Willow Prairie Cabin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Willow Prairie Cabin
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| Location | Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest |
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| Nearest city | Butte Falls, Oregon |
| Built | 1924 |
| Architectural style | Rustic forest cabin |
| NRHP reference No. | 00000469 |
| Added to NRHP | 2000 |
The Willow Prairie Cabin is a simple one-room cabin found in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in western Oregon, United States. A road building team constructed it in 1924. After the road was finished, the United States Forest Service started using the cabin. It housed firefighters who watched over the nearby forest. Today, the Forest Service rents the cabin to people who want to visit and enjoy nature. The Willow Prairie Cabin is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it is an important historical site.
Contents
A Look Back: Cabin's Story
The Willow Prairie Cabin was built in 1924. It was made by a Forest Service road crew. They were building a highway from Butte Falls to Fish Lake. The forest roads were not very good back then. It was too hard for workers to travel from Butte Falls to the distant Willow Prairie work site every day. So, the road crew used the Willow Prairie Cabin as their main camp. They stayed there from 1924 until the highway was finished in 1926.
When the road was done, the Forest Service started using the cabin for a new purpose. It became a place for fire crews to stay. These crews were in charge of watching the Willow Prairie area for fires. In the 1950s, the Forest Service built the Willow Prairie Campground next to the cabin. In the early 1990s, the Forest Service also created 19 miles of horse trails in the area. In 1991, the Willow Prairie Campground became a horse camp. At the same time, the cabin was opened for people to rent.
This simple log structure is a great example of an early Forest Service wilderness cabin. It shows how these cabins were built and used. Because of its old-fashioned style and its special history as an early Forest Service guard station, the Willow Prairie Cabin was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Cabin Features: What It's Like
The Willow Prairie Cabin is in a quiet part of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. It sits on the western side of the Cascade Mountains. The cabin is about 4,300 feet (1,311 meters) high. Tall evergreen trees surround the cabin. It is also near Willow Prairie meadow. This is a big wetland in the mountains with several beaver ponds.
The Willow Prairie Cabin is a one-room log building. It has a roof made of wooden shakes. There are two windows that open like shutters, but they do not have glass. A wood-burning stove keeps the cabin warm. Inside, you will find simple furniture. There is a table and chairs, plus two basic beds. The cabin also has counter space for making food. You can hang lanterns there too.
Visitors need to bring their own lanterns or lights. They also need a portable camp stove, cooking pots, forks and spoons, and bedding. The Willow Prairie Cabin can hold up to four people. You can rent it any time of the year. The rental fee is $15 per night. This money helps to keep the cabin in good shape.
Outside the cabin, there is a picnic table and a rock fire pit. Firewood is usually available at the cabin. However, visitors should bring their own firewood or another way to heat, just in case. A toilet building is located close to the cabin. In the summer, you can get drinking water from a hand pump. It is about 400 feet (122 meters) from the cabin.
Fun Things to Do
There are more than nineteen miles of horse trails around the Willow Prairie Cabin. Because of this, horseback riding is a very popular activity here. The cabin is right next to the Willow Prairie campground and horse camp. The campground has ten campsites. Each site has a picnic table and a fire pit. There are also four corrals for horses, each 12 feet by 12 feet.
The campground has two toilet buildings. You can also get drinking water from a hand-pumped well. There are two troughs for watering horses. To protect the beautiful Willow Prairie meadow, riders must stay on the marked trails. Horses must also be kept in a corral when they are not being ridden. The Forest Service provides a trailer for horse manure. You must clean the corrals before you leave.
Besides horseback riding, visitors can also enjoy camping or hunting during the right seasons. Bird watching is another fun activity in the summer. Some of the birds you might see in the Willow Prairie meadow and nearby forest include sandhill cranes, great blue herons, Canada geese, red-tailed hawks, and many kinds of ducks. You might also spot Deer and elk near the meadow. In the winter, the area is great for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling.
Getting There
The Willow Prairie Cabin is about 17 miles (27 km) southeast of Butte Falls, Oregon. It is also about 40 miles (64 km) east of Medford, Oregon. You can reach the cabin by taking County Road 821 (the Butte Falls-Fish Lake Highway). Then, turn onto Forest Service Road 3738 and Forest Road 3735.
Images for kids
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Willow Prairie meadow
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Cabin picnic area
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Shutter-style window
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Rustic cabin interior
