In it stands the Mitchell Monument, erected in 1950, which marks the only location in the United States where Americans were killed during World War II as a direct result of a Japanese balloon bomb.

The site is maintained by the United States Forest Service and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

On May 5, 1945, Reverend Archie Mitchell took his pregnant wife and five Sunday school children, from the Christian and Missionary Alliance church where he was minister,[1] on a picnic and fishing trip.

The group found the logging road they followed blocked, so they stopped next to Leonard Creek, eight miles (13 km) east of Bly near Gearhart Mountain.

Mrs. Mitchell and the boys were killed instantly; one of the children, Joan, survived the initial blast but died minutes later.

These six individuals were the only Americans killed in the United States during World War II as a direct result of an Axis balloon bomb detonation.

[2][3][4][7][8] In 1976, Sakyo Adachi, a Japanese scientist who helped plan the balloon offense, visited the site and laid a wreath at the monument.

It is constructed of native stone and displays a bronze plaque with the names and ages of the victims of the balloon bomb explosion.

It commemorates the "only place on the American continent where death resulted from enemy action during World War II".

DURING WORLD WAR IIBecause it commemorates an important wartime event that occurred at the site, the monument is of significant historical value.