History
In the 1920s and 1930s, Forest Service employees often traveled many miles from local ranger stations to forest work sites. Since the forest road networks were not well developed, getting to a job site meant a long trek, carrying all the equipment need to perform the field work. This made it impractical for employees to make daily round-trips. To facilitate work at remote sites, the Forest Service built guard stations at strategic locations throughout the forest to house fire patrols and project crews.
After World War II, the Forest Service greatly expanded its road network, allowing employees to get to most National Forest areas within a few hours. As a result, guard stations lost their utility. The Forest Service found new uses for some stations, but most were demolished or abandoned. In the 1990s, historic preservation groups with the support of Forest Service employees began pressing National Forest managers to preserve the remaining structures. To finance the preservation effort the Forest Service started renting its guard stations to the public.
The Musick Guard Station was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934. It is located in the Umpqua National Forest approximately 38 miles (61 km) east of Cottage Grove, Oregon, in the heart of the old Bohemia mining district. The area is named after James "Bohemia" Johnson, the prospector who discovered gold there in 1863. The guard station was named after the nearby Musick Mine, a large gold mining operation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
It was originally used as a home station for fire crews that patrolled the forests around the Bohemia mining area. The cabin was used as a summer barracks for Forest Service fire patrols and trail crews until the 1960s when it was abandoned. In the early 1990s, the Forest Service started renting cabins including Musick Guard Station to the public for recreational purposes. Because of its rustic architecture and the cabin’s unique historic value as an early Forest Service guard station, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Read more about this topic: Musick Guard Station
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