children, Marilyn Jeanne Strong and Richard Allen Strong. He spent his free time fishing, traveling, rose gardening and in the WW I Veterans Barracks 835 of Missoula. Clarence Strong died in 1982 in Missoula at the age of 87.

From the guide to the Clarence Strong Papers, 1917-1975, (Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)