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The Williamson Valley Road Series is a Friends of Morgan Ranch Nature Park history project. Even numbered caches are on the E side of the Rd & odd on the W for 44 mi. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU WORK 1 SIDE OF THE ROAD AT A TIME. Please pick up trash so the neighborhood trash-pickers are not drawn to the location. Be Prepared- No Services, No Cell.
WALNUT CREEK RANGER & RESEARCH STATION The Walnut Creek Ranger Station was established in 1908, when the Prescott Forest Reserve became the Prescott National Forest. The US Forest Service purchased Charles Allen’s 120-acre homestead near Camp Hualapai, previously William Denny’s home. A station served the area until the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) rebuilt it. Bill Koogler, the ranger from 1937 to 1951. The CCC set up a tent camp at Walnut Creek in 1933. They finished building the Walnut Creek ranger’s residence, a multipurpose building, and a barn in 1937. In 1939, CCC Camp F-79 was officially recognized as a seasonal camp. The camp closed in 1941, when the men left to prepare for World War II. Bill Koogler’s first wife, Mary, and their daughter Jane lived at the ranger station. Horses, Star and Marty, were purchased from the ORO’s Green Cattle Company, located west of Walnut Creek. The children, including their brother David, spent time in the ranger’s office learning to read maps as well as books about plants and animals. After Bill Koogler became a widower, he married Bernice Roalstad, a widow, in 1945. Her daughter Felicite tells how her “happy family of seven” spent their days. “Twinkles the dog rode on the back of Bill’s saddle while repairing fences, counting cattle, checking phone lines, and marking timber to harvest. Jane and I rode on many of these jobs with him.” After the Walnut Creek Ranger District was consolidated with the Chino Valley Ranger District in 1980, the station’s name was changed to the Walnut Creek Work Center. Employees were stationed there as needed. By 1995, the Walnut Creek rangers were working out of an office in Chino Valley; therefore, the station/center was essentially abandoned by 1996. In 1993, the Walnut Creek Ranger Station, also known as the Walnut Creek Work Center, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its association with the development of the US Forest Service and the federal response to the Depression in Arizona between the years 1929 and 1942. The house and barn, built by the CCC, are significant because they embody a distinctive style of architecture developed by the US Forest Service during the Depression. In 1999, what remained of the ranger station was transformed into the Walnut Creek Center for Education and Research. The Prescott National Forest signed a lease agreement with WCCER partners Yavapai College, Northern Arizona University, Sharlot Hall Museum, and Prescott College. Researchers, students, and public visitors use the 250-acre site of Arizona uplands and riparian gallery forest each year to learn about ecology, biology, geology, and cultural history. Arcadia Publication's, Williamson Valley Road
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