MOUNT HOOD
Hood River County - Mount Hood National Forest
July 21, 1915: "From the frigid peak of Mount Hood a lookout is to survey the Bull Run forest reserve the year around, according to information imparted to Commissioner Daly by officials of the United States Forest Service, who have supervision of protection of the reserve from forest fires. At present a lookout station is maintained near the base of the mountain. It is planned to move it to the uppermost peak, where a man will remain the year around." (The Morning Oregonian)
July 21, 1915: "Roy Garwood, lineman; George Ladford, ranger and Lige Coleman, ranger, in the United States forestry service arrived at the summit of Mount Hood this afternoon with telephone equipment, and at once established direct communication with the editorial rooms of The Journal.
Mr. Garwood, talking over the new line, gave the information that the telephone station will be maintained by the forestry service at the newly established fire lookout station on Hood's summit.
Lige Coleman will be in charge of the station.
Mr. Garwood said it was ;some hot' on top of the mountain." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
July 22, 1915: "Telephone communication between Portland and the summit of Mount Hood was established yesterday. The telephone will be maintained for the service of the United States Forestry Department, as a new fire lookout station has been established lately on the summit.
Roy Garwood, a lineman, George Ladford and Lige Coalman, two men from the Forestry Department, completed the line yesterday." (Morning Oregonian)
July 25, 1915: "To camp over night on the summit of Mount Hood has always been regarded as a hazardous feat, but to pass six weeks there, at an elevation of 11,000 feet, where snow storms are a common occurrence in the Summer months, is not only an untried but a heretofore unthought of experience. Yet this is exactly what Elijah Coalman, fire warden, intends doing, beginning in August.
A new fire lookout station has been established on the summit of Oregon's highest peak, and Mr. Coalman has been equipped with all the apparatus necessary to withstand the most extreme weather, so that he may be able to take care of the station and keep the surrounding stations informed as to conditions in the forests of the Bull Run watershed. The new station will be fitted with a fire finder, and a telephone already has been connected to the top of Mount Hood. Heretofore no station has been high enough for the lookout to see into the valleys of the streams that have their rise from Mount Hood glaciers, but now that the Mount Hood station has been established the fighting of fires, in the Bull Run country especially, will be made considerably easier.
Besides the station on the top of Mount Hood there are eight other similar stations in the reserves of the Cascades and, since all are equipped with fire finders and telephones, the dangers of extensive fires in the mountains this Summer have been reduced to the minimum." (Morning Oregonian)
August 7, 1915: "Fire Warden Elijah Walman (SIC) probably prevented a serious forest fire in Southwest Hood River County Wednesday, when he sighted smoke from his lookout on Mount Hood and gave an alarm. The fire warden notified the Stanley-Smith Lumber Company, and a crew of firefighters was dispatched to the scene.
Blackberry pickers probably has started the flames, which were licking up the logging flume of the company and beginning to spread in the slashing of the logged-off land. In another hour a bad fire undoubtedly would have been raging. Before the fire could be extinguished about 300 feet of the big flume had been ruined." (Morning Oregonian)
August 10, 1915: "According to information from the district forester's office, the lookout station at the summit of Mount Hood has proved of so great value in the location of fires that it will be continued indefinitely during the fire season. 'It has far surpassed our expectations,' said Shirley Buck, acting assistant district forester, yesterday.
Mr. Buck said that the man in charge of the station, Elijah Coalman, had been able to detect fires from 50 to 75 miles distant and notify interested people in the near vicinity of the fires before they discovered that any fires started. The lookout on the mountain enables the forestry department to keep a close watch on timber, even outside the Bull Run watershed." (Morning Oregonian)
August 30, 1915: "The White River and Shell Rock creek fires were both started by lightning, but the Salmon River fire's cause has not been determined. All three were observed by the lookout on the summit of Mount Hood and reported to the ranger's stations." (Morning Oregonian)
September 1, 1915: "Miss Blanche Pechette of Wapinita, Or., and Frank Pierce of Rowe, Or., chose the summit of Mount Hood for their marriage today.
The ceremony was held in the tent of Elijah Coalman, the famous Mount Hood guide, who is employed 11,000 feet above sea level by the forest officials as forest fire lookout, and performed by Rev. G.E. Wood of Rowe. The bride carried a bouquet of orange blossoms and lilies of the valley.
A wedding breakfast was served in Coalman's tent.
In the evening the summit of the mountain was illuminated." (San Francisco Chronicle)
September 5, 1915: "Mrs. E.W. Senior of Salt Lake City and her daughter, Miss Ruth Senior, share with Mrs. L.F. Pridemore of Oregon the distinction of being the only women who have ever passed a night on the summit of Mount Hood, the famous 11,225-foot glacier covered peak in Oregon.
