Historic Flathead Forest sites placed on National Register

The Big Creek Ranger Station and the backcountry systems of buildings, trails and communication lines in the South and Middle forks of the Flathead River were designated National Historic Districts in the National Register of Historic Places during a ceremony in Helena on Jan. 23.

The Big Creek Ranger Station Historic District was established in 1908. Buildings there reflect construction dating to 1927. The buildings retain a high level of integrity and reflect typical design patterning established by Forest Service architects of the 1920s and 1930s.

The simple, pattern-book designs incorporate utilitarian emphasis on rural self-sufficiency and Craftsman-style detailing that includes gently-sloping rooflines, shingle siding, inviting porches, exposed rafters and purlins, multi-paned horizontally-banded windows.

Backcountry administrative facilities in the backcountry of the Middle and South forks of the Flathead River include the Ranger District headquarters, guard stations and the trails and communications systems that connect them.

Unlike the Forest Service’s front-country facilities, these physically isolated resources reflect the principals of limited development as it applied first to designated primitive areas established in 1931 and to the service’s own wilderness area policy in 1940.

The Forest Service built its first backcountry facilities in the South and Middle forks areas in 1906. A new cabin at the Silvertip Guard Station was built in 1965 to replace improvements lost during the 1964 Flood.

Passage of the federal Wilderness Act in 1964 ensured that the backcountry infrastructure is maintained in a manner consistent with the wilderness principles first espoused by the Forest Service in the early 1920s. The nomination includes 66 buildings, 12 structures, the connecting trials and the 45 miles of functioning ground-return phoneline with seven phones.

The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of those cultural resources deemed worthy of preservation. Although a program of the National Park Service, it is administered at the state level by each respective state.