{"nrhp_refnum":"75000494","name":"Niagara Camp","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"NE of Tuolumne in Stanislaus National Forest","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tuolumne","county":"Tuolumne County","state":"CA","lat":38.00532663700005,"lon":-120.00361948199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-06-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Engineering","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-acre logging camp district in Stanislaus National Forest northeast of Tuolumne, California, at 5,167 feet elevation. It includes the remains of a main camp and family camp, a railroad bed, a 1923-24 trestle and a steam donkey graveyard.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the site shows a skeletal picture of early logging camp life, machinery and transportation from the 1920s through the 1950s. Logging has been the major source of economic stability in Tuolumne County since the early 1900s. The railbed, trestle and steam donkeys represent the 1920s, and the camp represents the 1950s.","narrative":"Niagara Camp is a four-acre logging site in Stanislaus National Forest, northeast of Tuolumne, California. It preserves the remains of a main camp for single men and a family camp, along with a railroad bed that still has cedar ties, a red fir trestle spanning 318 feet at a height of 54 feet, and four steam donkeys left together in a graveyard. Fred Ellis designed the trestle, built in 1923-24 for the West Side Lumber Company's railroad. Logging at Niagara began in earnest in 1929, paused during the Depression from 1930 to 1935, and resumed with cats, A-frame loaders and trucks. George Couture, camp boss until 1957, built the camp itself. The site matters because it shows each phase of logging from the 1920s to the 1950s: the workers' living quarters, their machinery and their transport. Logging has long underpinned the county's economy. Deterioration and vandalism threaten the surviving structures.","period_of_significance":"1898-1958","architect_builder":"Fred Ellis, designer and engineer of the trestle; George Couture, camp boss, built Niagara Camp","architectural_style":"Vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as deteriorated overall (fair cumulatively); one cabin is used occasionally as temporary shelter by loggers and others, while the trestle, railway and donkeys are unused. Vandalism is noted.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.297534-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/75000494.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862286","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/tuolumne-county/niagara-camp-75000494/"}