Dinkey Creek Ranger Station – Shaver Lake CA

Description

The availability of [the Civilian Conservation Corps] was key in reshaping the Dinkey Creek area. Fresno County was realigning State Route 168, and subsequently the Sierra National Forest would reconstruct the Dinkey Road from Shaver Lake with CCC labor. By 1936 the road was extended beyond Dinkey Creek. This reconstruction required a new motor vehicle bridge and by 1938, the new Dinkey Creek Bridge was built by the [CCC], and the pattern of traffic had changed from the earlier days. With the change in the road, a change in location of the Forest Service site made sense, and a new ranger station was built on Dinkey Creek north of the original site, to better serve the
administrative needs. Although in a new site, the Dinkey Ranger Station remained the Kings River District’s summer headquarters, as an administrative center, public information office, and temporary residence for the District Ranger. The Ranger’s Residence was built in 1931, the warehouse and assistant Ranger’s residence in 1933, and the office/visitor center in 1934. During the years the CCC was in existence in the Sierra National Forest, from 1933-1941, they built buildings, campgrounds, roads, bridges, and helped build the Dinkey Creek Road, making a lasting impact on the Dinkey Creek area.

In 1998, the District staff moved to the new High Sierra District Ranger Station. Dinkey Station no longer served as an administrative site, but continued to operate as a seasonal visitor center, and a fire engine crew inhabited some of the buildings. In 2012 the fire engine company moved to a new station [a few miles away], and Dinkey Station was bereft, for the first time since 1931, of inhabitants, except for the seasonal visitor center staff. Dinkey Station continues to serve the public seasonally in the visitor center.