DOUGLAS COUNTY
GARWOOD BUTTE
Umpqua National Forest
28S-5E-07
28S-5E-07
1942: A 14 x 14 L-4 hip roof lookout house constructed.
August 3, 1944: "Vernon Teater left Wednesday for Bear Butte lookout, where he will visit a week with his father, Everett Teater, who is in charge there." (Roseburg News-Review)
September 8, 1944: "Everett Teater returned Friday to Roseburg from Bear Butte lookout, where he has spent the summer working for the forest service." (Roseburg News-Review)
1944: The lookout renamed for Leroy Garwood, a past District Ranger on the Diamond Lake Ranger District, who died in 1944. Prior to this the lookout was known as Bear Butte.
April 18, 1946: "Garwood Butte, a prominent peak in the Diamond Lake district, has been named in memory of Leroy E. Garwood, a former Forest Service district ranger, who died in March, 1944, it was announced today by M.M. Nelson, supervisor of the Umpqua National Forest.
Name of the peak was changed to Garwood Butte from Bear Butte, following recommendations from Forest Service and approval of the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, Nelson said. Mr. Garwood was an 'Old-timer' in the Forest Service, who first developed the lookout station on the 7,032-foot peak, which is located about six miles west of Diamond Lake.
Changing of the peak's name from Bear Butte to Garwood Butte will make one less the many features on the Umpqua map which carry the 'Bear' name. At present there are six Bear Creeks, two Bear Buttes, two Bear Camps, one Bear Bluff, one Bear Bones, one Bear Gulch, one Bear Lake, one Bear Wallows, one Bear Trap Mountain and two Bear Mountains." (The News-Review)
July 29, 1947: "A forest lookout who suffered an attack of acute appendicitis yesterday on the 7,032-foot Garwood Butte lookout station near Diamond Lake is in Medford today, his appendix removed and doing well, it was reported by Ray B. Hampton, fire control officer for the Umpqua National Forest.
The youth was Rodney O. Knudson, University of Washington forestry student, who contacted the Diamond Lake Guard Station by radio to tell of the attack. A stretcher party led by Dick Hook, Forest Service guard at Diamond Lake, set out a 3 P.M. to pack Knudson in.
The party returned at 10:40 to Diamond Lake, where an ambulance called from Medford was waiting. Knudson was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital in Medford, where his appendix was removed at 3 A.M. A call to the hospital today revealed that he is 'doing well,' Hampton said.
Hook's party included Ed Klienholz, Glendale, Calif., school teacher; Richard Otto, Roseburg, and Paul Bias and Erl McClure, Forest Service employes at Diamond Lake." (The News-Review)
July 14, 1961: "The 'copter was taken to the Diamond Lake District this morning where it is being used to ferry smokejumpers from the fires back to the Toketee Air Strip. It will also take a lookout into Garwood Butte this afternoon. Until now, the lookout had not been manned because of heavy snow blocking the road leading into the station and making the necessary 14-mile hike into the post impossible. The 'copter is scheduled to return to Tiller late this afternoon to drop water and hot food to some of the crews still on watch." (The News-Review)
October 4, 1973: "Lookout Inspection - The cab in general is functional but deteriorated; however, the advanced stage of disrepair of the catwalk, stairs, and handrail suggest that the entire structure be removed. These deficient items are public hazards and must be eliminated one way or the other. Fire planning indicates that this lookout is no longer needed." (To District Ranger, Diamond Lake from Forest Supervisor, Umpqua)
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1953 (HSC)
THE STATION IS THE APEX OF THE LOOKOUT HOUSE ON THE SUMMIT OF
GARWOOD BUTTE ABOUT 6 MILES WEST OF DIAMOND LAKE AND 3 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF MT. BAILEY. IT IS A STANDARD 14 X 14 FOOT
OBSERVATION CAB BUILT ON THE GROUND. THE STATION IS REACHED
BY TRAIL. INQUIRE AT THE UNION CREEK RANGER STATION CONCERNING
TRAVEL TO THE STATION.