BALD MOUNTAIN
Klamath County - Fremont National Forest; 26S-11E-36
September 20, 1907: "Forest Ranger Brown sent a force of his guards, Billings, Petit and Patterson, out Monday to begin permanent improvement work at different points in the Fremont National Forest. Ranger's stations will be built at Silver Creek Marsh, Timothy Meadows, and several other points of vantage. At these stations pastures will be fenced for the convenience of the guards and the traveling public. Many trails will be laid out, one of the most important of which will lead from Timothy Meadows to the top of Bald Mountain, and must have a grade that will not exceed 15 per cent. From the top of this mountain a view of nearly the entire reserve is commanded and here will be established a sort of lookout station for observance of forest fires.. This station will soon be connected by telephone with Ranger Brown's headquarters in Silver Lake. In case a fire starts anywhere in the forest it will at once be observed by the lookout on top of the mountain and a telephone message sent at once to headquarters, from where a force of men can be sent to fight the fire." (The Bend Bulletin)
1917: " Supervisor Brown left September 12 from Silver Lake to supervise the construction of 16 miles of telephone line from Oatman Ranger Station to this site via the Embody sawmill. When completed there will be a continuous line from the Supervisors office in Lakeview through the forest via Cottonwood sawmill, Thomas Creek Ranger Station, Ingram Ranger Station, Currier forest camp, Silver Lake and Oatman Ranger Station to this point, a distance of about 126 miles." (Lake County Examiner)
July 12, 1918: " Lawrence Frizzell and Carl Ewing have been engaged the past week, constructing a phone line to Bald Mountain where an observation station is to be established. This station is to be equipped with the Osborne fire fighting apparatus and Burton Aldrich has been employed to act as look-out." (Silver Lake Leader)
October 1922: "An electric storm in late August started five fires. Ranger LaSater and Mr. Swan, employed on Forest roads, 'got' 3 of them and drove within striking distance of the fourth on day reported. There was 66 miles distance between the first and last. This, I believe, shows the vast superiority of the 'Tin Lizzie' over old Dobbin.
The same 'storm' mentioned above gave the Bald Mt. telephone line a 'jolt', splintered 6 poles and burned out all fuses on the line!" (Six Twenty-Six)
The same 'storm' mentioned above gave the Bald Mt. telephone line a 'jolt', splintered 6 poles and burned out all fuses on the line!" (Six Twenty-Six)
August 13, 1925: " J. R. Devlin who is employed as fire lookout on Baldy Mountain last Thursday killed a large Black bear weighing nearly 400 pounds. Mr. Devlin reports the hide to be in fine condition for this time of year." (Silver Lake Leader)
October 8, 1925: " Last Saturday Mr. Devlin finished his work as lookout on Baldy Mountain for the Klamath Forest Protective Association, until next fire season." (Silver Lake Leader)
August 11, 1927: " Forest Ranger Wm. LaSater informs the Leader that the road crew is well along with the road they are building to Baldy Mountain. The grade is completed to within about three-fourths of a mile of the top and it is expected will be completed within ten days." (Silver Lake Leader)
September 1, 1927: " A steel tower is expected soon at Baldy Mountain north of the old Embody sawmill."
(Silver Lake Leader)
1928: " It was announced in April that a 60 foot steel tower will be erected. This tower would be the first of its kind on the forest." (Lake County Examiner)
May 28, 1928: " The National Forest service will maintain a lookout on Bald Mountain. These eyes of the fire protective program will cover all the timbered area in the Klamath Basin (along with Cougar Peak, Chase Mountain and Yainax Butte)." (The Evening Herald)
June 29, 1928: " In a steel tower 40 feet high at the top of Bald Mountain, Earl Abbott, former well known ranger of the Fremont forest will be on constant guard this summer for the tell-tale spiral of smoke in both the Fremont and Deschutes national forests.
The new steel tower is now being completed, and Abbott, who recently returned from California after an absence of several years, is in his element as he stands guard once more over the virgin pine timber.
