Hale Field Buildings sold 1941 to Randall Lachman
Forest Service Sells Hale Field Building
The wooden building which served as headquarters for the Forest Service smoke-jumping activities at Hale Field from 1941 until the new Aerial Fire Depot was opened last month has been sold, the Forest Service announced Friday.
Harry Gauld, assistant purchasing agent at Forest Service headquarters here, said Randal H. Lackman of Rt 1 was the high bidder at $707. Only two of the 29 persons on the bid list submitted proposals, he added.
The building is composed of three wings, 20×120 feet, 20×95 feet and 20×25 feet. It is being moved in sections from Hale Field, which is to be closed.
The structure originally was one used at a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in the 1930s. It was moved to Hale Field.
[The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian, October 2, 1954.]
Randall Lachman grew up in Missoula. He was born in Minnesota 1925 and died in Missoula in 1981. He worked as a contractor in Missoula for many years. It would be interesting to know what use Randall found for the Hale field buildings. Randall’s wife, Lorraine C. Weber was born in Missoula and died there in 1985. Her father, E. J., started Garden City Floral in Orchard Homes in Missoula in 1927, and was still operating it in 1941 – in fact a floral business until 1980, when he sold it. Born in Butte in 1894, Ed Weber Sr. died at Missoula in 1986.