YAMHILL COUNTY
TRASK MOUNTAIN
Forest Grove District, Oregon Department of Forestry
2S-6W-29
2S-6W-29
1910's: A tree lookout established with a rural telephone line . The telephone, of the crank type, housed in a 'booth' resembling an outhouse.
November 14, 1928: "Maintenance man for Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. left for the summit of Trask mountain where he will spend 6 months patrolling lines during winter storms, a service little known but soon missed if removed." (The News-Review)
September 1934: "The Trask detachment is now located on Trask Mountain and is engaged in the construction of a 69-foot cut-to-order creosoted lookout tower. All material, including a bull dozer, was shipped to the nearest point over the Flora Logging Co. railroad. From there the bull dozer hauled the material to the summit of the mountain, a distance of about a mile." (The Forest Log)
Activated: March 9, 1942. Portland Filter Center.
July 9, 1942: "This post was visited June 25. The observers on duty were Alva Seward and Bob Reed.
Improvements consist of a 75' tower with 7x7 cab. A 16x24 two-room cabin is already sealed in and weatherization needs met, except that good cabinets for food storage are needed. A 14x24 garage can partially be used for wood storage but additional wood storage space is needed if a car is kept on the post. The post has a good wood show.
As the ground cabin is used largely for aircraft spotting, another window on the N.E. side should be installed to give better visibility towards the ocean. The windows were quite dirty and needed washing." (Inspection Report from W.N. Parke, AWS Inspector to James Frankland, USFS)
Improvements consist of a 75' tower with 7x7 cab. A 16x24 two-room cabin is already sealed in and weatherization needs met, except that good cabinets for food storage are needed. A 14x24 garage can partially be used for wood storage but additional wood storage space is needed if a car is kept on the post. The post has a good wood show.
As the ground cabin is used largely for aircraft spotting, another window on the N.E. side should be installed to give better visibility towards the ocean. The windows were quite dirty and needed washing." (Inspection Report from W.N. Parke, AWS Inspector to James Frankland, USFS)
1956: A new cab constructed on the tower for a cost of $1616.70. The new cab and the ground house painted inside and out, also the privy relocated.
September 1959: "Miss Eleanor Mitchell, lookout on Trask mountain in the Northwest Oregon unit for a number of years, was hospitalized recently following a fall from the roof of her cabin which resulted in a fractured skull. She was confined to a McMinnville hospital for a time but has now returned to her home in Yamhill." (The Forest Log)
1982: "Trask Lookout was the last manned fire lookout used in Northwest Oregon and was closed at the end of the fire season." (Annual Report, Forest Grove District)
Removed
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY US FOREST SERVICE 1936
THIS OCCUPIED STATION IS THE CENTER OF THE TRASK MOUNTAIN
LOOKOUT TOWER, ON THE HIGHEST PART OF THE MOUNTAIN, 21 MILES AIR
LINE NW OF MC MINNVILLE. TRAVEL DIRECTIONS MAY BE SECURED FROM
THE COUNTY FIRE PATROL ASSOCIATION HEADQUARTERS AT FOREST GROVE.
STATION IS MARKED BY A USFS DISK SET IN BOULDER DIRECTLY UNDER
CENTER OF TOWER, WHICH IS ABOUT 65 FEET HIGH. IT IS REPORTED THAT
IN 1935 DISKS WERE INSTALLED FOR A USC AND GS STATION ON THIS
MOUNTAIN, BUT THE STATION WAS NOT OCCUPIED AT THAT TIME, AND THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THESE DISKS AND THE TOWER CENTER WAS NOT
KNOWN IN 1936.
STATION RECOVERY (1941)
RECOVERY NOTE BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1941 (ANS)
STATION IS ABOUT 17 MILES NW OF MC MINNVILLE, 19 MILES ESE OF
TILLAMOOK, 20 MILES SW OF FOREST GROVE AT THE HEAD OF NORTH
YAMHILL RIVER. IT IS ON THE HIGHEST PART OF TRASK MOUNTAIN, A
PROMINENT ROUND-TOPPED MOUNTAIN, TIMBERED ON THE TOP AND BURNED
OFF ON ALL SIDES. THE LOOKOUT TOWER IS ABOUT 85 FEET HIGH
(ESTIMATED). THE HOUSE IS PAINTED WHITE AND THE LEGS,
DIAGONALS, ETC., ARE BROWN. TRASK (U.S.F.S. 1936) IS CENTERED
DIRECTLY BENEATH THE LOOKOUT TOWER. STATION TRASK 1941 IS
19.758 METERS SE OF THE TOWER.
CENTER OF TOWER WAS OCCUPIED IN 1936 BY THE USFS. A MARK,
RECOVERED IN 1941, WAS CENTERED BENEATH THE TOWER.