LAKE COUNTY
HAGER MOUNTAIN
Fremont National Forest
29S-14E-35
29S-14E-35
1915: " June 3, the first work of the year will be that of constructing watch towers on Cougar Peak and Hagar Mountain. The latter is located about six miles south of Silver Lake and a person standing on top of it has an unobstructed view for nearly fifty miles in every direction.
As soon as the towers are completed fire finding instruments will be placed in them." (Source not noted, on file at the Lake County Museum.)
As soon as the towers are completed fire finding instruments will be placed in them." (Source not noted, on file at the Lake County Museum.)
August 18, 1916: " Hager Lookout Station has received a new National Forest Register.
The Forest Service men hope that many of the people in the surrounding community, as well as all tourists who pass through here will make a trip to the top of this fine view point." (Silver Lake Leader)
September 20, 1918: " The heavy rains last week put Billy Burton, lookout on Hager, out of a job. The forest service deeming the danger from fires so small, that it was not necessary to keep a man on the mountain any longer this fall. After living alone on the mountain for three months, not to mention the fact that he was his own chef, he is not grieved because he has to live in town for awhile." (Silver Lake Leader)
June 20, 1919: " The lookout station on Hager Mountain was put in order last Monday and an observer is now on duty. From his elevated position he can see at least fifty mile in any direction. The station is connected with surrounding points by telephone and the location of a forest fire is quickly sent to the nearest ranger. The forest department was fortunate in securing for this important position Wendall MacCargar, a young man who has served in the army in France and was five months on the front. He bears the marks shrapnel which testify that he was where it was hot." (Silver Lake Leader)
June 24, 1920: “Oscar Elmgren of Wastina, has accepted a position with the Forest Service and will probably be in charge of Mt. Hager lookout this summer.” (Silver Lake Leader)
October 14, 1920: "Mount Hager, a peak in the remote recesses of the northern part of the Fremont national forest in Lake county, was the center of a romance this summer, says Forest Examiner R.H. Chapler. The forest service employed Miss Ethel Caldwell as lookout during the forest fire season. Miss Caldwell was on the mountain top from June 19 to September 14 with the exception of three days. Chapler says she never missed a fire.
She was also extremely popular with forestry workers, and on September 12 was married on the summit of the mountain to Charles McCully, one of the timber association rangers.
Forest Supervisor Gilbert Brown said Mrs. McCully was the best lookout he ever had." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
1920: “Romance On Mt Hagar”
"The romance culminated September 12 with the marriage of Miss Ethel Caldwell to Mr. Charles McCully. The ceremony took place at the lookout house on top of Mt Hagar, which is on the Silver Lake Ranger District.
Miss Caldwell was a very efficient fire lookout on this peak the past fire season. From June 19th until September 14th she was “on top” every day except three, after a heavy rainstorm. The camp is about a mile from the top of the mountain, and the trip must necessarily be made twice a day." (The History of the Fremont National Forest , Melva Bach)
September 15, 1921: " George Champlain, who has had charge of the lookout on Hager this summer, brought to the Leader office Saturday a collection of tusks of some prehistoric animal which he found on the east side of Mt Hager. The tusks are strewn down the mountain side for a distance of nearly a mile. We were unable to give Mr. Champlain any light on the subject, and unless he finds the desired information from some other source, the animals to which these tusks belonged will forever be unknown to this enlightened world. About thirty pounds of the teeth were picked up which measure about three inches long and about the same circumference." (Silver Lake Leader)
October 1922: "The Hager L.O. 'catches 'em young', as is evidenced by 3 runs having been made to camp fires this summer. And a fourth proved to be the burning of a sheep carcass--by herder for the Murphy Bros." (Six Twenty-Six)
June 14, 1923: “Delmer Reeder returned last Saturday from Corvallis, and has been employed by the forest service to take the lookout at Mount Hager this summer.” (Silver Lake Leader and Lake County Tribune)
June 14, 1923: “Delmer Reeder returned last Saturday from Corvallis, and has been employed by the forest service to take the lookout at Mount Hager this summer.” (Silver Lake Leader and Lake County Tribune)
1925: " Mr. Frizzell informed me of a conversation he had with you relative to azimuth reading from certain lookout points. It appears from this conversation that the readings from our Hager Mt. Lookout do not coincide with observations taken from Calimus Butte and as he understood the situation also with Walker Mt. on the Deschutes National forest.
I have taken the matter up with the lookout on Hager, asking him to exchange mirror flashes with the Calimus Lookout at the earliest possible time, such time to be agreed upon by the two lookout men. I trust this arrangement will be satisfactory to you as we appreciate very much the assistance your lookout has given us in the past and for what he may do for us in the future. Any assistance which we may be able to give you at any time will be most gladly given.
The azimuth readings from Calimus Butte to Hager, Walker, Bald Mt. and Yainax Butte would also be of great assistance in adjusting the differences in the orientation and locating discrepancies." (Letter from Gilbert Brown, Fremont National Forest to Wm. Zeh, Klamath Agency)
May 24, 1929: " Mr. Sawyer is to hold down the job of lookout on Mt Hager this summer. He is doing this to avoid the discomforts of hay fever from which he suffers each season in lower altitudes."
