ABOUT

Siskiyou Smokejumper Base

Smokejumpers are fire fighters that parachute from airplanes into the forest to fight forest fires that have been started by lightning in remote, mountainous regions. The idea is to get to a fire while it is small and easy for one or two fire fighters to put out. In this way they prevent fires from becoming catastrophic events that are both dangerous and expensive to put out.

The Siskiyou Smokejumper Base was established in 1943 at Cave Junction, Oregon about three years after smoke jumping first began in America. It is one of the first four smokejumper bases in American history.

The Cave Junction base began operations during World War Two when most "able bodied" men were in the military and over seas fighting battles. For this reason, the first smokejumpers at this base were conscientious objectors, mostly Mennonites.

The preliminary operations were first set up in a temporary base behind the Redwood Ranger Station in Cave Junction. This was necessary because, at that time, there was no running water, electricity, and buildings at the airport.

During the next five years, smokejumpers worked on projects to set up the base at the airport. One of the first things they built was a hangar for their observation airplane. A warm up pad and fuel tank was installed in 1945 and a watchman's cabin was set up. This cabin later became the pilot shack. A barracks was constructed in 1948 and the bath house and cook house were moved from behind the Redwood Ranger Station to the base in the same year. Construction on the parachute loft began in 1949. A training area was constructed around the same time.

The Cold War of the 1950s heightened fears that atomic weapons might cause extensive forest fires. This may be a reason for the increase in the number of smokejumpers hired at the base and the addition of a new barracks, cook house, and bath house in 1954. The last permanent structure constructed at the base was the south supervisor's residence, completed in 1957.

At the end of the Vietnam war in the early 1970's, more helicopters became available and many were put to work in fire fighting operations. Helicopters offered some advantages over airplanes and smokejumpers. Fire fighters could still be delivered quickly to fires but they didn't need the same rigorous training that smokejumpers needed. Crews could be delivered at night, whereas smokejumpers could only be delivered during daylight hours.

Some managers believed that helicopters spelled the end of smokejumping and this may have been one of the reasons the base was closed in 1981.

Some authors claim this base was established here because of Japanese incendiary bombs dropped by an enemy plane near Brookings. The plane that did the bombing was pontoon plane brought in by submarine and assembled off shore. On 9 September 1942, the plane took off and dropped a bomb near Mount Emily about 30 miles west of Cave Junction. To this date, it is the only bomb dropped by an enemy airplane anywhere in the lower 48 states. The smoke jumper base was established at Cave Junction the next summer.

The original landing strip was constructed in 1939 with Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers. It was a dirt landing strip and one of the jobs of smokejumper crews was to maintain the runway conduct repairs and trim trees that threatened aircraft that landed and took off from the airstrip. The runway was paved in 1951.

The smoke jumper story is full of tales of individual determination and survival. Teams were dropped into the forest where they fought fires and then returned to a pick up point through rough terrain and raging rivers with packs sometimes weighing up to 120 pounds. If someone got hurt it was up to the rest of the team to bring them out.

Just getting smoke jumper crews off the ground could be a challenge. Ed Sholz, a pilot for the smoke jumpers from 1949 to 1960, recalls the airstrip was not the easiest to negotiate. "It was difficult to fly out of. There was a southwest wind most of the summer so you were always taking off into a down draft."

The parachute loft is where parachutes were repaired and prepared for use. This work was done by a Master Rigger and no smoke jumper base could operate without one. The Master Rigger at the Siskiyou Smoke Jumper base was Glenda Marchant, the only woman in the Pacific northwest with a Master Riggers license for smoke jumpers. She worked for seventeen seasons at this base before it was closed down in 1981.

Neil Shrier, the president of the Josephine County Historic Society stated in a 1986 newspaper article that the famous 555th Parachute Unit was temporarily stationed at this base (circa1945). The 555th, also known as the "Triple Nickles" was an African American military parachute team who were the first and only smoke jumpers in military history. The were sent to Oregon during World War Two to assist with controlling fires started by Japanese incendiary bombs and trained to disarm bombs if they found them in the forest. The first smoke jumper to be killed in American history was Malvin Brown, an African American medic assigned to the 555th. He died jumping into a fire in the Umpqua National Forest.

The Cave Junction smoke jumper base was perhaps the only base in the Nation that served food in family style with bowls and plates of food brought to the table where staff served themselves and passed food to each other. The old mess hall has not changed much since it became a restaurant and makes a stop for a bite to eat an experience that takes you back to the days when smoke jumpers used the same building.

Some important people have been smoke jumpers at this base. Stuart Roosa worked here in 1953 and later became the command pilot on the Apollo 14 moon mission. Willie Unsoeld worked here about the same time and later became a member on the team of the first Americans to climb Mount Everest.

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Disclaimer: All information in Highway199.org is accurate to the best knowledge of the author. However, conditions in outdoor settings can change dramatically after storms or fires. For this reason, travelers are advised to check current road conditions before traveling through the area, drive responsibly and take measures to understand safety issues in the region. When participating in outdoor activities, always plan and prepare for safe hiking, swimming or any other activities mentioned in the Highway 199 website. More on disclaimer and copyright...