On 13 April 1934, the Town of Arlington acquired the 200 acres under a five-year lease at an annual rental rate of $100 per year. In September 1935, WPA funding was secured for clearing and grading a 2,000 feet by 400 feet crosswind runway, what later became the northeast-southwest runway.
Usage
Over the next several years the airport was used by local and itinerant private fliers, aerial circuses, and the Forest Service for ferrying supplies to fire fighters battling costly blazes in remote, heavily timbered areas of the rugged Cascades. Local forest rangers reported that supplies were often dropped by parachute within an hour’s flight from the field, when it would have taken three days to reach the same spots by truck and pack train.
In February 1939, the lease expired and the Town of Arlington was given the option to purchase. Caught in a bind, the Town could not afford to purchase the land and appealed to the United States War Department for assistance.