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The Jack Creek Guard Station is significant because it is an excellent example of a popularized vernacular architectural style for typical early Forest Service overnight cabins. It is representative of structures associated with early Forest Service administrative activities and is also associated with an individual of local importance who contributed significantly to local history.
The cabin was built in 1933-1934 by Evan John Williams, Encampment District Ranger. ''Evy'' Williams served his entire Forest Service career on the Medicine Bow National Forest. He entered service May 24, 1916 and retired December 29, 1950. He began work during the era when Forest Rangers spent weeks out in the woods, isolated from civilization, riding horseback or hiking to administer their duties. It was during this era that Evy Williams built the Jack Creek overnight cabin as a Forest administrative camp.
The single room log overnight cabin was constructed from a standard Forest Service plan. Its styling--of sawn logs with half-dovetail corners, milled lumber framing, wood shake, gabled roof, and deep, snow-protected porch--is typical of Forest Service guard stations from its era. It is typed as the Rocky Mountain Cabin style, a vernacular log cabin style popularized in the West by the Forest Service
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