DOUGLAS COUNTY
QUARTZ MOUNTAIN
Umpqua National Forest
28S-1E-2
28S-1E-2
August 31, 1915: "Depriving a mother bear of her 50-pound cub, with no other protection than an almost useless firearm, is a rather risky experience. It was accomplished a few days ago by Theo. Bond, of this city, and the job was 'certainly no picnic.'
Bond was returning to his camp after his day's duty on Quartz mountain, one of the lookouts used by fire wardens in watching for fires in the Umpqua forest reserve, when he encountered the bears in his path. Using his rifle, he crippled the cub, but as the gun required considerable patience to extract the shell, it was of no further use when the mother bear began to give chase. Avoiding the angry parent, Bond made a circle in the timber and returned to the cripple and carried it some distance before he was forced to drop it and take to the timber again. He made another circle and still another until he finally eluded the parent and came to a place where he had a sack, in which he placed his captive. The cub is now recovering from its wound and is said to be very tame." (Roseburg Review)
Bond was returning to his camp after his day's duty on Quartz mountain, one of the lookouts used by fire wardens in watching for fires in the Umpqua forest reserve, when he encountered the bears in his path. Using his rifle, he crippled the cub, but as the gun required considerable patience to extract the shell, it was of no further use when the mother bear began to give chase. Avoiding the angry parent, Bond made a circle in the timber and returned to the cripple and carried it some distance before he was forced to drop it and take to the timber again. He made another circle and still another until he finally eluded the parent and came to a place where he had a sack, in which he placed his captive. The cub is now recovering from its wound and is said to be very tame." (Roseburg Review)
July 10, 1920: "The airplane forest patrol has reported a fire in the vicinity of Quartz mountain, in the Umpqua forest, several hours before it was found by the lookouts." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
June 23, 1923: "George Spaur, who recently returned from Corvallis, where he has been attending O.A.C., will leave in the morning for Quartz Mountain, where he will be employed by the government at the lookout station." (Roseburg News-Review)
September 1, 1933: "Another detail will be sent out this week to construct three-quarters of a mile of trail near the Quartz mountain ranger station and a crew of carpenters will start work on the new lookout on top of the mountain." (Roseburg News-Review)
September 14, 1933: "A 10 x 10 lookout house is to be constructed by the CCC before the snow flies. A 10 x 10 is the standard size for a secondary lookout." (Roseburg Chieftain)
September 14, 1933: "A 10 x 10 lookout house is to be constructed by the CCC before the snow flies. A 10 x 10 is the standard size for a secondary lookout." (Roseburg Chieftain)
September 21, 1933: "A second crew will return from Quartz mountain this week after completing a 14' by 14' lookout there." (Roseburg News-Review)
February 24, 1937: "Not long ago, Pilot Joseph Smith, flying a transportation plane over a west coast route, was on a northbound trip from San Francisco to Seattle, and accidentally dropped his sun goggles out the window of the pilot's compartment in the nose of the plane. Caught in the terrific wind stream, the goggles were gone in an instant, fell 6,000 feet and were lost in the immense Umpqua forest. On his next trip, Pilot Smith dropped a note to the forest fire lookout station on Quartz mountain, requesting them to look for the goggles, and two weeks later they were found and returned to him -- unbroken. Howard Church, of the lookout station lives in Roseburg, Ore., was the finder." ('Believe It Or Not! By Ripley' Nebraska State Journal)
1972: Lookout removed