JEFFERSON COUNTY
BALD PETER
Warm Springs Indian Reservation
10S-9E-32
10S-9E-32
April 24, 1925: "I have read with interest the recommendations of Mr. F.W. Wilkes and Mr. William Heritage that a forest lookout tower and cabin be built on Mutton Mountain in preference to one on Bald Peter Mountain.
Mr. Wilkes infers that no one has ever given the fire detection problem on the Warm Springs any thought. I do not believe his arguments to be very logical, since he reports last fall that "during September and October (1924) that it was so hazy and smoky as to seriously interfere with plane table mapping on the reservation." If that was true, and I can vouch that it was true, how does he expect a lookout man on Mutton Mountain to see twice or three times distant and locate a forest fire? I spent an entire fire season in communion with nature as a lookout man on an Idaho forest in 1914. As a consequence some little thought has been given to fire protection.
Mr. Heritage, like all foresters when first arriving at Warm Springs in the spring, almost invariably select Mutton Mountain as the logical lookout point. Mutton Mountain was my choice in the spring of 1922. However, as the foresters before me had always used Bald Peter as an observation mountain. I conclude that there must be a reason. That reason appeared to me later during 1922, and that was the hazy, smoky atmospheric condition which invariably prevails during August, September and until the first good rain occurs in October, preventing any one from detecting smoke of a forest fire at any appreciable distance.
Since the ruler of the universe did not place mountain peaks in the best locations to be of the greatest use in serving as a lookout point, it remains only a matter of selecting the best available point, considering all the various controlling elements. It is true that Bald Peter Mountain is not as good as we should have for a lookout station by any means. However, I believe it is a better observation point than Mutton Mountain." (Letter to Mr. Kinney)
Mr. Wilkes infers that no one has ever given the fire detection problem on the Warm Springs any thought. I do not believe his arguments to be very logical, since he reports last fall that "during September and October (1924) that it was so hazy and smoky as to seriously interfere with plane table mapping on the reservation." If that was true, and I can vouch that it was true, how does he expect a lookout man on Mutton Mountain to see twice or three times distant and locate a forest fire? I spent an entire fire season in communion with nature as a lookout man on an Idaho forest in 1914. As a consequence some little thought has been given to fire protection.
Mr. Heritage, like all foresters when first arriving at Warm Springs in the spring, almost invariably select Mutton Mountain as the logical lookout point. Mutton Mountain was my choice in the spring of 1922. However, as the foresters before me had always used Bald Peter as an observation mountain. I conclude that there must be a reason. That reason appeared to me later during 1922, and that was the hazy, smoky atmospheric condition which invariably prevails during August, September and until the first good rain occurs in October, preventing any one from detecting smoke of a forest fire at any appreciable distance.
Since the ruler of the universe did not place mountain peaks in the best locations to be of the greatest use in serving as a lookout point, it remains only a matter of selecting the best available point, considering all the various controlling elements. It is true that Bald Peter Mountain is not as good as we should have for a lookout station by any means. However, I believe it is a better observation point than Mutton Mountain." (Letter to Mr. Kinney)
May 13, 1925: " Linking the fire protection system with that of the Deschutes national forest, a lookout tower is to be erected this season on Bald Peter, dominant peak in the Warmsprings Indian Reservation, according to information obtained today from William Heritage, supervisor of the 320,000 acres of federal timber on the reservation.
The standard lookout tower will be of great value in protecting parts of the north end of the Deschutes forest, in the Green Ridge area, it is explained by local forest officials. This will be the first lookout tower in the forests of the Warmsprings reservation. Jim Greeley, an Indian, is to be lookout this summer. Seven fire guards, also Indians, will patrol the reservation forest this year". (The Bend Bulletin)
June 1925: "Mr. Wm. Heritage, the new Forester on the Warmsprings Indian Reservation was in Bend on May 13 for material for the lookout tower to be erected on Bald Peter. The tower will be equipped with an Osborne fire finder and the telephone line to this point will be put in first class condition he reports. This is of great interest to us since there is a portion of the Deschutes which can only be seen from Bald Peter. Mr. Heritage also states that he is securing some psychrometers for use on the reservation the coming season. W.O.H." (Six Twenty-Six)
July 30, 1934: " Shortly before 2 o’clock this afternoon, the lookout on Bald Peter, in the Warm Springs reservation, indicated that the east line was apparently not holding. The fire evidently had broken into a draw and clouds of smoke were again rolling over the Grandview country. However, this ravine of fire is near the sparse timber of the low desert edge and no great danger from the break is anticipated." [ In reference to a large fire in the Fly Creek area.] (The Bend Bulletin)
1935: "Two lookouts were completed during the fall of 1935; one a 45-foot wooden tower on Bald Peter. Quarters for lookouts were constructed at both towers." (Annual Forestry and Grazing Report F.Y. 1936)
Gone