Stone Bridge and the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road

The Stone Bridge is a causeway built by the United States Army in 1867. It crosses the marshy channel that connects Hart Lake and Crump Lake in a remote area of Lake County in eastern Oregon, United States. It was later incorporated into the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road which was completed in 1872. The wagon road eventually became the subject of scandal and litigation ending with a United States Supreme Court decision in 1893. The Stone Bridge and the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Today, the Stone Bridge is located on land claimed by the State of Oregon under riparian rights. The wagon road adjacent to the Stone Bridge is owned by the United States Government and is administered by Bureau of Land Management.

In 1865, the Army decided it needed a fort near the Warner Lakes 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 14 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 chain of lakes which stretched more than seventy miles north to south. After several skirmishes with Indians, the soldiers decided to build Camp Warner on the east side of the lakes. The camp was sited poorly and its construction was hasty. As a result, the men had a very difficult winter, losing one sergeant who froze to death during a snow storm.

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