"A better idea"

"Crook County Journal" August 26, 1920:

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"Ranger Donnelly is in charge of this unit of the Ochoco National Forest and demonstrated his usefulness and originality just after the recent severe electrical storm. This storm set eleven fires which started almost simultaneously and which were scattered over his entire district comprising some 400,000 acres. Incidentally, a bolt of lightning struck the Forest Service telephone line only a short distance from the Snow Mountain Lookout cabin and was warm enough to burn a section out of the wire. It also burned out some essential parts of the telephone at the lookout station and left Ranger Donnelly in a rather embarrassing position with only one man in sight as a helper to extinguish the eleven fires smoking up before him.

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Mr. Donnelly remembered that some years ago he had operated more or less successfully one Henry Ford car and that when he sold or gave away this parcel of tinware that he reserved for possible future emergencies, one of the ignition coils. He proceeded to find the old coil and took it to Snow Mountain lookout where with screwdriver, hammer, etc., he dissected the instrument, installed the old Ford coil and now has the instrument working about 150 percent efficient."

Where did they hide that darn fuse box???????

"Six Twenty-Six", March 1936:
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"William Chetwood, lookout fireman at Stanley, got the largest percent of lightning storms of any other lookout on the forest. Bill, being one of these "go get them and stay until they are out" kind, was a busy man. Early one morning a storm passed over his area, setting two fires. Bill went after them, leaving his wife to act as lookout. Late that p.m. a following storm passed over Stanley, setting several fires. Mrs. Chetwood, being on the job, was the first to report three of the fires. The ranger got final check-up on Stanley at 11 p.m., when it appeared that she left. Thinking that Mrs. Chetwood had decided to call it a day and go to bed, we thought no more of it until the next morning. As we got no report at the regular time, an effort was made to get the lookout without success. About this time Bill reported in from Huckleberry lookout, three hours ride from his station, after being on fire line all night. He left at once for Stanley and was gone only a few minutes when Mrs. Chetwood reported in. The lightning had struck the lookout tower at about 11 p.m. the night before, burning out the telephone. Mrs. Chetwood said "I hunted all over this tower last night for the fuse box but failed to find it until this morning", when she repaired the telephone and reported in. Mrs. Chetwood said she was not afraid but did not like it when the lightning ran through the house." Submitted by Louis A. Carpenter

Plus shipping and handling.....

"The following data was submitted by Ranger McFarland covers the packing of a standard lookout house erected on Mt Fuji during the past season:
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Length of pack- 5 miles
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Maximum grade 50%. 0 to 10%, 3 miles. 10% and over, 2 miles.
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8 head of pack stock used.
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2 men, 6 days.
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45 horse loads.
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Maximum load, 190 lbs. Minimum load, 130 lbs. Average load 155 lbs.
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Cost of packing - $125.95
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Condition of stock at end of job: Good"
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This was from the January 1927 issue of the "Six Twenty-Six" listing the packing stats on moving materials to build a D-6 cupola in 1926.

The last lookout

The "Six Twenty-Six" issue from May 1933 reported a double tragedy:
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"Ray Lewis of the Mazamas, Everett Darr of the Wy-east Club and Miss Elsa Hanff of Spokane, who climbed Mount Hood in March, reported that violent winter storms had almost demolished the lookout house. The cupola has been torn off and lies almost on its side. The cabin has been ripped open and the interior filled with snow and ice. The building is canted at an angle of about 60 degrees to the southward, and apparently has been moved from it's foundation about a foot. The anchor cables are missing on two sides. The climbers reported extremely steep snow, dangerous and difficult to traverse, and a new crevasse, apparently hundreds of feet deep. They said the cabin would have to be almost completely rebuilt. Here's a good job for ECW boys! A strange coincidence is the fact that Mack Hall, popular lookout at this point last season was killed in an auto accident at Eugene in March."
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Records indicate that 1932 was the last year the lookout was staffed and no records have indicated that repairs were made.

