Camp Warner Camp Warner was a United States Army outpost in south - central Oregon , United States . Camp Warner was located at two different sites approximately apart . The Army called both sites Camp Warner . However , the first site became known as Old Camp Warner . It was used as winter quarters in 1866 – 1867 and then abandoned . The second , more developed site is generally known as Fort Warner ( or New Camp Warner ) , although the Army never officially designated it as a fort . Fort Warner was used as a supply depot and administrative headquarters from 1867 to 1874 during a protracted Army campaign against Northern Paiute bands in Eastern Oregon and Northern California . Today , nothing remains of either Old Camp Warner or Fort Warner . Old Camp Warner . In 1865 , the Army decided it needed an outpost in the Warner Valley of south - central Oregon to facilitate the interdiction of Indian raiding parties passing through the area . Army scouts from Fort Vancouver selected a site along Honey Creek on the west side of the Warner Lakes in what is today Lake County , Oregon . In 1866 , a unit of the 14th Infantry Regiment was sent from Fort Boise to establish the fort . The 14th Infantry came by way of Fort Harney , arriving on the east side of the Warner Lakes in late summer . The Army was unable to cross the Warner Lakes , a chain of lakes and wetlands that stretches more than north to south . As a result , the soldiers decided to build their outpost east of the lakes on the eastern slope of Hart Mountain . It was completed on August 10 , 1866 . The post was named Camp Warner after Captain William Horace Warner , a topographical engineer who had explored the area before being killed by Indians in 1849 . The camp was hastily built at an elevation of , so it was not well suited for the harsh winters typical of Oregon ' s high desert country . As a result , the men had a very difficult winter . It was reported that on several occasions , it was so cold inside the camp building the entire detachment had to march around the parade ground all night to keep from freezing . One sergeant did freeze to death during a winter snow storm . Fort Warner . In the spring of 1867 , the 14th Infantry was replaced by a company of the 23rd Infantry Regiment . In February , General George Crook visited Camp Warner . Crook directed that the camp be moved to the Honey Creek site west of the Warner Lakes . To get the Army ' s wagons and equipment across the wetlands , forty men under the command of Captain James Henton were assigned to build a bridge across a narrow , marshy channel between Hart Lake and Crump Lake . The bridge was constructed between May 16 and July 24 , 1867 . Known as the Stone Bridge , it was actually a quarter mile long causeway constructed by hauling basalt boulders and smaller rocks from nearby Hart Mountain and dumping them into the marsh . Shortly after the bridge was begun , Crook sent a second detachment ahead to construct the new camp . On July 31 , 1867 , the Army moved into the new camp . Initially , Crook proposed that the new post be named Camp Wood . However , in a formal dispatch dated August 28 , 1867 , Major General Henry W . Halleck , commander of the Military Department of the Pacific , disapproved naming the post Camp Wood and suggested retaining the name Camp Warner . The soldiers assigned to the post called it " Fort Warner " to distinguish it from the original Camp Warner , which was only away . While the Army never officially designated it as a fort , the post became widely known as Fort Warner . Today , most modern maps , including United States Geological Survey topographical map s , identify the site as Fort Warner . Fort Warner was located on the west side of the Warner Valley , in a pine forest from the lakes . The new site had a large freshwater spring and enough good timber to support a sawmill . This allowed the soldiers to construct solid timber frame barracks for 280 troops , officer ' s quarters , warehouses , and other buildings . In addition , Fort Warner was roughly lower in elevation than Old Camp Warner so milder winters were anticipated at the new location . However , the elevation at Fort Warner was above sea level so winters were still quite severe . Fort Warner was an Army supply depot and administrative headquarters from 1867 until 1874 . During the first two years of that period , General Crook led companies from the 1st Cavalry Regiment and 8th Cavalry Regiment , mounted infantry from the 9th Infantry Regiment and 23rd Infantry Regiment , and Indian scouts from the Wasco and Warm Springs tribes in a successful campaign against Northern Paiute bands in Eastern Oregon and Northern California . This was part of the conflict known as the Snake War . Fort Warner was one of several outposts used to refit and resupply Crook ' s troops during the campaign . Mrs . Crook and several other military wives arrived in 1867 and made Fort Warner their home . By 1869 , the Indian raids in south - central Oregon had ended and a treaty had been signed with Wewawewa , the chief of the area ' s dominant Paiute band . In 1872 , Fort Warner was manned by the D Company of the 21st Infantry Regiment . However , with no Indian raiders left in the area , Fort Warner was abandoned on September 3 , 1874 . Historic sites . Today , very little evidence of Army occupation remains at either Old Camp Warner or Fort Warner . The original Camp Warner site is now part of the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge . There is virtually nothing left to mark the camp except for two Army graves . The Fort Warner site is located on a privately owned ranch adjacent to Fremont National Forest . No Army buildings remain at the Fort Warner location , but the footprints where structures once stood can still be identified . While nothing remains at either military site , the Stone Bridge the Army built to cross the Warner wetlands still exists and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places .