Historic Guard Station Open
to the Public During Forest Centennial Event July 5
TROUT
LAKE , WA – As part of the Forest
Centennial in 2008 an old two-room mountain cabin, built by rangers
in the early days of the Forest Service, will be open to the public on
Saturday July 5. The Gotchen Creek Ranger Station, built in 1909, is located
nine miles north of the community of Trout Lake on the south side of Mt.
Adams, within Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
The cabin will be open from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Heritage Program staff from
the Gifford Pinchot National Forest will be on hand to provide historical
information.
Nancy Ryke, District Ranger for the Mt. Adams Ranger District, said, “I
hope that visitors will take the opportunity during this weekend when
we recognize the birth of our nation to connect with their public lands,
especially since this year marks the 100th
anniversary of the establishment of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest
and Gotchen Creek Ranger Station is our oldest surviving building on the
Forest.”
A recent inventory of over 1,500 existing historic Forest Service buildings
in Washington and Oregon showed that the Gotchen Creek station is one
of only four ranger stations built before 1910. The cabin was strategically
placed on an old wagon road that served as a principal entry point to
the Forest from the east. In the early days, tens of thousands of sheep
passed by the station on their way to grazing allotments. Rangers based
at the cabin counted sheep and conducted horseback patrols of the surrounding
country.
The historic ranger station is located on Forest Road 8225.060, with access
from Forest Roads 82 and 8225 north of Trout Lake.
The site is featured on a special centennial tear
map of the Forest which visitors can use to navigate the Forest this
year and which also lists a number of historic sites around the Forest
for people to visit. These are now available at all Forest offices on
the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and at local visitor information centers.
###
Gotchen
Creek Ranger Station, Ranger Harvey Lickel rasing the flag.
Photo by H.O. Stabler. August, 1911 (Click photo for larger image) |
Gotchen
Creek Ranger Station, Mt. Adams Ranger District, 2007. (Click
photo for larger image) |
|