Guardian of the Grant

ONE of the least known of College employees, except by alumni and undergraduates who have journeyed to the College Grant in the past two years, is Sam Brungot identified in the College records as Sivert Matias Jorgensen Brungot.

Sam, a retired forest fire lookout in the New Hampshire Forestry and Recreation Department, doubles in brass as a Patrolman for the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, of which the College has long been a member, and as Custodian of College property in the Grant.

Fifty-three years ago, at the turn of the century, as a new arrival from Norway via Canada, Sam walked into the College Grant to enjoy the favorite sport of his nationality fishing. He still fishes the Diamond waters but where he catches those delectable native brookies is one of his few secrets.

Sam's top job is fire prevention. He makes a practice of meeting all sportsmen entering the Grant to give them a word of warning. He checks the logging operations, where gasoline-powered equipment and cigarette-smoking woodsmen are a constant danger.

He also keeps his eyes open for lightning-caused fires. Such stubborn conflagrations on Bald Cap Dome near Berlin in 1952 and on Grantham Mountain and Mount Shaw in 1953 proved that "all the king's horses" have trouble controlling them, once they get started in the deep forest duff atop New Hampshire's rugged mountains. Sam, like all good fire patrolmen, believes in spotting them when they're small.

Sam makes his headquarters in the Sealer-Patrolman Cabin built by the College in 1950 at the strategic point where the roads and telephone lines fork to follow the Swift and Dead Diamond streams to their headwaters. He lives within a snowball's throw of the College Grant Management Center, built in 1951 with funds provided by the Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Foundation.

As guardian of one of the College's long-time physical assets, Sam Brungot is a valued member of its organization and a memorable host to those who visit his headquarters at the Forks of the Diamond.

College Forester

SAM BRUNGOT AT HIS DARTMOUTH GRANT HEADQUARTERS