What a great idea!!!

The "Medford Sun" ran this story in it's June 30, 1917 issue:
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"District Forester George H. Cecil, of Portland, has just placed an order with the Mill-Made Construction Company, of Portland, for ready-cut material for three standard lookout houses to be erected at the summits of Mt McLaughlin, Diamond Peak and Rustler Peak, on the Crater national forest, in July.
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These houses are twelve feet square, with a cupola six feet square. Both cupola and main part of the building have windows running al the way around. The lower part of the house is the lookout man's living quarters, while the cupola contains the Osborne fire finder, maps and other lookout equipment.
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The success in quickly discovering forest fires from lookouts stationed on Mount Hood and other high peaks has turned the attention of foresters to this form of fire protection work. Besides the three houses to be erected on the Crater forest this season, lookout houses will also be placed on several other prominent peaks in Oregon and Washington."
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A follow up story in the same newspaper dated July 13, 1917:
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"The forest service is rushing the three fire lookouts on Windy Peak, Mt McLaughlin and Rustler Butte, so that there is no delay in preparations for fire fighting. The fire lookout houses, knocked down, have been shipped from Portland. Ten government mules will be needed to transport the houses to the peaks."
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That year saw the construction of three lookout houses on the peaks mentioned in the second story. The location of Diamond Peak is unclear, quite often in the early days many peaks were known by several different names.

And, in the beginning.....

Walt Dutton, an early Ranger on the Fremont National Forest, wrote a short "Fremont History" in 1962. The following is from his July 1911 entry:
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"After completion of the Ingram Station assignment we returned to our summer stations -- Cronemiller to Thomas Creek and I to the Gaylord place on the Chewaucan. The old ranch house on the Gaylord place was occupied by a family of wood rats and our shelter for the summer was a 7x9 tent pitched nearby. My job description, given verbally by Gilbert Brown before we left Lakeview, instructed me to ride daily to the top of Buck Mountain, about a mile and a half to the east, and scan the surrounding country for fires. Also, in my judgement, when fire danger was low I was to ride around the country and post James Wilson cloth fire signs. There was no established fire lookouts in that area and no telephone communication nearer than Thomas Creek Ranger Station."

Recollections ------

Every now and again I come across a loose document that has no date or source, here is one of those:

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"When I arrived at Crowflat Ranger Station to take over the Burns District, there was no one around or to introduce me to the new territory so I found my way around alone. There was a short-term man located at Calamity Guard Station near Drewsey and a lookout-fireman at West Myrtle Butte on the opposite end of the district. When I reached Myrtle Butte on my Preliminary rounds, I found it to be a butte covered with a heavy stand of mature timber, with a commanding view when an opening could be found between the trees. An Osborne fire-finder was set up on a wobbly table about four feet high, constructed of small, round sticks wired together with emergency telephone wire. When a smoke was sighted, the lookout fireman would proceed to carry the table and fire-finder to a spot from which the smoke would be visible between the trees. He would set the table down and orient the finder as best he could, as the table wobbled and shook, then take a reading and report.

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I sized up the situation and said to the guard, "Don't you think we can rig up a better set-up than this?" He thought it might be worth a try. So we felled two fir poles about seventy-five feet in height and I prevailed on a road maintenance crew not far away to send a team and driver over and drag the poles over to one of the tallest trees. I found some lumber and nails, and we made a fifty-foot ladder and got it raised up the side of the tree. At the top of the ladder we built a platform. Then we made a thirty-foot ladder and pulled it up the side of the tree until it rested on the platform, we cut the treetop off and set up the fire-finder on the stub. We now had a platform which did not wobble and in a permanent location." By Grover C. Blake

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A 1961 Malheur National Forest Improvement Inventory indicates that a 240 square foot frame living quarters for this site was built in 1924. Another document shows that Mr. Blake came to the district in 1923, therefore one may assume the tree lookout was erected in 1923.