A 13.66/2: Historic Fire Lookouts on the Siskiyou
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A 13.66/2: F 57/2x V HISTORIC FIRE LOOKOUTS ON THE SISKIYOU NATIONAL FOREST Cultural Property Inventory And Request For a Determination of' Eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region Siskiyou National Forest Josephine, Curry and Coos Counties, Oregon Katherine C. Atwood August 26, 1994 V FORWARD The history of fire detection and suppression on the Siskiyou National Forest begins with the creation of the Forest in 1906. Since that date administrative boundaries, district names and locations have undergone changes. In this document all references to Forest and ranger district names reflect their current application. Information regarding location, construction and removal dates of specific lookouts on the Siskiyou National Forest is drawn from materials prepared by Gerald Williams and Ron Johnson. Williams, a Forest Service historian, has researched lookouts in western Oregon for many years. His work is documented in "An Inventory of the Known Lookout Locations In Western Oregon," last updated in July 1991. Ron Johnson is a retired Forest Service employee who has studied lookouts extensively, conducted field visits, and collected historic photographs of the resources. Mark Swift, Archaeologist on the Malheur National Forest, Burns Ranger District, has prepared "L-4 Style Lookout Inventories for Oregon and Washington," last revised in July, 1993. Swift's work "USFS Historic Fire Detection and Suppression Properties, 1910-1945, Region 6," provides additional information. The statistics used in this document are also compiled from data supplied by Williams and Johnson. The statistics are based on the most reliable information available and are intended to indicate general trends. Much information remains to be gathered regarding lookouts, particularly dates of removal or destruction. In many cases dates given are approximate and when a construction date is cited as "c. 1933" for example, the construction date was considered as of that year. Appendix A contains inventory forms for the eight extant lookouts on the Siskiyou National Forest. A list of known lookout sites on the Siskiyou National Forest is included in Appendix B. Information for the list is taken from "An Inventory of the Known Lookout Locations in Western Oregon," by Gerald W. Williams. 2 SOUTHERN OREGON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 5138 00641104 2 DESCRIPTION The eight fire lookouts that comprise this study for a Determination of Eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places are administered by the USDA Forest Service and located on the Siskiyou National Forest in southwestern Oregon. The lookouts, constructed between 1947 and 1963 as part of the Forest's fire detection and suppression system, stand within five separate ranger districts. Snow Camp, Quail Prairie, Wildhorse and Lake of the Woods Lookouts are in Curry County; Bolan Mountain, Pearsoll Peak and Onion Mountain Lookouts are in Josephine County and Bald Knob Lookout is located in Coos County. Bolan Mountain, Pearsoll Peak and Snow Camp Mountain Lookouts are ground houses; Bald Knob, Lake of the Woods, Quail Prairie, Onion Mountain and Wildhorse Lookout houses are situated atop towers ranging in height from ten feet to forty-one feet. The individual lookouts are described in a later portion of this report, and an evaluation is given within the pertinent context. Inventory forms detailing physical characteristics, significance and management recommendations for each station are appended. The eight fire lookouts are: Lookout District County Built Style Status Bald Knob Powers Coos 1962 R-6 flat In Use Bolan Illinois Valley Josephine 1953 L-4 In Use Lake of the Woods Gold Beach Curry 1958* R-6 flat In Use Onion Galice Josephine 1952 L-4 In Use Pearsoll Illinois Valley Josephine 1954 L-4 Quail Prairie Chetco Curry 1963 R-6 flat In Use Snow Camp Chetco Curry 1958 R-6 flat Guest* Wildhorse Gold Beach Curry 1947 L-4 In Use *Lake of the Woods Lookout was originally constructed in 1958 on Barklow Mountain. It was relocated to Lake of the Woods Mountain in 1974. Initial Construction Period: 1947-1954 Four of the inventoried stations, Bolan Mountain, Onion Mountain, Pearsoll Peak and Wildhorse Lookouts were constructed between 1947 to 1954 and are representative of the "Standard '36" L-4 model. The style was characterized by a 14' by 14' floor plan, 6' 9" ceilings, hipped roof, two-over-two light wooden windows around the upper two-thirds of the exterior walls, pre-cut framing members and ceiling joists which extended two feet beyond 3 the cabin to support large, shiplap shutters. Typical materials included a cedar shingled roof, tongue and groove interior siding, and a floor of 1 x 4 tongue and groove crafted of clear grained fir.1 Second Construction Period: 1958-1963 Between 1958 and 1963 the Siskiyou National Forest constructed the last lookouts to be placed on the Forest. These four stations, Bald Knob, Lake of the Woods Mountain, Quail Prairie Mountain, and Snow Camp Mountain