Stand 1 - Memorial Monument Rest Area

The memorial site was established by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the U.S. Forest Service in honor of the crewmembers of Company 1212 that were entrapped on the 1939 Rock Creek Fire. This is a good location to begin the staff ride, as it is easy to find, has good parking capacity and provides an excellent perspective of the site from the monument.

The Rock Creek Fire started at 11:15 on July 28th, 1939 from lightning. The point of origin is located approximately five miles southeast of Orovada, Nevada and four miles due east of the Highway 95 monument. Between 15:30 to 16:00 the fire burned explosively downhill in a westerly direction, under the influence of a thunderstorm directly over the fire that produced 40 to 60 mile per hour downdraft winds. At the time the wind event occurred, 6 local residents were suppressing the fire and 23 CCC firefighters were hiking to the fire from Rock Creek. The CCC crew was divided into two squads. One squad hiked in from the north toward the left flank of the fire and the other traversed from the west to the bottom of the fire.

Click to see Travel Map.

Click to see Orthophoto with final fire perimeter and NAD 83 GPS locations for stands shown.

Click to hear interview excerpts from Kirk Studebaker, the storeowner who reported the fire and helped with the initial attack of the fire.
(Requires a media player capable of playing MP3 audio. Click here to download the free Windows Media Player.)

Click to link to National Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni.

The Monument is located in the center of the Rest Area ½ mile South of Orovada, Nevada on Highway 95.

Looking to the east from the Rest Area on Highway 95 at significant area landmarks. Sawtooth Mountain is the predominate mountain on the left.

Looking to the east from the Rest Area on Highway 95 at the other Stand locations.