CURRY COUNTY
GRASSY KNOB
Coos County FPA
32S-14W-32
32S-14W-32
1935: A lookout house was constructed on a 12-foot tower.
May 1940: "Station is in fog belt, and should only be necessary during the more severe fire danger days. Where it not for the above average rate of spread fuels the position might not be justified as a regular, Seen area within the forest is very restricted." (Plans, Guard Placement, Siskiyou National Forest)
1941: The lookout station was staffed 79 days and reported to the Gold Beach station through West Coast telephone Company
Activated: March 21, 1942. Roseburg Filter Center.
May 4, 1942: "It is his (Mr. MacGougan) opinion that a telephone connection can be made from Grassy Knob Look Out to the Port Orford telephone line. This can be accomplished by making a toll station connection with a guarantee of $5.00 per month. A service connection fee of about $6.00 will be charged the first month." (Letter to Wm. Parks, USFS, from Secretary / Warden, Coos County FPA)
June 2, 1943: "Lauren S. Giebner, whose tower commands a vast stand of Douglas fir east of this seacoast village, said he heard an airplane motor early September 28, saw a flash through a fog haze, but was unable to see the plane. Two hours later he spotted a fire, which was controlled without difficulty.
This was the second attack in September. On September 9 a tiny seaplane dropped two incendiary bombs near Brookings. The first attack was June 21, when shells were dropped, probably from a submarine's guns, near Fort Stevens, at the mouth of the Columbia river.
Unlike the September 9 attack, witnessed by several persons in comparatively clear weather and spotted by air raid watchers almost as soon as the plane reached the coast line, the Port Orford raid was obscured by fog.
Shortly after 5 A.M. He heard the sound of a motor, northeast of his tower on grassy knob. At 5:22 A.M. He saw a flash of fire and heard a single blast.
He reported immediately to forest headquarters and kept a sharp watch for flames. At 7:55 A.M. He saw them, in the deep, heavily timbered dry creek canyon, about three miles from his tower. The scene is in one of the most rugged and inaccessible areas of the forest.
Four fighters he dispatched to the blaze hiked for more than two hours over trailless mountains. En route they enlisted a crew of woodcutters from a camp near the lookout station." (The Oregonian)
June 2, 1943: "Lauren S. Giebner, whose tower commands a vast stand of Douglas fir east of this seacoast village, said he heard an airplane motor early September 28, saw a flash through a fog haze, but was unable to see the plane. Two hours later he spotted a fire, which was controlled without difficulty.
This was the second attack in September. On September 9 a tiny seaplane dropped two incendiary bombs near Brookings. The first attack was June 21, when shells were dropped, probably from a submarine's guns, near Fort Stevens, at the mouth of the Columbia river.
Unlike the September 9 attack, witnessed by several persons in comparatively clear weather and spotted by air raid watchers almost as soon as the plane reached the coast line, the Port Orford raid was obscured by fog.
Shortly after 5 A.M. He heard the sound of a motor, northeast of his tower on grassy knob. At 5:22 A.M. He saw a flash of fire and heard a single blast.
He reported immediately to forest headquarters and kept a sharp watch for flames. At 7:55 A.M. He saw them, in the deep, heavily timbered dry creek canyon, about three miles from his tower. The scene is in one of the most rugged and inaccessible areas of the forest.
Four fighters he dispatched to the blaze hiked for more than two hours over trailless mountains. En route they enlisted a crew of woodcutters from a camp near the lookout station." (The Oregonian)
Removed