HAT POINT
Wallowa County - Wallowa National Forest - 1S-49E-35
October 1932: "Finishing the tower, begun last year at Hat Point. The one at Hat Point is about 65 feet to the floor of the cabin. It is on the edge of Snake River breaks, and it is estimated that if it ever goes over, the house will not stop until it reaches Snake River a mile below. C.H. Thorp" (Six Twenty-Six)
August 11, 1935: "A rugged mountain trail over which forestry service supplies have been packed on horse and muleback for years, improved by CCC and forestry service labor last summer and just now being finally completed, makes possible to the motorist a view of the vast territory under Jimmie Wilson's watchful eye. One must have a sturdy car and a steady nerve, for this road has been constructed for service and not for comfort of the motorist." (The Sunday Oregonian)
October 1937: "Hat Point Lookout on the Wallowa Forest, between the Snake and Imnaha Rivers seems to be more popular with tourists each year. Between four and five thousand visitors have looked down into the Snake River canyon to date, since about the middle of June. They started trying to make grade long before the drifts of snow were out of the road, and there will probably be a few brave souls shivering on the brink of the view when the fall snow begins in earnest." (Six Twenty-Six)
August 1938: "Three plump well-dressed tourists visited Hat Point one morning in late July. After looking at the view from the tower they stopped at the cabin to ask questions. One of the questions was where to get water on the road. When the road to the spring was pointed out they promptly drove down there. A few minutes later they stopped at the cabin again and asked for a drink. While they were drinking they confided that the water in the spring didn't look right so they didn't want to drink any. And there they stood drinking water hauled from that same spring not an hour before. One lady remarked 'What delicious water!' and the gentleman asked, 'Where do you get this water, from some spring around here?'
We weakly answered, 'Yes, we haul it from a spring around here', thinking the while that it's certainly true that what you don't know doesn't hurt you. Mrs. Muriella Wilson" (Six Twenty-Six)
1941: "Lightning struck the Hat Point tower and blew out all of the windows, splintered some of the timbers and ruined the radio. Lookout Ray Knudson was on his way to mount the tower to observe the lightning storm but the lightning struck before he entered the danger zone. It is believed that the radio aerial was not properly grounded." (Historical Sketches of Wallowa National Forest)
September 21, 1948: "A new forest service lookout tower is under construction at Hat Point, which overlooks Hell's canyon and the Snake river. The elevation at this point is 7,000 feet. The old tower is 70 in comparison to the new one which will be 90 feet." (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)
1949: An 82-foot tall timber tower with an L-6 cab was completed.
November 18, 1956: "Heavy snows have forced curtailment until spring of the construction of a new guard station at Hat Point for the Imnaha-Snake District of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, according to G.J. Tucker, district ranger.
Walter Young, Hermiston, is contractor for the 3-room frame construction building which has a concrete foundation and floor. The building was only little more than half completed when the snows in the road to the high lookout point stopped the work.
Tucker estimated it would be mid-June before work crews can resume construction. Lookouts do not open duty there until after the first of July.
The new structure replaces a log cabin which was built in 1933. Prior to 1932 personnel stayed at the Memaloose Guard Station some two miles down the trail and rode horseback to make daily inspection visits to the Hat Point lookout.
A lookout tower was built there in 1932 and a road to the station was constructed in 1936. A new tower was erected there in 1949." (Union-Bulletin)
August 8, 1968: "Gary Kohler, stationed at Hat Point lookout, returned to his home in Salem, Oregon and Timothy Doss is manning the tower." (Wallowa County Chieftain)
August 23, 1973: "Flames leaped fire lines Wednesday night to move within a mile of Hat Point lookout and rule out the possibility of controlling the Freezeout Fire in Hell's Canyon.
The fire grew by more than 2,000 acres to a total of 11,850 acres, with the burning reaching right down to the Snake River for several miles. There are 18 miles of lines and seven and a half to go." (Herald and News)