The point where the lookout station has been built is 7500 feet high, and the lookout not only guards the two national forests but also the Klamath Indian reservation. The station is about 25 miles northwest of Silver Lake." (Lake County Tribune)
June 29, 1928: " The lookout station is on cut-over exchange land which formerly belonged to Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company and The Shevlin-Hixon Company is furnishing lumber for construction work on the tower, it is announced." (Bend Bulletin)
June 7, 1929: " A pair of newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Lovelace from Lakeview are to occupy Bald Mountain lookout this summer." (Lake County Tribune)
July 26, 1929: " Mrs. R.E. Sawyer, bride of our High School principal is to teach in Paisley this coming year. Mr. Sawyer and his bride have been down on a recent trip from their summer abode at the lookout on Bald Mountain." (Lake County Tribune)
September 3, 1929: " Prof. and Mrs. Sawyer are leaving the lookout at Bald Mountain Saturday for Bend. They expect to go on to Eugene for a short time before taking up their school work. They brot their Police Dog to town Thursday and parked him at the Chrisman Hotel where proceeded to bark all night." (Lake County Tribune)
1929: " During a period of heavy smoke in September, the observer reported two fires in Klamath County, one of which appeared to be gaining headway. This lookout apparently had better visibility than the other lookouts on the forest, as they were obscured by the smoke." (Lake County Examiner)
May 22, 1931: "Ranger Clarence Young will begin work on a telephone line from Bald Mountain west to Skookum Butte. This work will be started Monday with a three man crew and will take in 19 miles of line to connect with the new lookout fireman on Pumice Butte in the Bald Mountain country. Next year this line will probably be extended to make connections with Walker Mountain in the Deschutes forest. This work comes under the development of the Bald mountain area which was added to the service by an act of congress last year. The work will take about a month." (Lake County Tribune)
August 1931: "FIREFINDERS COCKEYED. Does faulty window glass refract the light in such a way as to give an error in the Lookout's reading to a fire? It was noted on several occasions that our Bald Mountain lookout's readings within arc of about 10 degrees toward the south gave erroneous platted locations. Repeated checks of the orientation of the instrument failed to disclose the error. Recently Ranger Hulett, when inspecting the lookout and his fire finder, discovered that one of the panes of glass in the south window was so rough and wavy that it distorted the reading. He sighted upon a prominent peak through the window, then, leaving the fire finder set, opened the window and sighted again and found the instrument reading almost a degree off the peak. It would seem that we should have our lookouts open their windows before sighting, but all windows in lookout houses don't open. Probably they should be made to." (Six Twenty-Six)
September 30, 1937: " Mr. and Mrs. Lew Harris are still at Bald Mountain Lookout but expect to come down about October 1." (Lake County Tribune)
July 7, 1938: " Mr. and Mrs. Lew Harris will be stationed at Fremont Ranger Station this summer. This will be the first summer for eight years that Mr. Harris has not been on a lookout. For several summers he was stationed on Bald Mountain, where Guy Martin will act as lookout this summer." (Lake County Tribune)
August 4, 1938: " Mrs. Guy Martin spent the weekend on Bald Mountain, where her husband is employed as lookout. Mrs. Lew Harris tended the store in her absence." (Lake County Tribune)
August 3, 1939: " A small fire was started by lightning near Bald Mountain Wednesday. Guy Martin, lookout on the mountain, sighted it when the bolt struck. Taking a short cut, he arrived at the fire and quenched it before a crew from Fremont station could get to the spot by the round-about road." (Lake County Tribune)
September 28, 1939: " Guy Martin was absent from his job as lookout on Bald Mountain a few days this week due to illness. He was able to return to work Saturday. Fred Kaiser was lookout on Bald Mountain during his absence.
(Lake County Tribune)
May 9, 1941: " On Bald Mountain a new and thoroughly modern lookout tower is to be built this summer by Albert Waterhouse. The old outmoded tower will be torn down and replaced by one much higher." (The Klamath News)
1942: A memo from the Silver Lake District Ranger to the Forest Supervisor shows the new tower at 29’6” and used a 7/16 galvanized guy cable for tie downs. "The guy cable sag was not to exceed one inch. One method to determine the sag is to use two carpenter’s rules, one at each end of the guy. Hold each rule so that the ends are vertically below the guy an amount equal to the desired sag. Tighten the guy until the point of greatest sag is in line with the ends of the rule. This can be done by eye."
October 1963: "Highest lookout point within state and association districts is Bald Mountain located in Walker Range district. This promontory rears 7228 feet above sea level. Its nearest competitor is Yainax Butte at 7226 feet in the Klamath district. Wagner Lookout in Southwest is third with an elevation of 7140 feet.
Western Lane's Scare Ridge station has the distinction of being the lowest in altitude at 1000 feet." (The Forest Log)
1972: Observations noted on the 1972 lookout condition survey report:
"The wire rope guy on the northeast corner is one-quarter inch diameter. The other three guys are 3/8 inch. This guy should be replaced with a 3/8’s inch diameter guy. The clamps on this guy are for 3/8’s which is too large a size for proper clamping. One of the lightning protection cables coming down the tower on the northwest corner needs to be grounded. The wind has pulled out the clamps so they have all slid to the bottom of the tower.
The KFPA radio in the tower needs to be grounded. The fiberglass overhang is breaking off. The north west guy was looser than the other three. General condition of the building was satisfactory. The tower is well maintained. There is one cracked window pane in the cabin. The garage is in good condition. There is no vent in the toilet. The tower is a wooden tower in good condition; very little indication of any weather checking of joints."
November 9, 1988: " Jeff Johnston spent his summer alone at the top of 7,400 foot Bald Mountain, the highest manned fire lookout in Central Oregon.
A 1987 graduate of Gilchrist, Jeff is the youngest lookout in the district. But, according to Hal Pearce, Walker Range Patrol Supervisor, “He’s one of the best.” “It’s a big responsibility, but it’s shared with other lookouts,” Jeff adds. “There’s a special bond between the lookouts – we are all dealing with the same things and we look out for each other.” (The Citizen)