Stockmore Ranger Station

The Stockmore Ranger Station, built in c.19141 in the Ashley National Forest, is an extant reminder of the early days of the Forest Service in Utah. After the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, the Division of Forestry was formed for the management of the land and timber sales. The United States Forest Service, as we now know it, was officially established by President Theodore Roosevelt on July 1, 1905, being placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture. Rangers were required to closely monitor the land, but because of the remoteness of the forests, buildings were acquired or constructed to house the rangers and to establish a federal government presence on the land. The Stockmore Ranger Station is one of the earliest remaining structures on the Ashley National Forest built specifically by the Forest Service to house a ranger. It is still in good condition and has seen little alteration from its original conception. For this reason it is a good example of the facilities in which these overseers of the forests lived during the first few decades of the Forest Service’s existence.

The Stockmore Ranger Station is located on 11000 North off Warm Springs Drive and Highway 35 north of Hanna, Utah, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#99001293) on November 12, 1999.

The Stockmore Ranger Station is named after the town of Stockmore which was situated a 1/4 mile to the east of the ranger station site. The town, abandoned before the station was constructed, supposedly received its name from the combined surnames of two men, Stockman and More, who perpetrated a hoax on the premise that gold was discovered in the area. A prospector from the Klondike was hired by Stockman and More to take some gold nuggets to Salt Lake City and let them “accidentally” be noticed by men in the saloons. The prospector was then to admit that he had found the gold in the Stockmore area (which he really had not). What followed was a small rush of prospectors to the area. Stockman and More were prepared to “sell” lots to prospectors on land which they did not actually own. The hoax, however, was discovered in November 1906, when two prospectors, George Wilcken and John Toops, went to Vernal to file homestead claims and a Federal Land Officer overheard the two men talking about the tremendous growth of the town. The officer questioned the two and checked his maps, but found no listing of the town. The two homesteaders returned to Stockmore and reported to the election judges (elections for Mayor and Marshall were being held that day) that the town was not a legal town. After the elections a large party was held and word quickly spread about the ruse. Stockman and More, upon learning that their plot had been discovered, slipped out of town that night. One of them (the history does not mention which one) was later apprehended in Montana, the other was never heard of after that. At one time the town boasted a blacksmith shop, a livery stable, a hotel and cafe, a boarding house, a general store, four saloons, and a number of houses. The town was quickly abandoned, and by 1915 the only trace left was the Stockmore school and the Forest Service ranger station. Whether any gold was actually discovered in Stockmore is not mentioned. Although the ranger station and buildings were not constructed until well after the town’s demise, they are the only reminders that it ever existed.

The administrative site where the Stockmore ranger station is located was withdrawn from the Uinta and Ouray Indian Reservation and approved to receive a ranger station in 1908, the year that the Ashley National Forest was established. The site was immediately claimed for settlement by a mixed-blood Indian. During this period, half-breeds were terminated from Ute Indian Tribal roles. The Department of the Interior did not intercede and the site was sold to Lawrence A. Pike, although he did not actually receive a patent until July 31,1961. The ranger station was still constructed although the Forest Service did not receive the land until after October 2,1962, when the land was condemned. After problems arose through back taxes and the condemnation notice through Duchesne County, the title was cleared and quitclaim-deeded to the Forest Service.

Ranger and guard stations were used as work and living centers for forest crews who managed and presided over Forest Service lands. They were built mainly as a convenience before the automobile became common transportation because the Forest Service lands and work areas were so far from the personnel’s homes. The buildings and sites were also used as social centers for other people such as sheep herders and miners who worked in the vicinity. By approximately the 1950s, a majority of the ranger stations were being located in urban settings for convenience as the Forest Service went to a more centralized administrative plan, although some of the ranger and guard stations were, and still are used for seasonal management of the forests.

Forest Service administrative sites fell into two categories, ranger stations and guard stations, although the application of the terms has blurred somewhat over the years. Basically, ranger stations were larger than guard stations and were used as a year-’round base for the Ranger, his staff, and oftentimes his family. Buildings on a ranger station site might include a dwelling, an office (these two might be combined in the same building as in this case), a warehouse, and other buildings used for maintenance and storage of animals and vehicles. The large ranger complexes demonstrated administrative complexity and implied permanence on the site. Guard stations, on the other hand, housed from two to four crew members who came from various parts of the state and country, and were placed in remote areas of the forest where the crews worked during the summer. Since they were used for just a portion of the year, guard station sites met basic requirements, usually only consisting of a bunk house, garage or barn, and perhaps a storage shed. Because of the heavy snowfall during the winter, the guard stations, and some ranger stations, were only occupied seasonally, usually between May and October, or until snow prevented travel on the roads. Stockmore was used to house the district ranger until the c. 1950s when it was converted to seasonal use for forest crews.

Forest Service administrative buildings have not been systematically researched on a national level, nor does any consistent typology exist, mainly because of the variation in types and styles up until the 1930s. At this time, the National Forest Service adopted official plans for nationwide implementation. Using various means, including the Civilian Conservation Corps, Forest Service employees, and private contractors and individuals, the Forest Service was able to construct a large number of buildings during the 1930s and early 1940s.

These buildings are generally of wood-frame construction, with various styles of wood siding, and concrete or stone foundations. Several different styles of guard stations were designed, along with accompanying outbuildings which included barns, garages, storage sheds, and large warehouses. Although often thought of as being rather spartan, ranger stations could be quite homey and colorful. A Forest Service “Improvement Plan” describes the interior of a dwelling:

“Interior: Living-dining room and bedroom walls all finished with two coats calcimine in the following colors: Living, dining room, light tan. Bedroom walls peach, ceiling cream, bedroom light tan. Floors and wood work, cherry stain and varnish. Bath room and kitchen walls and woodwork finished with 3 coats of Nile Green enamel, two tone. Bathroom floor cherry stain and varnish, kitchen floor linoleum.”

Many of the historic Forest Service buildings are still in use and have seen little alteration, although nonhistoric alterations are becoming an increasing problem. Because their use as residences is not specifically required, some of the buildings are being used for storage, or are sitting vacant as this one is. In order to decrease the cost of maintenance, the Forest Service is opting to destroy some of the buildings, cover them with aluminum siding, or renovate them for other uses. As the number of historic guard stations decreases, the importance of understanding their place in history increases.