Historic Montana

Big Prairie Ranger Station: Flathead National Forest Backcountry Administrative Facilities Historic District

2016-12-13T23:29:00+00:00

An USFS administrative headquarters since 1908, Big Prairie primarily operated only in summer, but a small tombstone, marked “Roush Daughter,” provides a reminder of winter hardships. The two-year-old’s father, stationed here with his wife, tended USFS livestock in winter 1923-24. He traveled 100 miles to Missoula on snowshoes to seek medical advice after the girl fell ill. She died before his return. In 1928, the USFS built the first airstrip here. In 1932 it moved the airfield closer to existing buildings, including the still extant 1916 office/residence. Shortly thereafter, the USFS situated its new combination office, kitchen, mess hall, and warehouse, so that planes could taxi up to the warehouse porch. It soon added a ranger’s house, meat house, second small warehouse, and a consciously Rustic-style bunkhouse, designed by USFS architect William Fox. The tongue-and-groove “chute loft,” so-called because smoke-jumpers hung their parachutes here before packing them, was added circa 1942. At its peak, the district had 850 miles of phone lines. Forty-five miles of lines remain, as do “iron phones” along the South Fork Trail.

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Flathead National Forest Backcountry Administrative Facilities Historic District

2016-12-13T23:29:00+00:00

Three ranger district headquarter compounds, thirteen guard stations, three airfields, and the trails and phone lines that connect them make up this historic district, located in some of Montana’s wildest country. The Forest Service became an independent agency in 1905 and immediately prioritized building trails and communication networks to facilitate firefighting and timber sales in the Flathead. Construction began on the South Fork Trail that same year. The forest’s first phone line was installed by 1908, linking the supervisor’s office in Kalispell with the Coram guard station. The Big Burn of 1910 reinforced the need for communication and transportation. By 1941, over 350 miles of trails, many built by the Civilian Conservation Corps—a New Deal public works program—connected backcountry stations. An extensive system of single-wire phone line attached to trees throughout the forest supported communication. Forty-five miles of this ground-return telephone line remains in service. In the early years, rangers built their own log cabins using local materials, their own time, and varying levels of skill. Later, Region One recommended standard designs for cabins and other log structures, including outhouses, barns, corrals, bunkhouses, and sheds. In the 1920s, increasing anxiety over urbanization and industrialization led Americans to value forests as wilderness to be protected. Portions of the Flathead National Forest were designated as primitive areas in 1931, “untrammeled wilderness set aside for their wild life and for the more hardy and zealous” outdoor enthusiasts. Passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act further ensured that development within the Flathead National Forest backcountry remains minimal.

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Spotted Bear Ranger Station: Flathead National Forest Backcountry Administrative Facilities Historic District

2016-12-13T23:29:00+00:00

In 1921, the U.S. Forest Service USFS moved the original Spotted Bear headquarters compound, established in 1908 near Spotted Bear Lake, to this site. The Ranger District managed timber sales and was very successful in fire suppression. Following the establishment of the South Fork Primitive Area in 1931, and the Pentagon Primitive Area in 1933, recreation also became a focus. The station was home base for packers and their pack strings, typically eight mules tied behind a “bell mare”. Everett M. Hart and Victor Holmlund, skilled carpenters who often worked summers for USFS, built the station’s 1923 office, 1926 warehouse, and 1927 ranger’s cabin. These well-constructed log-bearing buildings feature full dovetail notches at the joints and unique half-story walls, which extend about five feet beyond the edge of the ground floor at front and rear. Besides creating additional interior space, the overhangs effectively shelter the entrances in bad weather. A fourth historic building, moved here in the 1950s, is a 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps CCC bunkhouse. It bears the characteristics of the “temporary” construction typical of that era.

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Schafer Ranger Station: Flathead National Forest Backcountry Administrative Facilities Historic District

2016-12-13T23:29:00+00:00

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) moved the district headquarters for the Middle Fork drainage to Schafer Ranger Station in 1925. Schafer Creek was one of the few sites in a region noted for its rocky narrow canyons that had the water, building material, and pasture necessary to sustain the facility. The oldest extant building is the log combination office/mess hall, constructed in 1928. A ranger’s house, built in 1933, follows the regional office’s standardized plans and resembles the ranger’s dwelling at Big Prairie. The corral complex, which includes a barn, hay shed, and tack shed, reflects the importance of pack animals to the back country. In 1932, the USFS built an airfield. When Congress authorized the Great Bear Wilderness in 1978, it specifically allowed Schafer Airfield to continue operating for the public. Nevertheless, the USFS uses pack trains to deliver and supply the historic station and guard stations in the Middle Fork, following the same trails used by early rangers and firefighters.

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