The Old "Tack Room"
... a witness to change
This simple frame building - listed on the National Register of Historic Places - is one of the oldest Forest Service structures in the country. Known for many years as the "tack room," it has served a variety of purposes since its construction in 1911.
After President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed much of the Applegate River watershed as a National Forest in 1907, Forest Service rangers arrived to manage its resources. During the scorching summer of 1910, Ranger Horace Whitney made do with a miner's long-abandoned log cabin for shelter at nearby Star Gulch. The following spring, he returned with his new bride and found "two carpenters just completing a one-room, combined office and living quarters in the middle of the alfalfa patch on the District's new compound. Whitney's one-room building - the one standing before you now - was the first administrative headquarters for the new Applegate Ranger District.
The little building proved too cramped to serve as a year-round home. During the next few summers, the District Ranger and his family preferred to "rough it" in a tent; in the winter, they resided in town. In 1914 a two-story ranger's residence was built on the slope across the Upper Applegate Road. This home also served as the office until the Civilian Conservation Corps built a new ranger station in the 1930s (visible directly across the road from you).
Because of its small size, the original building - demoted from "office" to storage shed - was easily moved to several locations within the station compound over the years. From Word War I until the mid-1940s, long-time District Ranger Lee Port kept his saddles and other horse "tack" in it. Long after the day of the horse-mounted ranger had passed, the structure held tree-marking paint and other supplies to lay out the District's timber sales.
The Applegate Ranger District as witnessed a great deal of change since 1910, when a ranger spent most of his time riding the range in the high country, building trail, and fighting fire. In a small but real way, the old "tack room" has been part of that transformation. Today it serves as a tangible reminder of the early years and of the many changes that have come to the area since then.
Photo Captions:
The one-room ranger's office, built during 1911 "in the middle of the alfalfa patch," is shown in this 1914 photograph immediately to the right of the two tents. (RRNF Historic Photograph Collection)
Newly completed in this 1914 view, the comfortable bungalow-style home served as the ranger's residence for many years. (RRNF Historic Photograph Collection) |