GRANT COUNTY
BALDY MOUNTAIN
Malheur National Forest
13S-35E-36
13S-35E-36
1911: A lookout maintained on Baldy Mountain this season and connected by telephone to the central office.
August 14, 1914: "Five 'Oregon Fire Finders', a new machine for the exact locating of forest fires, were received this morning by the Baker County Fire Protection association and will be placed at different lookout stations as soon as possible. One will go to Baldy mountain." (La Grande Observer)
July 23, 1915: "The United States forest service of this city has just finished the construction of a building on the topmost peak of Baldy mountain. This structure had to be anchored in order to keep it from being swept away by the winds that prevail there at times. It will be used as a lookout station for forest fires." (La Grande Observer)
July 1925: "The first fire of the season on the Burnt River District was reported by Dan W. Fisk from Baldy Mtn. Lookout to Lloyd M. Judy at Unity, June 29. The fire was reported about 7 p.m. At the time it was raining both at the lookout and at Unity. Dan was doing telephone maintenance work and just worked into Baldy Mtn. lookout. On June 30 the fireman and myself hunted for the fire and found two very hard rain storms but no fire.
There seems to be an unusually large amount of lightning this early in the season. Fortunately these electrical storms have been followed by heavy rains. At this time the fire condition is the way we want it, everything is soaked with water. L.M.J." (Six Twenty-Six)
November 1927: "John Tucker, Baldy Mtn. lookout on the Whitman Ascended his tower one day in September as usual and scanned the Forest for smokes and flames. No new fires, but down the Baldy Mtn. trail something entirely new was happening. Once in a while large trees too near the trail would wave for a few seconds and then stop almost as abruptly as they started. Tucker thought it was a local earthquake along the trail. Gigantic footsteps vibrated the tower as the 'quake' moved up the trail--and then, where am I thought Tucker--for an elephant stuck his head from the timbered opening of the trail and then another and following came camels, five of them. Am I in India, Siam or the Sahara, thought Tucker. The elephants and camels of 'Honest Bill's Circus' were being transferred from Unity to Prairie across the Whitman and Malheur Forests.
Tucker took advantage of the opportunity to get several pictures of the elephants and camels in the vicinity of the lookout tower. J.L. Peterson" (Six Twenty-Six)
August 24, 1939: "Dalton Derrick is stationed on Baldy Mountain." (The Record-Courier)
August 31, 1939: "By Tuesday night the fire line was completed at the north end and down the west side to near Baldy Mountain, where Dalton Derrick of Unity was driven from his lookout post Sunday night, forced to abandon his car and to flee on foot. It was hoped Wednesday to drive the trench four miles further south to Little Baldy on the forest boundary." (The Record-Courier)
June 28, 1945: "Miss Marie Seburn and Miss Grace Foster have gone to Baldy Mountain lookout station near Unity, where they will work during the summer. They were accompanied to Unity Sunday by Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Foster." (The Nyssa Gate City Journal)
August 9, 1945: "Mr. and Mrs. Charles Seburn spent the weekend on Baldy mountain visiting their daughter, Marie, and Miss Grace Foster, who are stationed there as lookouts." (The Nyssa Gate City Journal)
August 30, 1945: "The Misses Marie Seburn and Grace Foster returned home Thursday from a lookout on Baldy mountain, where they had been for the past two months, to re-enter high school." (The Nyssa Gate City Journal)
Removed
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1946 (DHK)
STATION IS THE CENTER OF THE BALDY MOUNTAIN LOOKOUT HOUSE WHICH
IS A STANDARD SQUARE LOOKOUT HOUSE OF FOREST SERVICE DESIGN
LOCATED ON A HIGH BARE PEAK LYING IN THE HEADWATERS OF THE JOHN
DAY RIVER AND KNOWN LOCALLY AS BALDY MOUNTAIN. IT IS ABOUT 13
MILES SOUTHEAST OF PRAIRIE CITY AND VISIBLE FROM THAT
PLACE. CONNECTED BY TRAVERSE WITH TRIANGULATION STATION BALDY
1946. CENTER OF BUILDING WAS THE POINT MEASURED TO.