WANOGA BUTTE
Deschutes County - Deschutes National Forest - 19S-10E-20
July 18, 1932: "Construction on Wanoga Butte, in the LaPine district, of a 30 foot lookout tower on which will be built a glass ribbed lookout house, will be started in the next few days, according to information from the local forest service office. Paddy Ryan, who is at present in charge of a telephone crew building a line to Wanoga Butte, will be lookout-fireman at the station when the tower is completed.
The tower will be of wood construction and will provide a station from which timber of the Deschutes county immediately southwest of Bend can be protected." (The Bend Bulletin)
The tower will be of wood construction and will provide a station from which timber of the Deschutes county immediately southwest of Bend can be protected." (The Bend Bulletin)
July 20, 1932: "A glass-ribbed lookout house will be constructed on a 30-foot tower which is to be erected on Wanoga butte, in the timbered country southwest of Bend, Deschutes national forest officials announced this week. A lookout fireman, Pat Ryan, will make his home in the tower house through the summer, guarding the LaPine district." (The Morning Oregonian)
May 25, 1932: This station has been designated as a precipitation point and will be supplied with a rain gauge. (The Bend Bulletin)
August 13, 1932: "A 30 foot tower has been erected on Wanoga Butte, in the LaPine district, and is now ready for a lookout house." (The Bend Bulletin)
August 22, 1932: "Lee Smith, fireman-lookout stationed on Wanoga butte, in the La Pine district, today was vigorously assisting in erecting a house on top of a 30-foot high tower, firmly convinced that the house will have more value as a refuge than as an observation point. Saturday night, Smith's tent home, on the summit of the butte, was raided by three bears, an old mother bear and her two cubs, and last night the unwelcome visitors approached to within 15 feet of the tent. Such visitors, Smith indicates, are not conducive of sound sleep.
Last Saturday night, Smith left his lookout home long enough to make a trip to Bend after some provisions. When he returned he found that three bears had widely scattered his cooking equipment and food, including a kettle of cooked beans, over the top of the butte. One of the bears, probably an inquisitive cub, carried a carton of eggs across the road from the tent and then broke the eggs one by one, without eating them. Members of the forest service headquarters staff in Bend believe that the bear was hunting for fresh, unhatched chickens. Some dried fruit, including a bag of prunes was eaten by the visitors.
This morning work was started on the house which is to be placed on top of the newly erected 30-foot tower, but forest service officials say that construction now under way on the butte is not due to the visit of the three bears. Material for the eight lookout houses which are to be erected at various points in the Deschutes woods arrived here Saturday, completely filling a railroad freight car. Yesterday, Lester Hunter took the material for the Wanoga butte station up the mountain and learned of Smith's unwelcome visitors. Smith will have to live on the ground, in his tent, for a month before he can move into his 'bear proof' residence, perched on the high tower." (The Bend Bulletin)
August 23, 1932: "Lee Smith, fire lookout stationed on Wanoga Butte in the Cascade foothills southwest of Bend, today notified forest officials that three bears, mother and two cubs, have twice raided his tent in the past 48 hours. On the first visit the bears destroyed all of Smith's foodstuff and scattered a kettle of cooked beans over the summit of the butte.
As the result of the raids, Smith today was watching with considerable interest the starting of work on a lookout house being erected atop a 30-foot tower on Wanoga butte. He believed the high house will be as valuable as a refuge as it will as a lookout point." (The Oregon Statesman)
August 24, 1932: "Lee Smith, forest lookout on Wanoga Butte, doesn't enjoy the converse role of Goldilocks and having all his porridge eaten by the three bears.
A mother bruin and her three cubs raided his tent, destroyed all his food and scattered a kettle full of cooked beans over the summit. Smith is looking forward eagerly to the completion of the lookout house being built atop a 30-foot tower. He is going to keep his beans as well as his binoculars up there." (Medford Mail Tribune)
A mother bruin and her three cubs raided his tent, destroyed all his food and scattered a kettle full of cooked beans over the summit. Smith is looking forward eagerly to the completion of the lookout house being built atop a 30-foot tower. He is going to keep his beans as well as his binoculars up there." (Medford Mail Tribune)
October 1933: A plan T-1E garage was constructed.
October 18, 1933: "A garage is under construction at Wanoga butte. From that point, the crew will go to Walker mountain, then to Fuzztail butte, to construct garages." (The Bend Bulletin)
June 25, 1935: "Forest Service officials reported today that Charles Shaw, lookout on Wanoga Butte, should be given some credit for his part in the aerial roundup of wild horses that took place Sunday, with Ted Barber at the control of an airplane.
Shaw spotted the strange plane circling low over the forest, as if the pilot were seeking a landing place. The lookout flashed a mirror toward the plane, which immediately circled over the lookout station, with motors silenced. Then from the cockpit came a yelled question:
'Have you seen any horses?'
When that question was asked, the lookout was certain that something was wrong - probably, he thought, a mad pilot was adrift over the forest. But, Shaw recovered his wits by the time the plane re-circled the lookout station and called aloft that the horses were in a certain clump of timber.
With that information, the pilot found the horses, chased them out of the brush and finally corralled them at the brickyard, just west of Bend." (The Bend Bulletin)
June 1936: Hazard sticks, balanced scales and wind recording instruments were installed.
1948: W.T. Curtis, lookout-fireman, split duties between this station and the lookout on Tumalo Mountain.
1950: The garage was moved to Sparks Lake and converted into a cabin.
1953: The pine tower legs were replaced with round Tamarack timbers.
1994: An engineering firm inspected the tower and recommended that the lower stairs should be removed to limit access to the cab. A number of cab beams appeared to be rotten.
July 2006: Between the 10th and 15th, a crew of volunteers dismantled the lookout and moved the bundled materials to the High Desert Museum for storage. Once sufficient funds are raised, the structure will be reconstructed on the Museum grounds as part of a forestry interpretive display.
2006: Removed