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Show HISTORIC SITE FORM Utah Office of Preservation CONTINUATION SHEET Site History: Stockmore Ranger Station, AS-00192, 42-0C-347 Site Withdrawal and Acquisition The Stockmore Ranger Station is about 5'X miles northwest of the small community of Hanna, and about 32 miles northwest of Duchesne. Its two historic buildings are sandwiched between Highway 35 to the north and the Duchesne River to the south. Its history as an administrative site began in late 1907 when Ranger George A. Fisher prepared a proposal to secure it as a ranger station for the Uinta NF's District 13 and as a "building 1 site for telephone station." Although it was part of Indian grazing land, Fisher claimed it was unused. The GLO withdrew the 80-acre tract (TlN, R8W, S19 and 20) as the Duchesne Ranger Station on February 8, 1908. Eight years later, the Forest Supervisor notified his superiors that its official name would change to Stockmore 2 Ranger Station, given its location adjacent to the Stockmore townsite and its distance from Duchesne. The Stockmore Ranger Station, which faced the Kamas-Duchesne Road (Highway 35) until that route was realigned, served as headquarters for the Hanna Ranger District (Uinta NF). In 1927, the district transferred to the Wasatch NF and was renamed the Grandaddy Lakes Ranger District. The Ashley NF began administering the area in 1951, an arrangement formalized in 1954. Claims to the Stockmore Ranger Station led the Secretary of the Interior to revoke its withdrawal on July 20, 1961 and the Forest Service to acquire it through a condemnation purchase. Ranger Joel Frandsen later explained the acquisition, finalized by decree dated December 30, 1963: After being withdrawn from the Indian Reservation in 1908 and improved as a Ranger Station by the Forest Service, it was claimed by a half breed Indian as a settlement when the half breeds were terminated from the Ute Indian Tribal roles [sic]. The Department of Interior would not interceed [sic] in the Forest Service behalf and a Mr. Pike became owner of the administrative site. The site was then purchased by the Forest Service through condemnation in 1962 and the title approved by the Attorney General only to find that Duchesne County had then placed the site up for sell because of back taxes when it was in Mr. Pike's ownership. Finally the County Commissioners recognizing the condemnation action had clouded the title of the property, dropped the tax sell [sic] and issued a quit claim deed to the 3 Forest Service. Site Development The Uinta NF constructed several buildings in Section 19 ofthe Stockmore Ranger Station withdrawal. The first known improvement was the ranger dwelling, which evolved in two phases. The original structure, which 1 George Fisher, "Report Upon Proposed Administrative Site," November 27, 1907," File: 2760 Withdrawals, Stockmore R. S. Administrative Site," File Room, Ashley National Forest Supervisor's Office, Vernal, Utah. location cited hereinafter as ANF File Room. 2 A. W. Jensen, Forest Supervisor, to District Forester, September 8,1916, File: "2760 Withdrawals, Stockmore R. S. Administrative Site," ANF File Room. 3 Alma Joel Frandsen, District Forest Ranger, to Forest Supervisor, 6 December 1976. Page 1 of 4 |
