Smullin Visitor Center at Rand 2004 

Oregon - Medford District Office August 2004 

Public Lands USA: Use, Share, Appreciate 

Rand 

National Historic Site 

Rogue National 

Wild and Scenic 

River 

BLM
General

Information

The Rand National Historic Site (Rand) is 

located in southwestern Oregon approximately 25 miles northwest of Grants Pass, 

Oregon, and 3 miles downstream from the 

community of Galice. Rand is located on a 

terrace on the west side of the Rogue National Wild and Scenic River in steep, mountainous country with elevations ranging from 

700 feet at the river’s edge to 4,000 feet on 

nearby peaks. 

Rand’s history is as rich as the gold that 

filled the dreams of prospective miners, 

drawing them to the area in the 1850s. 

Beginning in 1909, Rand became home to 

one of the first Forest Service rangers for 

the Siskiyou National Forest. From 1933 to 

1941, approximately 200 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers called Rand 

home. Today, Rand is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to provide 

resource protection and quality recreation 

opportunities along the Rogue National Wild 

and Scenic River. 

The Smullin Visitor Center at Rand is open 

May 15 through October 15, 7:00 a.m. to 

4:00 p.m. daily. October 16 through May 14 

hours vary, please call ahead. Visitors are 

welcome to the Visitor Center and to explore 

this historic place. Entry of buildings, other 

than the Visitor Center, is by permission of 

a Bureau of Land Management Employee 

only.  Please respect the privacy of the residents.
Directions to Rand
 From I-5, take Merlin exit #61 (one exit 

north of Grants Pass). Follow the MerlinGalice Road 19 miles west through the 

towns of Merlin and Galice. Rand is located 

on the east side of the Merlin-Galice Road 

2.6 miles past the community of Galice.

Map to Rand
 
Searching for Gold 

in the Rogue River 

Valley

With the discovery of gold in Jacksonville, 

Oregon, in 1852, Oregon’s Willamette Valley farmers made their way south over the 

California-Oregon Trail into the Rogue River 

Valley in hopes of striking it rich. Miners 

swarmed the Rogue River and other rivers 

in the area scouring the banks for gold and 

displacing local Native American bands. The 

most accessible and valuable deposits were 

largely extracted during the 1850s, however, 

mining still continues throughout the valley 

today.

Mining Camp on the Lower Rogue 

Nathaniel “Yank” McNair was responsible 

for the first permanent settlement on the 

terrace now known as the Rand National 

Historic Site. It was here that McNair staked 

the Big Yank Placer Mine. In August 1874, 

Yank discovered rich gold quartz veins 

about one mile downstream from his placer 

claim. Within a few months, Yankville, a 

small logging and sawmill camp, emerged 
Hydraulic Mining 

on McNair’s placer claim to supply lumber 

for the mining operations downstream. 

However, limited access and poor mining 

technology soon resulted in a failed exploitation and the demise of the little camp of 

Yankville.

Around 1900, the Rand Mining Company 

purchased the Big Yank Placer mining 

property, which included the former site of 

Yankville. In 1905, the company surveyed 

the terrace to lay out lots for a townsite they 

called Rand. The name Rand came from 

Witwaterstrand, a gold-laden ridge in South 

Africa. In 1906, the Rand Mining Company 

joined the Almeda Mining Company to form 

the Almeda Consolidated Mines Company.  

Several dwellings and the Rand School were 

constructed on the townsite.
The Forest Service 

Moves In

In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt created the Siskiyou National Forest as part of 

a program to set aside massive tracts of land 

as reserves. The Galice Ranger District, one 

of six ranger districts established on the forest by the spring of 1909, assumed responsibility for the management of the lands in 

the Rogue River Canyon. Fire suppression, 

timber sale management, and trail construction programs were soon underway.

