Lake of the Woods Ranger Station, Ranger station in Fremont-Winema National Forest, Klamath County, Oregon, United States
Lake of the Woods Ranger Station is a complex of eight buildings constructed between 1937 and 1939 in a forested area overlooking a lake in Klamath County, Oregon. The structures use horizontal boards, wood shingles, and natural stone, with a central office building featuring knotty-pine walls and a large stone fireplace, along with ranger residences, a crew house, a garage, and a barn built from peeled logs.
The ranger station was built from 1937 to 1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, an employment program during the Great Depression. These stations served as bases for forest workers in remote areas and helped with fire protection and resource management in forest reserves originally established in 1898.
The open pine tree logo cutouts on the gables, common to Forest Service buildings of the 1930s, mark the compound as federal forest land; the center tree on the office gable is larger than the two flanking it. The office interior keeps fluted knotty-pine paneling and a stone fireplace with a wooden mantel.
The ranger station sits at about 5,000 feet elevation near Lake of the Woods and is easily accessible from Oregon Route 140, with parking available near the buildings. The site can be explored on foot, and the old office building serves as a visitor center during summer months with exhibits about forest history and work.
A barn structure was built from peeled logs with a gambrel roof, standing out distinctly from the other buildings in its rustic character. This unusual construction method shows the practical craftsmanship of forest workers who used materials readily available on site.
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