Siskiyou Smokejumper Base - Cave Junction, OR - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form from 2006 highlights the significance of this former smokejumper base and tells us:

The Siskiyou Smokejumper Base is a collection of wood frame buildings and concrete warmup pads that recall trends in federally legislated efforts to protect and conserve vital timberlands prone to catastrophic fires. Arising as a result of the 1924 Clarke-McNary Act that supplied financial support for conservation measures and fire suppression, the Siskiyou Base served as an early center for United States Forest Service parachutists trained in quick-response, back-country firefighting. For much of the period of significance, from 1945-1956, the core of the facility, consisting of four warm-up pads, parachute loft, administrative building, storage shed, and fire pump house served as an airbase for transporting and supporting smokejumpers. The facility effectively captures the multiple functions endemic to smokejumping. The centerpiece of the entire complex is the parachute loft. This distinctive, mission-specific building housed all of the necessary functions for parachutists that included parachute storage, repair, and preparation, dry-food storage, loading docks, administrative offices, and a dispatch room. Reflective of the early developmental stage of Forest Service smokejumping, the facility helped to train and set up other bases along the Pacific Coast including Redding, California. Due to the relative rarity and integrity of the facility's property types and its role in the broader development of smokejumping along the Pacific Coast, the base is significant under National Register Criteria A and C at the state level.

There are eight contributing buildings and structures that make up this historic district:

Buildings
Parachute Loft (1949) - Historic Contributing
Storage Shed (1950) - Historic Contributing
Fire pump building (1950) - Historic Contributing
Administration Office (1936) - Historic Contributing

Structures (Aviation Tarmac Area)
North warmup pad (1945) - Historic Contributing
Center warmup pad (1950) - Historic Contributing
South warmup pad (1946) - Historic Contributing
Ready pad (1954) - Historic Contributing

This outdoor museum contains many interpretive displays that form a self-guided walking tour and brochures of the base layout can be obtained at a bulletin board near the visitor parking area. Here at the base are also a Moon Tree offspring and an official Oregon Heritage Tree. This place is worth the visit!

Street address: Smokejumper Way Cave Junction, OR County / Borough / Parish: Josephine County Year listed: 2006 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture, Conservation, Politics/Government Periods of significance: 1950-1974, 1925-1949 Historic function: Government Current function: Transportation Privately owned?: no Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

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