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Oregon Historic Sites Database

address: historic name:Grey, Zane, Cabin
Galice vcty, Josephine County current/other names:ORR110-1341
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr:Located on BLM Land along the Wild & Scenic Rogue River. No road access or street address: Located on the north bank of the Rogue River in T33 R 9w SE 1/4 section 18. 14 miles NW of Galice, Oregon twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:
resource type:Building height (stories):1.0 total elig resources:3 total inelig resources:11
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1926 second date: date indiv listed:06/28/2016
primary orig use: Camp orig use comments:
second orig use: Outdoor Recreation
primary style: Utilitarian prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Log: Other/Undefined siding comments:
secondary siding:
plan type: architect:Zane Grey/Claude Bardon
builder:
comments/notes:
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
NR date listed: 06/28/2016
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Zane Grey Cabin is located along the eastern border of Curry County, Oregon in township 33 south, range 9 west, section 18 of the Willamette Meridian. The cabin site, which is not accessed by road, is located deep within a forested canyon carved through the Klamath Range by the Rogue River. The 32-acre site consists of a compound of buildings, structures and landscape features located on a patented placer mining claim on Winkle Bar, an alluvial terrace within a horseshoe bend of the Rogue River. Of the 15 structures on the site, three are contributing features, while the remainder are considered non-contributing. The three contributing structures include a single-pen log cabin built by Zane Grey in 1926, a circa-1925 wooden boat constructed for and used by Zane Grey to navigate to the cabin, and an extensive dry-stacked stone retaining wall possibly constructed by 19th Century Chinese miners that Zane Grey incorporated into his landscape design. The 11 non-contributing structures are mostly modern, balloon framed structures including two ranch-style residences, a garage and several utility buildings constructed after the property was purchased from the heirs of Zane Grey in 1963. Included in the non-contributing structures are two reconstructions of guest cabins constructed by Zane Grey. For a general layout of the site, please refer to the site map.
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The site known as the Zane Grey cabin is eligible for listing under Criterion (b), as it is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; specifically, the author Zane Grey (1872-1939). The period of significance covers from 1925, when Zane Grey acquired the property, to 1935, after which time Grey no longer visited the cabin. This 32-acre site which includes the Zane Grey cabin, a circa 1925 wooden river boat used by Zane Grey to access the remote property, and an existing 1500’ long dry-stacked stone fence that Zane Grey incorporated into his landscape after he acquired the property. While this cabin did not serve as Zane Grey’s primary residence, it was built by, and used by Grey as a retreat from 1926 to 1935. During this time Grey authored more than 20 books and numerous magazine articles, some of which were either written at the cabin, used the lower Rogue River for a setting, or were inspired by his time at the cabin and along the lower Rogue River.
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:Vanderbilt University
Historical Society:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:
Bibliography:
Arman, Florence with Glen Wooldridge 1982 The Rogue; A River to Run. Grants Pass, OR: Wildwood Press Atwood, Kay 1978 Illahe: The Story of Settlement in the Rogue River Canyon. Ashland, OR Beckham, Stephen Dow 1978 Cultural Resource Overview of the Siskiyou National Forest. USDA Siskiyou National Forest Business Wire 2005 Longtime Levi Strauss & Co. leader Walter A. Haas, Jr. dies. Cooper, Loran J. 1939 A History of the Siskiyou National Forest. Diller, J.S. 1914 Mineral Resources of Southwestern Oregon. Bulletin 546. Washington:Department of the Interior USGS Survey Dorband, Roger 2006 The Rogue; Portrait of a River. Grants Pass, Oregon:Raven Studios Fletcher, Roger L. 2007 Drift Boats and River Dories; Their History, Design, Construction, and Use. Mechanicsburg, PA:Stackpole Books General Land Office 1911 Survey Notes of T.33 south, Range 9 west. 1929 Mineral Survey No. 844 Field Notes. Winkle Bar Placer Grey, Zane 1928 Tales of Freshwater Fishing. New York: Harper and Brothers. Gruber, Frank Zane Grey: A Biography by Frank Gruber. Frank Gruber and Zane Grey, Inc. Jones, John W. and Elizabeth Budy 2001 Cultural Resource Survey and Historic Overview of the Kelsey/Whiskey Project Area. Lands North of the Wild Rogue. McArthur, Lewis A. 1992 Oregon Geographic Names. Sixth Edition. Portland, Oregon:Oregon Historical Society Press Mining & Scientific Press, 1909 Volume 103 San Francisco, CA Parks, H.M. and A.M.Swartley 1916 The Mineral Resources of Oregon. Handbook of the Mining Industry of Oregon (Vol. 2, No. 4, December 1916). Portland, OR:Oregon Bureau of Mines and Geology. Rivers, Cole M. 1979 Memories of Characters of the Lower Rogue River Canyon. Medford, OR:ODFW State of Oregon 2008 State of Oregon Cultural Resource Site Record. OR110-1341. Wheeler, Joe 1975 Zane Grey’s Impact Upon American Life and Letters. Ph.D. dissertation, Vanderbilt University. Wheeler, Joe 2008 Personal communication with BLM archeologists Lisa Rice (Brennan).