Fish Lake Guard Station

From Lane Co Oregon

Outpost to the wilderness

History of the Fish Lake Guard Station

Fish Lake has a long and interesting history. In the late l850's, Andrew Wiley wanted to transport supplies from the Corvallis/Sweet Home area to the Idaho gold fields while avoiding the northern route (the Barlow Road). He found a more direct route that follows today's Highway 20, passing by Fish Lake and then on to Sisters.

Wiley tried to interest the public in his undertaking, but failed. He then decided to construct the road himself, paying for it by charging tolls. Construction started on what became the Santiam Wagon Road in 1870. It. was completed as far as Fish Lake by 1874.

A year later the road had reached Sisters and eventually went as far as the Idaho border. Way Stations were constructed along the route. By far the most elaborate and popular was the one at Fish Lake. At one time it consisted of a large hotel and several barns.

In the 1880's, the Wagon Road Company suffered from financial problems and the grant was bought by T. Egerton Hogg, a railroad promoter. Even though considerable grading was done and some rails were laid by Chinese laborers, the undertaking never was a functioning railroad. In the 1890ts, the roadbed was used most frequently for hauling wool from eastern Oregon to the woolen mills located in Brownsville.

Fish Lake remained in private ownership until around the turn of the century. In 1905 it became part of the Western Oregon Forest Reserve. When the Forest Service was established under the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1909, Fish Lake became part of the Santiam Forest. It was an administrative site, and Forest Service personnel lived there during the summer field season. It was still very popular, and the Santiam Forest Supervisor, C.C. Hall, loved to stay at the cabin provided for him.

In the late 1920's and 1930's, Fish Lake became the main dispatching point for fire control in the Santiam Forest. When the Santiam and Cascade Forests were combined, Fish Lake became part of the Willamette National Forest. It has remained in use as a summer Guard Station to this day.

Fish Lake dries up and turns into a meadow in the summer months and has been used for pasturing our the U.S. Forest Service's pack and saddle stock. Winter months are spent in Hells Canyon with the Wallowa Whitman National Forest stock. Horses and mules are used by the Forest Service work in the wilderness and back country. They have also been used in rescue missions in conjunction with search and rescue missions.

When the trails are relatively free of snow, trail crew personnel are packed into the Wilderness to do maintenance. A federal packer hauls in the crews food, tents, and camping equipment into pre-determined areas, a returning in 10 days to bring out their gear. The trail crew then hikes in on foot and clears trail as they go.

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