The Rainier National Forest Districts

Columbia
National Forest

Rainier
National Forest

GPNF Website

Randle Ranger District

When Mount Rainier Forest Reserve was created in 1897, over 50 settlers had already established homesteads in the Cowlitz River valley, within the reserve. The small town of Randle had emerged in the 1890s as a center of commerce for the pioneer families. The town was named for James L. Randle, its first postmaster, who had settled there in 1886. Randle’s son Charles, hired initially as a ranger under the Department of the Interior, was the first Forest Service ranger stationed at Randle to oversee the Cowlitz District. In 1906, Randle transferred to the Wind River area and was replaced by Alfred B. Conrad, from the Nisqually District. With help from Nisqually Ranger William McCullough, Conrad built the Silver Creek Ranger Station in 1907. The cabin became headquarters for the newly established Randle District in the same year. From 1908 until 1933, the district was part of Rainier National Forest.

Administrative duties also included the inspection of homestead claims, mining claims, grazing allotments, and timber sales. Most of the prospecting and mineral claim development was in the McCoy Creek area. Sheep allotments were established on ridges burned by the fire of 1902, including Juniper Ridge, Blue Lake Ridge, East Canyon Ridge, and Hamilton Buttes.

The earliest timber sales were for cedar in the Cispus River valley. Cedar trees were felled, cut into shingle bolts, and floated downstream to mill locations. The first large commercial sale was made in 1909 to the Metcalf Shingle Company from Kelso. The company established a camp near Tower Rock Ranger Station, and continued to cut cedar in the area for several years. For a short time, the Cispus Ranger District, with a staff of four men headquartered at Tower Rock, was administered separately.

In 1918, over 30 percent of the district burned in a tremendous wildfire known as the Cispus Burn. The small body of rangers and guards could do little to halt the fire’s advance. Army troops were sent from Fort Lewis to combat the blaze. Rains eventually put the fire out in the fall of the year.

In 1933 the Randle District was added to Columbia National Forest. John Kirkpatrick retired the following year, and was replaced briefly by Harvey Welty, who had been the Ranger at Trout Lake. Melvin M. Lewis, a Randle native, took the job from 1935 to 1945. When Lewis retired, Harold Chriswell became District Ranger.

Packwood Ranger District

When Mount Rainier Forest Reserve was created in 1897, the only community in the upper Cowlitz valley above Randle was then known as Sulphur Springs. In 1907, the Cowlitz District of the Rainier National Forest was split into two smaller districts. One of them became the Sulphur Springs District. Harry Cunningham was appointed as the first Ranger of the District in 1908, initially making his headquarters in a cabin on the homestead of Ed Dixon, north of present-day Packwood. Cunningham built the first ranger station at the Skate Creek administrative site in 1909.

The next year, the town of Lewis was established across the Cowlitz River, retaining that name until 1930, when it was changed to Packwood to avoid confusion with Fort Lewis. The Ranger District was known both as the Lewis District and Upper Cowlitz District in the years between 1910 and 1930. Until 1933, the district was part of Rainier National Forest. In 1933 it was added to Columbia National Forest.

In 1910, Jules L. Hagon was hired as Forest Guard to assist Ranger Cunningham, and was stationed all summer at the Davis Coal Mines on Summit Creek. William Sethe was hired as a Forest Guard in 1911, eventually succeeding Cunningham as Ranger four years later. Sethe retired from his position as District Ranger in 1947. His brother Fritz worked as Assistant Ranger at Wind River in the early days, and brother Herb was a Ranger at Mount Rainier National Park.

The original ranger station burned in a 1919 fire, and a new house was built. In 1923, the station was moved into an old store in the town of Lewis. This served as the Lewis Ranger Station until 1930, when an office and warehouse were built on newly acquired property at the east end of town, on the main highway. A residence was added to the complex in 1931. Until 1998, when the District consolidated with Randle, this was the site of the Packwood Ranger Station.

During the early years of the Packwood District, the principal activity was trail construction. The Skate Creek Trail, Cowlitz Pass Trail, and Johnson Creek Trail were among the earliest projects completed. A log cabin at Packwood Lake, built in 1910 for a power development company camp, became one of the first guard stations in the district. Berry Patch Guard Station, at Chambers Lake, was built in 1916. Remote Hawkeye fire lookout was the first to be built on the district, in 1927. Clear Fork Guard Station, in today’s La Wis Wis Campground, was built in 1928.

In the early 1920s, Packwood District supported 11 sheep allotments and three cattle ranges. By 1937, Packwood District maintained 411 miles of trail, 116 miles of telephone line, 10 fire lookouts, five guard stations, employed 12 Forest Guards and maintained a fine string of pack mules.

Mineral Ranger District

Mineral District initially incorporated the Puyallup and Nisqually River drainages, and was originally known as Nisqually District. William A. McCullough was the first District Ranger, appointed under the General Land Office in 1904, and serving until his retirement in 1922. McCullough administered the district from his home near Ashford. In 1906 the Ashford Addition, lying west of Mineral, was added to the Nisqually District.

The Ashford Addition, also known as Tilton District and the "Mineral Addition," was administered separately from 1913 to 1922. For several years an office in Morton was used. When again combined with Nisqually District, Tilton District Ranger Jules Hagon replaced William McCullough as ranger of the new Mineral District. Hagon continued to work from an office established in Mineral.

The district was part of Rainier National Forest until 1933, when it was added to Snoqualmie National Forest. The first official ranger station was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps near Mineral in 1934. In 1969 the district was dissolved and administration transferred to Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

The name of the district comes from the community of Mineral, indicating one of the resources of commercial importance in the early days. Four miles west of Mineral was the town of Ladd, adjacent to the Forest boundary along East Creek. Ladd was a company town, established by 1905 as the headquarters of an anthracite coal mining operation. The East Creek Mines were the largest development, with a network of tunnels extending over a mile into Forest Service lands. A massive landslide in 1919 closed the mine, which had employed 250 men during peak operation.

The first commercial timber sale of note was underway in December, 1910, along the Nisqually River. This was a shingle bolt sale, where cutters took cedar trees that grew close to the river, bucking them into sections called bolts. When winter rains created high water, the bolts were floated downstream to a shingle mill. In the 1920s, railroad logging was first undertaken in the West Fork Tilton River drainage.

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