Lookouts reflected a new style which had first been introduced in 1953. The R-6 flat roof model was developed as modern building technology evolved and convenient materials became available. The style was characterized by 15' x 15' cabin dimensions and flat, tarred roofs. The R-6 design had no shutters and window coverings and siding were typically constructed of T-111 plywood. Early R-6 lookout cabins had seven windows per wall with four lights each and an open soffit. Later models had one light above and one larger light below and closed soffits., STATEMENT OF CONTEXT Geographic Context: Siskiyou National Forest The Siskiyou National Forest, which constitutes the geographic context for the eight lookouts, and by which each is managed, is located in the Klamath Mountains and Coast Range of the southwestern corner of Oregon. A small section of the Forest extends into Del Norte County in California. The Forest contains 1,162,030 acres within its boundaries, of which 69,728 acres are privately owned or managed by other government agencies. The Siskiyou National Forest includes 5.4 % of Coos County, 53.4 % of Curry County, and 28.5% of Josephine County.3 The topography of the Forest is extremely mountainous, with elevations rising to over 7,000 feet. It is characterized by a variety of landforms ranging from sharp ridges and deep canyons to flat ridges and rounded slopes. The Forest is drained by many fast-flowing rivers including the South Fork of the Coquille, the Sixes and Elk Rivers, the Rogue and Illinois watershed , and the drainages of the Pistol, Chetco, and Winchuck Rivers. 4 The Siskiyou National Forest has long been known as an isolated area. Until well into the twentieth century, few trails or roads penetrated the region. Stephen Dow Beckham has described the region comprising Curry, Coos and Josephine Counties as "one of limited population [that] has remained so since the earliest years of white settlement ... the area was very limited in comparison to other regions of western Oregon." In 1970 a demographic study of the Siskiyou National Forest indicated that it had less than one person per square kilometer.5 4 Historic Context: Fire Detection and Suppression on the Siskiyou National Forest: 1941-1965 Four of the extant Siskiyou National Forest lookouts were constructed between 1947 and 1954: Bolan Mountain (1953); Onion Mountain, (1952); Pearsoll Peak (1954) and Wildhorse (1947). These Standard '36 L-4 style lookouts were built during the immediate post-war era as integral components of a continuing fire detection and suppression system in the isolated, rugged topography of the Siskiyou National Forest. Although the Forest's lack of a developed road system delayed. the post-World War II rapid timber harvest that occurred on more accessible forests, dramatic population growth and economic development meant that lumber was in high demand. Post-war fire detection and suppression requirements demanded that lookout stations continue to function efficiently on the Siskiyou National Forest. Difficult access meant delays in reaching fires and millions of acres of prime timber held on the Forest remained vulnerable to fire. By the mid-1960's road construction had increased on the Forest and technological advances in fire detection and suppression brought substantial changes. Airplanes and helicopters supplanted lookouts as access improved. Aerial and road patrols and two-way radios replaced older methods of surveillance and telephone communication. In addition, Forest Service work crews, recreationists and timber company employees were increasingly present on the Forest during the fire season and assisted with fire surveillance.6 Four of the lookouts, Bald Knob (1962), Lake of the Woods Mountain (1958), Quail Prairie Mountain (1963), and Snow Camp Mountain (1958), were constructed in the R-6 flat roof style, during the second period of lookout construction. Representative of a different model and materials, the four later structures provided the same protection and continued use of the earlier lookouts. Although the later four were housed differently than those preceding them, their use remained the same during the period of post-war economic development in which southwestern Oregon's population rapidly expanded and a stable timber supply remained critically important. The eight extant Siskiyou National Forest lookouts alone survive after nearly a century of Forest history. A study of expanded temporal boundaries to recognize all lookout construction on the Siskiyou National Forest between 1906 and the present, indicates that approximately seventy known lookout structures have been placed on forty-six mountain locations on the Forest.7 Estimates place the number of the Siskiyou National Forest lookouts in 1940 at approximately thirty stations. 8 Approximately twenty-one lookouts were constructed on the Forest 5 between 1940 and 1955, and eight were built between 1956 and 1963, the last year a lookout was introduced.9 By the mid 1960s the Siskiyou National Forest saw a reduction in the number of lookout stations maintained for detection.