Jesse P. Dewitt was the first ranger assigned 

to the Galice District. In 1909, Ranger 

Dewitt moved into a tent on the Almeda 

Consolidated Mines Company’s Rand 

development. He continued to live in a tent 

for eight years because the Forest Service 

had difficulty obtaining the rights to build a 

house from the Almeda Consolidated Mines 

Company. In 1916, Ranger Dewitt wrote 

Forest Supervisor Nelson MacDuff:

“...The present ranger 

headquarters...do not provide any 

conveniences for the proper handling 

of the work and my family is forced 

to live in cramped and unsanitary 

quarters... If I had the necessary 

funds I would go ahead and construct quarters at my own expense... 

Real live action is needed more than 

anything else... I have lived here for 

the past eight years under adverse 

conditions... The land is simply lying 

there unused and there is no appar-
       

Forest Ranger’s Camp 

ent reason why I should put up with 

temporary quarters indefinitely.” 

Finally, in October 1916, the Almeda Consolidated Mines Company rented the Forest 

Service a small parcel of land for 10 years 

at one dollar per year. In the fall of 1917, 

construction began on frame buildings for 

the Rand Ranger Station, including a home, 

barn and office. The Siskiyou National 

Forest’s lease for the Rand Ranger Station 

property expired in 1926, but no challenges 

to the agency’s presence on the site were 

made. Efforts by Forest Service administrators to locate representatives or heirs to 

the Almeda Consolidated Mines Company 

failed. In 1932, the mining claim on which 

the station was located lapsed, allowing the 

Forest Service to pursue permanent legal occupancy of the site.

1948 
Rand Nationa

Civilian 

Conservation 

Corps Provides an 

Economic Boost

The Depression of the 1930s brought hard 

times to the Rogue River Canyon. The residents mined, cut wood, and grew their own 

food to survive. In 1933, President Franklin 

Roosevelt developed the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as part of his New 

Deal program to combat national economic 

difficulties. The Forest Service managed 
l Historic Site
 

most of the projects in this area and CCC 

enrollees assisted forest managers with fire 

suppression, road construction, communication development, and administrative and 

recreation site construction. In late September 1933, 18 CCC enrollees set up Camp 

No. 1650 at Rand. 

Workers at Camp Rand made many improvements to the site while stationed there. 

They built barracks and supporting structures, which housed over 200 CCC enrollees. They remodeled the Ranger’s Residence, the Protective Assistant’s Residence, 

and the Rand Ranger Station, which were 

on-site prior to the CCC’s arrival. A garage, 
woodshed, fire warehouse, barn, blacksmith 

shop, gas and oil house, and extensive 

masonry walls were also constructed by 

enrollees.

The barracks and supporting structures that 

housed the CCC are no longer standing, 

however, all of the other structures are still 

on site today.

Ranger's Residence, 1936 

The work of Camp No. 1650 was by no 

means limited to site improvements at Rand. 

They built sections of the first truck roads in 

the canyon and built a 344-foot long cable 

suspension bridge over the Rogue River 

at Grave Creek, which was replaced in the 

1960s by the existing bridge.  According to 

Ranger L.J. Cooper, the work the CCC did 

on Almeda Road No. 340 was “pronounced 

Grave Creek Suspension Bridge Built 

by CCC, April 9, 1936 
by some as being the 

hardest construction job 

carried on by the Forest 

Service in the West.”  

In addition, the Corps’

enrollees battled fire 

on the rugged canyon 

slopes during the summer and fall months and 

collected wood ticks for 

the Rocky Mountain 

Laboratory to help 

with the study of Spotted Fever.     

By August 1941, World War II was looming 

in the near future.  With military and warrelated industries beckoning, men quickly 

began to leave Camp Rand.  Officials disbanded Camp Rand and the 80 men remaining were enrolled elsewhere.  Within the 

Rogue River Canyon and across the country, 

development slowed as America turned its 

attention to war. 

