P a g e 5 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r THE TAR SHACK In the later years of the homestead movement, when more goods were available via rail, many homestead shacks were built of milled 2 X 4's covered with tar paper. Heavy paper often covered the interior walls to keep out drafts. Interior furnishings were minimal. A small stove provided for heat and cooking, with an attachment in the chimney that could be used to bake bread. A few chairs, a fold-down bed, and a table rounded out the necessities. For those who hoped to prove-up and move on, these structures sufficed. For those destined to stay, a gable-roof story and half structure might be added as soon as funds allowed. This display can be seen at The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. Photos by Jolene EwertHintz MOOSE CREEK RANGER STATION The Moose Creek Ranger Station in the Ten Mile drainage west of Helena was constructed early in the 20th Century. Evidence from old maps and records, and a pencil date exposed on a wall during restoration work, indicate that the ranger station was built in 1908. Agency correspondence indicates that the station was fully operating by 1910. Walter Derrick was the ranger in 1911 but by 1919 he had been replaced by D.H. Lewis, who kept this job until 1928 or 1929 when the Moose Creek and McClellan Ranger districts were combined. During the 1930s, Ranger Bert Goodman was in charge of the facility. The building is very similar to other early Forest Service-built ranger and guard stations in Region 1, such as the Burnt Hollow RS on the neighboring Deer Lodge NF. The building was intended to be both economic and functional, with office, kitchen, sleeping and storage space. Site plans dated to 1921 shows a barn and tool shed on the north side of Moose Creek, but nothing except a grassy meadow is found there today. Moose Creek functioned as a guard station and, in the 1930s, served as the access point to a lookout atop Colorado Mountain (which was removed by the Forest Service in the 1960s). Today, the site is comprised of the old ranger station, root cellar and garage. The Moose Creek RS played a role in the CCC-operated Camp Rimini, located directly across the road in what is now Moose Creek Campground. Camp Rimini (or Camp A-76) was opened on June 11, 1939, durPhoto by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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