Howard Beatty of Twisp Washington discusses his career as a smokejumper from 1948 until 1954 in Winthrop Washington Montana and Cave Junction Oregon. Beatty talks about participating in non-firefighting activities such as trail maintenance building lookouts and other maintenance around bases. He points out the many changes in the smokejumper program since his time the 1940s focusing mostly on equipment and procedure. Beatty also discusses Francis Lufkin the manager of the North Cascades Smokejumper Base and his attempts to keep the base running.