Hmmm. It's not clear if the Tyndall ranger removed the actual register box or just the notebooks. Looks like the note just says he removed the notebooks ("have actual pages). So, yes, that definitely happens. At some point in the dim past, I remember a move to pull all the registers (notebooks -- not boxes) that had historic value. This would include many of the notebooks signed by Clyde, Eichorn, Dawson back to Colby and even Brewer. There's very few of those left -- maybe one still out on the Black Divide. They were removed to protect them and are archived for sure.
Is the actual Milestone Mt. box gone?? There's a huge difference between taking the notebook and taking the box. Is this whole thing over disappearing notebooks? I had assumed the concern and accusation was over the entire box disappearing.
In this case, I would be pretty sure they went to the park's archives. Some of the truly old ones go to the Sierra Club archives or the Bancroft (not sure which). Seems like about 15 years ago, they went in and cleaned out anything going back to the late 1890s into the 30s but, again, memory is dim. I do know that they did it, just not when. I believe there was also cooperation from NPS and, thus, backcountry rangers to pull the notebooks.
You could contact the park's archivist (Sequoia Kings) and see what they've got there. Since a brief flurry of interest years ago, there's been no formal policy to remove the paper. It wouldn't surprise me, though, that when a bunch of notebooks accumulate, a ranger would take them and turn them over to the archives. Still, pretty rare I would imagine but does happen.
g.
Last edited by George Durkee; 10/30/12 07:33 PM.