North Cascades

STEWARDSHIP OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN:
GOVERNMENT IN THE NORTH CASCADES

UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE ERA

Guard Stations: Skagit District
Mineral Park - Marble Creek - Bacon Creek

The Skagit District, a considerably larger area than the Stehekin District, had nearly a dozen secondary guard stations situated along major drainages.

Two of these, Mineral Park and Marble Creek, were located along the Cascade River and outside the boundaries of today's park.

Beyond the district station at Backus, the first guard station encountered along the Skagit River was at Bacon Creek. By 1913 a ranger station here was delineated on USFS maps. [37] Although documentation suggests it was still in operation in 1926, by 1931 the station no longer appeared on forest maps. [38] Upstream from Bacon Creek, the USFS established a ranger station near the west bank of Goodell Creek. Undoubtedly this station was also short-lived as it appeared on a 1913 WNF map but not on subsequent forest maps. In 1937 USFS focus shifted upstream to Newhalem. The USFS had tentative plans ". . . to provide for the eventual construction of [a] new ranger station site along the east bank on the lower end of Goodell Creek . . ." [39] This new headquarters station at Newhalem was to replace the Backus Ranger Station. In 1938 the forest supervisor recommended the construction of an office at Newhalem that could provide, at minimum, offices of considerable size, an exhibit space, and two rooms for use as bachelor quarters. [40] Because by this time Seattle City Light owned all of the land in this narrow section of the valley, they selected a "suitable" lot for use by the USFS. These plans never materialized, however, and Backus remained the district's headquarters.