CCC Bulldozer Work on 

North Pier of Grave Creek 

Bridge, 1935 

Camp Rand, May 27, 1935 

Crews Loaded into Trucks Ready to Leave for Work 
Recreation and

Resource 

Protection

Become the Focus 

at Rand

After World War II, tourism in the Rogue 

River Canyon increased, in part due to 

new roads that eased the area’s isolation.  

Anglers, hikers, and boaters flocked to the 

river canyon. The Forest Service continued 

to oversee activities in the Rogue River 

Canyon from the Rand Ranger Station. In 

1958, the Forest Service constructed a new 

residence and a bunkhouse for seasonal 

employees. In 1963, the Siskiyou National 

Forest moved the Galice Ranger District 

headquarters into Grants Pass. The Rand 

complex remained unused for six years, 

except for temporary leases of individual 

buildings to the State Board of Forestry and 

the Bureau of Public Roads.

In 1970, following passage of the Wild and 

Scenic River Act of 1968 and the subsequent 

designation of the Rogue River as Wild and 

Scenic, the BLM acquired the Rand site. 

Forest Service and BLM employees were 

present on site to issue float permits for the 

Wild Section of the Rogue River and to provide visitors with information until 1996. At 

this time, BLM employees took over all the 

responsibilities at Rand.

In 1999, the Rand complex was listed on the 

National Register of Historic Places. Rand 

essentially remains the same as it was when 

the structures were first built. With the exception of the roadways in the river canyon, 

Rand is the primary remaining resource as-
sociated with the CCC in the area. In 1996, 

the visitor center was renamed the Smullin Visitor Center after William B. Smullin, a broadcasting pioneer who introduced 

commercial radio, television, and cable 

television to Southern Oregon and Northern 

California.

Over the years, the Rogue National Wild 

and Scenic River has seen increased use by 

a growing local population, as well as by 

tourists from around the world. The Rogue’s 

national reputation for excellent salmon and 

steelhead fishing, as well as outstanding 

white water boating and rafting opportunities, attracts thousands of visitors each year. 

Fishing, float trips, camping, hiking, picnicking, swimming, jet boating, recreational 

gold panning, wildlife viewing, sight-seeing 

and more are enjoyed throughout the beautiful river canyon.

The designation of the Rogue as a National 

Wild and Scenic River ensures that it will be 

preserved in its free-flowing condition and 

the river and 

its immediate environments will be 

protected for 

the benefit 

of present 

and future 

generations. 

Furthermore, 

the Rand 

site, with 

its cultural 

and historic 

values, will  Inside Smullin Visitor Center, BLM Employees Issuing a Wild Rogue Float Permit, 2001 
provide present and future generations with 

a glimpse into the past.

1930s Photos
 

Aerial photo of Civilian Conservation
	

Corp, Camp Rand No. 1650, 1936
	

Truck Load of Camp Rand Enrollees, May 27, 1935 

Archaeological resources are fragile and 

irreplaceable. The Archaeological Resources 

Protection Act of 1976 protects them for the 

benefit of all Americans.  Please don’t erase 

the traces of America’s past.
Retaining Wall Built by CCC, April 9, 1936 

Rand 

Ranger 

Station 

Office, 

1936 

Barn, 1936 

Gas and Oil 

House, 1936 

Fire 

Warehouse, 

1936 
For More Information
 Bureau of Land Management

Smullin Visitor Center at Rand

14335 Galice Road

Merlin, Oregon  97532

541/479-3735

May 15 - October 15

email: or110rr@blm.gov

www.or.blm.gov/Rogueriver

Medford District

3040 Biddle Road

Medford, Oregon  97504

541/618-2200

email: or110mb@blm.gov

www.or.blm.gov/Medford

Other Brochures about 

the Rogue
 Books about the Rogue River

Galice Hellgate National Back

Country Byway

Hellgate Recreation Area

Rogue River Float Guide

Rogue River Ranch National 

Historic Site

Whisky Creek cabin National 

Historic Site

This brochure was paid for with fee demo dollars. 

Please Recycle 

BLM/OR/WA/GI-04/039+4800