North Cascades

STEWARDSHIP OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN:
GOVERNMENT IN THE NORTH CASCADES

UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE ERA

Guard Stations: Skagit District
Roland

Across the river from Big Beaver Creek on Roland Point was the Roland Ranger Station, named for Tommy Rowland, an early upper Skagit settler and prospector. The USFS took over one of the buildings abandoned by Rowland. Believed to be an old tool shed, the structure sat on a flat near the river's edge about a half mile from the main homestead, which was sited up the hill. Rowland also had cleared a field nearby and in the 1930s a USFS crew built a barn in the clearing. [52] Still shown as the Roland Ranger Station on a 1942 Metsker map of Whatcom County, this station no longer stands, as it was inundated by Ross Lake waters by 1947. [53]

Early view of Roland Ranger Station, prior to construction of Ross Dam, n. d.
(Thompson Collection, Washtucna, Washington)