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Identification:
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Preferred Structure Name:
| Twin Sisters Radio Tower
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Structure Number:
| HS-0023
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Other Structure Name(s):
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Other Structure Name(s)
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1.
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Radio Repeater
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2.
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Twin Sisters Shelter Cabin
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3.
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Twin Sisters Lookout
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4.
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Twin Sisters Radio Cache
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Park:
| Rocky Mountain National Park
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Historic District:
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Historic District
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| No records. |
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Structure State:
| Colorado
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Structure County:
| Larimer
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Region:
| Intermountain
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Cluster:
| Rocky Mountain
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Administrative Unit:
| Rocky Mountain National Park
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LCS ID:
| 010540
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Historical Significance:
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National Register Status:
| Entered - Documented
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National Register Date:
| 12/24/1992
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National Historic Landmark?:
| No
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Significance Level:
| Local
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Short Significance Description:
| Significant under criterion C for its representation of rustic architecture (non-NPS built) (1914-1941).
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Long Significance Description:
| Twin Sisters is significant for its rustic design. Rustic-style buildings utilize local materials in an effort to blend with the surrounding environment. The National Forest Service built the Twin Sisters Shelter in 1914, predating Stephen Mather and Horace Albright's official advocation of rustic design in 1918. The NPS aquired the building in 1925. Like the later Fall River Pass Ranger Station (0058), Agnes Vaille Memorial Shelter (0204), and Chasm Lake Patrol Cabin (0162), Twin Sisters Radio Cache is a stone building that incorporates materials found on site. These backcountry buildings appear to grow from their surroundings. All are all found in extreme environments, which increases the rate of deterioration.
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Construction Period:
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Construction Period:
| Historic
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Chronology:
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Physical Event
| Begin Year
| Begin Year AD/BC
| End Year
| End Year AD/BC
| Designer
| Designer Occupation
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1.
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Built
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1914
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AD
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U.S. Forest Service & NPS
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Other
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2.
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Rehabilitated
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1973
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AD
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NPS
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3.
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Preserved
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2000
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AD
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2000
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AD
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NPS
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Other
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Function and Use:
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Primary Historic Function:
| Cabin/Lookout
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Primary Current Use:
| Telecommunication Facility
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Structure Contains Museum Collections?:
| No
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Other Functions or Uses:
|
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Other Function(s) or Use(s)
| Historic or Current
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1.
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Ranger Station
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Historic
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2.
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Fire Cache
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Historic
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Physical Description:
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Structure Type:
| Building
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Volume:
| 1 - 2,000 cubic feet
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Square Feet:
| 132
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Material(s):
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Structural Component(s)
| Material(s)
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1.
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Roof
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Wood
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2.
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Other
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Metal
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3.
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Roof
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Asphalt
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4.
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Other
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Concrete
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5.
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Foundation
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Stone
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6.
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Walls
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Stone
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Short Physical Description:
| One-story, rectangular plan stone building with arched roof covered in rolled asphalt. The walls and foundation are stone. There are no longer windows. The door is just left of center with a wood frame and stone stoop.
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Long Physical Description:
| Twin Sisters Radio Cache is a small structure sitting in the saddle on Twin Sisters Mountain. The one-story, stone building is rectangular in plan. The walls are uncoursed fieldstone. The arched roof is covered with finished lumber sheathed with rolled asphalt. There is metal edging on the eave. All the window openings are closed with stone. The door is just left of center. A trap door in the roof provides access when snow has drifted across the front façade. The interior is unfinished; it is one room with a concrete floor.
This building was not the fire lookout. The fire lookout on Twin Sisters was a white clapboard building (#0249); it was destroyed by wind at an unknown date.
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