June 7, 1929: "…Prof. Sawyer drove in from Bend Thursday morning. He brot with him a German Police Dog to take with him up to the lookout on Mt Hager. He looks like a relative of Rin Tin Tin."
June 21, 1929: "…Prof. Sawyer was down Sunday from the lookout on Mt Hager."
July 23, 1929: "…Prof. Sawyer went to Bend and came back with a Bride. (Silver Lake Leader)
1931: An emergency lookout sent to the lookout in mid-May.
August 27, 1936: “Effective Work Done By E.R.A.’
"Two of the ERA men have done most of the work packing a new 14x14 lookout house to Hagar Mountain. They have one mule and two horses for their pack string and they camp on the job. New poles for the telephone tripods will be skidded up the mountain and on the job by Friday evening, August 14th." (Lake County Examiner)
"Two of the ERA men have done most of the work packing a new 14x14 lookout house to Hagar Mountain. They have one mule and two horses for their pack string and they camp on the job. New poles for the telephone tripods will be skidded up the mountain and on the job by Friday evening, August 14th." (Lake County Examiner)
June 23, 1938: " Claudis Lundy was lookout on Mt Hager for several days this week while the regular lookout, Phillip Bronson, was absent at fire school." (Lake County Tribune)
1956: The air marking number for this station, F-6.
January 22, 1964: " The pictures you sent in of Hager Mountain Lookout indicate this station is in about the condition of many others in the region. A large number of our lookouts were built in the late twenties and during the three C program and are needing replacement at about the same time.
This replacement job is a large and costly program under present conditions. Fire control’s share of the annual improvement construction funds has allowed for the replacement of about 8 lookout stations each year. The concentration has been on towers that were unsafe for occupancy or where there were no improvements at all. We do not know when we can get to ground stations such as Hager Mountain. We will just have to do the best possible job of maintenance to keep them useable until they can be replaced.
We also believe, as was pointed out in our management memo of January 15, that each forest should study the possibility of supplemental aerial detection as a replacement for some ground stations." (A letter from the Regional Fire Control to the Forest Supervisor)
November 20, 1964: " This summer Messrs. Wilson and Pierovich visited and inspected Hager Mountain lookout on the Silver Lake District of the Fremont. As they determined, this building is very old and beyond rehabilitation. It is a 14x14 ground cabin with no tower. Reconstruction should be of a similar type.
This is one of the key lookouts on the forest. For example, out of the 78 fires on the Forest this year to date, Hager Mountain has picked up 14 first or 18% of the forest total. For the 5 year period 1960 through 1964, Hager is the second most important lookout on the entire forest with 32 first discoveries.
We hope you will be able to place Hager Mountain lookout in your building plans for this next year. If you wish a better idea of the actual condition of the lookout, see our January 17, 1964 memo under a 5100 designation to you and the attached photographs." (Letter to the Regional Forester from the Forest Supervisor)
1967: A R-6 flat roof lookout house constructed. The contractor was Wood Manufacturing Company of Portland.
1972: Comments on the 1972 Lookout Condition Report: "This is a ground house. Some of the floor tile have been broken. There are a couple of extra floor tile in the tower that can be used to replace these broken tile.
Some of the trim on the outside have cracks behind them. Caulking compound should be placed in these cracks. Some of the trim appears to be slightly long; The sloping seal of the window – forcing it out. This could be due to the shrinkage of the headers across the windows. Weather stripping is needed around the windows. Sheet metal screws should be placed in the stove pipe to keep it from coming apart. The plywood on the ceilings had pulled loose and had been re-nailed with brads by the lookout."
1992: The cabin's roof modified from the standard flat roof to a slightly sloping gabled roof.
1998: An OSHA inspection on September 30th showed the following violations: "No toe board on guardrail, no handrail on steps to deck, no ground on wood stove and Propane tanks not secured."
DESIGNATION - HAGER LOH
PID - PB0711
STATE/COUNTY- OR/LAKE
COUNTRY - US
USGS QUAD - HAGER MTN (1968)
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 1968
STATION HAGER USGS IS LOCATED ABOUT 8.5 MI (AIRLINE) S. OF SILVER
LAKE. ABOUT 40 FT N. OF CENTER OF USFS WOODEN LOH ON HAGER MOUNTAIN.
TO REACH STATION HAGER USGS FROM SILVER LAKE, GO W. FROM SCHOOL ON
STATE HWY. 31 FOR 0.5 MI TO RD. LEFT AND SIGN HAGER MTN. LO 12 MI.
TURN LEFT AND GO 10.5 MI TO RD. LEFT AND SIGN HAGER MTN. LO 4 MI.
GO LEFT FOR 1.8 MI TO RD. LEFT NEAR MEADOW. GO LEFT FOR 2.4 MI TO
LOCKED GATE. (KEY AND PERMISSION TO ENTER OBTAINED AT USFS IN SILVER
LAKE) CONTINUE AHEAD FOR 1.1 MI TO TOP AND STATION. 4-WHEEL
DRIVE REQUIRED.