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Show OMB No. 10024-001 8 NP5 Form 10·900·a Utah WordPerfect 5.1 Format (Re-,ised Feb. 1993) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. 8 Page 4 Stockmore Ranger Station, Tabiona area, Duchesne County, UT Narrative Statement of Significance 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 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 pr amise 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.2 Whether any gold was actually 1A Site Inventory Sheet for the Duchesne District of the Ashley National Forest dated 1/25177, provides a 1914 construction date, while a site inventory sheet. date December 6, 1976, written by Alma Joel Frandsen. the District Forest Ranger, lists a c.1918 construction date. 2Elden R. Wilcken, col. "Historic Place Names. Ashley National Forest." Memo to D.C. Rowland , Branch Chief. Forest History: High Uintas Primitive Area VIS plan, 1960. From information obatined from George H. Wilcken. an early pioneer and homesteader in the area. See continuation sheet |
