| Legal -- NE ¼ of the NE ¼ of the SW ¼ of Section 17, Township 01 South, Range 37 East, Willamette Meridian;
UTM Datum NAD83, Zone 11 T, 0405884m East 5036558m North USGS Map Drumhill Ridge, Oregon 1964(1983)
Access:
From Interstate Highway 84, Exit 243, travel east on Forest Service Road 31 (aka Mt. Emily Road., aka Summit Road) for approximately 13.0 miles to Forest Service Road 3113 and turn northwest onto FS 3113. Continue northwest for approximately 1.0 mile. The Summit Guard Station Complex is located west of the road and the datum is located near the center of the complex.
Setting:
The site is located along the flat narrow crest of Drumhill Ridge overlooking East Meacham Creek to the southwest. The guard station is surrounded by patchy mixed conifer forest and subalpine meadows. The ridge is the erosional remnant of a broad basalt plateau that has been dissected by numerous tributaries of the Umatilla River. Basalt bedrock is exposed in places.
The site includes a two-story guard house residence (Umatilla NF Building No. 1023), a one-story residential structure (Umatilla NF Building No. 1305), a standing outbuilding (Umatilla NF Building No. 2405), and a collapsed outbuilding (Umatilla NF Building No. 1511). The one-story residence has previously been deemed not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and is not included in this evaluation. The site also includes a flag pole, split-rail fence, and dirt driveways. The complex is still in use by the Umatilla National Forest and was in use as housing for a crew of wild land firefighters during the evaluation.
Summit Guard House (Building 1023):
The summit Guard House (constructed in 1933) is located within the Umatilla National Forest. The structure lies on a raised concrete/stone foundation, and is a one and a half story side-gabled, platform (western) frame that measures 24’ x 30’. The style in not remarkable (Folk National and very similar to the Cape Cod or Colonial Revival style popular in the 1930s), and was constructed for purely utilitarian functions.
The roof mass is steeply pitched and clad with raised seam metal panels; the central chimney explodes just off-center of the roof ridge to roughly 36” above the roofline; soffits are closed and eaves extend ever so slightly. There are two wall dormers; the rear elevation dormer features a shed roof style, the front façade dormer is gabled like the main roof mass and projects ca. 36” from the eaves to the ground level; the lower portion of this dormer also caps the enclosed front porch/entryway.
Exterior walls are clad with wood shingles (shakes), then, directly above the half-story level, vertical wood weatherboarding is used within the gables. All windows appear to be original 6-over-1 double hung sash, with the exception of the pantry area to the rear of the kitchen,(which are solid pane), and the dormer windows that are also solid pane with decorative mutins; (the window in the rear dormer sheds light on the stairwell in the half-story area, while the window in the front dormer merely sheds light into the attic).
The interior of the house has retained much of its original integrity, although modifications have been made; linoleum in the kitchen, hall, dining room area, and bath, and 4’ x 8’ x 1/8 inch wall paneling, popular in the late 1960s through mid-1970s, in the dining room and living room. All window and door hardware is original; all interior doors are original wood, five panel-styled doors throughout. Original hardwood flooring is in the ground floor bedroom and all rooms on the half-story level, including the stairs. Interior walls, with the exception of the dining room and living room, are clad with wallboard/sheet rock; there seems to be no evidence of lath and plaster.
Summit Guard House Warehouse (Building 2405):
The Summit warehouse is nearly square in configuration and measures 30’ x 24’. The roof has a moderate to steep pitch and is clad with wood shingles; rafter tails “punch” through the drop siding just below the open eaves, that overhang ever so slightly; the structure rests entirely on a raised, concrete foundation.
There are a total of eight windows, three individual banks at the gabled elevations, and two each on the longitudinal sides that are positioned at each side of the full, batten, sliding wood doors; the glass panes are broken up into six panes with a decorative muntin/mullion configuration.
Summit Guard House Garage (Building 1511):
This structure was recently destroyed by heavy snow load (90% destroyed). The roof has fallen into the structure and the walls have been pressed outward. The structure is unstable and lacks integrity. |
