Deschutes & Ochoco National Forests
Crooked River National Grassland

History - 1940 to 1949

1940

• Population of Bend - over 10,000.
• National Park proposed for area from Benham Falls to Newberry Crater.
• Feb. 4, 1940 - Hoodoo Ski area opens.
• June 1940 - Tree molds reported at Surveyor Flow.
• July 30, 1940 - Oregon Governor Charles A. Sprague dedicated Willamette Pass Highway.

1941

• Summer 1941 - Brooks-Scanlon logging town moves from east of Newberry to northwest of Bend. End of Brooks-Scanlon railroad logging on Newberry.
• November 1941 - East Lake Health Resort burns.

1942

• Start of World War II halts construction of new road to Elk Lake.
• Logging town of Shevlin moves from La Pine area to Stage Station site on Hwy. 31.
• April 1942 - The 5,120 acre Lava Cast Forest Geological Area is established.
• September 1942 - State Park proposed at Newberry Crater.
• December 4, 1942 - Camp Abbot established in Sunriver area as an army engineer replacement and training center. Named in honor of Brigadier-General Henry Larcom Abbot who as a lieutenant was co-leader of the Pacific Railroad Survey in 1855.

1943

• July 1943 - Fire destroyed plaining mill of Deschutes Lumber Company at Mowich. Remainder of mill torn down by early 1944.

1946

• June 1946 - Brooks-Scanlon logging town moves from northwest of Bend to Sisters.
• June 1946 - Construction of two-lane road up Lava Butte completed along with two parking lots at summit.
• Summer 1946 - Another study of the Benham Falls reservoir area begins and continues off and on until 1955.
• September 9, 1946 - Proclamation 2702 added some lands to the Deschutes National Forest. Federal Register correction dated 11/1/1946 11-FR 12923. (61 Stat. 1040)

1947

• Logging town of Shevlin moves from Stage Station area to Sugar Pine Mountain area seven miles south of Chemult.

1948

• January 1, 1948 - Administrative Order #3 Secretary of Agriculture added some lands to the Deschutes National Forest. (12-FR 8247)
• May 1948 - Shevlin-Hixon abandons its railroad line from Benham Falls to Bend and begins using the Great Northern line.

1949

• April 22, 1949 - Administrative Order #5 added some lands to the Deschutes National Forest.
• Fall 1949 - The portion of the Deschutes Game Refuge south of the Newberry Crater road opened for hunting for first time.