History
In the 1920s and 1930s, forest road networks were not well developed. To facilitate work in National Forests, the Forest Service built district ranger stations at strategic locations within the forest to house full-time employees and provide logistics support to fire patrols and project crews working at remote forest sites. After World War II, the Forest Service greatly expanded its road network, allowing employees to get to most forest areas within a few hours. As a result, many of the more isolated ranger stations were closed or converted to summer guard station.
The Forest Service began using the Clackamas Lake site in 1905. The original ranger cabin and barn were built by the district's first ranger, Joe Graham, in 1906. The compound was expanded during the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. All of the historic buildings that exist at the site today are from that era. The range station served as the summer administrative site for the Clackamas Lake Ranger District from 1906 until the 1952 when the compound was converted to a guard station for fire crews and work parties. After a short period of disuse in the 1960s, the guard station was reopened in the early 1970s. Since then, the site has remained in continuous use as a guard station, work center, recreation facility, and visitor center.
Because of the rustic architecture of the buildings and the site's unique historic value as an early Forest Service ranger station, the Clackamas Lake Ranger Station compound was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Place in 1981. The historic area covers 4 acres (16,000 m2).
Read more about this topic: Clackamas Lake Ranger Station Historic District
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