They were obliged to remain at the top of the mountain all night because of a severe storm which sprang up while they were making a perilous ascent and which so numbed and chilled them that there was danger of freezing to death if they left the shelter of the lookout's tent at the summit.
The guide cut steps in the ice and the rest held to the ropes, which they found very difficult, because their hands were so numb and cold. However, at 3:30 o'clock in the afternoon they reached the top, where a lookout tent is stationed. Mr. Coalman, who has charge of the station, proved a most hospitable host and soon made the party very comfortable." (The Salt Lake Tribune)
September 12, 1915: "Twenty mules have been assembled at Government Camp, on the side of Mount Hood, to carry lumber up the mountain for the construction on its summit of a cabin to be occupied by employes of the forest service. The first pack train will be sent out tomorrow morning, and will carry lumber to Crater Rock, only a quarter of a mile from the summit. From there 10 men will take it to the cabin site.
The cabin is to be occupied during the Summers by a Federal lookout, who will notify the forest rangers by telephone of the location of timber fires. It will be completed about October 1, and will not be used this season. It is probable that E. Coalman, the veteran guide, will live there next Summer." (The Morning Oregonian)
September 19, 1915: "The forest service will begin today to pack lumber for the building of a permanent ranger's cabin on the summit of Mt. Hood to a point on the south slope known as Crater Rock. From this point the lumber will be carried a little at a time by 10 husky men under direction of Lige Coalman, and the ranger who established the forest service signal station on top of the mountain, George Ledford. The packing to Crater Rock will be directed by Dee Wright and John Williams. If weather permits the cabin will be completed about October 1." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
September 28, 1915: "It has taken 10 men 10 days to carry 10 tons of lumber and other material to the summit of Mount Hood for the cabin that will be built as a permanent fire-lookout station of the Forestry Service. According to T.H. Sherrard, Assistant District Forester of this district, the materials are all on the top of the mountain and construction of the cabin will begin immediately.
The cabin will be built by Elijah Coalman, the man who has been in charge of the temporary lookout station on Mount Hood during the summer. The building is of Mr. Coalman's own design and will be approximately 10 x 12 feet, ground plan, and will be topped by a tower that will contain the equipment necessary for the location of fires. Mr. Coalman has had much experience in the construction of buildings that are to be exposed to rough weather. He designed and built the Government Camp Hotel at the base of Mount Hood, on the south side.
Approximately 5000 feet of lumber was carried to the top and, although the packers had to 'watch their step' from the time they left Crater Rock until the time they got to the proposed location of the cabin, not a mishap was reported.
The equipment for the lookout station, including the fire finders and all the appurtenances used in a Government station, will be stored in the hotel at Government Camp for the winter, Mr. Sherrard says. At the opening of the fire season of 1916, about July 1, the equipment will be installed in the permanent station.
Mr. Coalman has been on the summit of the mountain all Summer, housed in a tent, and he has aided materially in reducing the cost of firefighting in this district for the season by locating fires and notifying rangers before the fires gained material headway." (The Morning Oregonian)
October 9, 1915: "Another illumination of Mount Hood is promised for tonight.
According to the plans of Lou Pridemore, proprietor of Government Camp Hotel, and Elijah Coalman, the mountain guide who has charge of the lookout station on the summit of Mount Hood, the peak will be illuminated at about 8 o'clock. Two hundred pounds of 'red fire' have been taken to the top of the mountain.
The cloudy condition of the atmosphere may prevent city watchers from seeing the blaze." (The Morning Oregonian)
October 21, 1915: "To fall into the big crevasse near the summit of Mount Hood and live to tell of it is the experience of Elijah Coalman, who, besides being a guide of 18 years' experience, has charge of the lookout station maintained by the forestry service at the summit of the mountain.
Mr. Coalman escaped with a swollen ankle and a thrilling story. He slipped as he was coming down the mountain and fell down the crevasse, a distance of 30 feet. A shelf of snow on the side of the crevasse was all that saved him from going the rest of the way.
Mr. Coalman has climbed Mount Hood 357 times, which represents in distance a total of more than 5700 miles." (The Morning Oregonian)
July 21, 1916: "Ten Government mules in charge of Dee Wright, Chief Government Packer in the Mount Hood district of the Forest Service, will pack a mile of quarter-inch cable up Mount Hood to the summit Sunday morning." (The Morning Oregonian)
August 13, 1916: "Fresh from the summit of Mount Hood, where he spends the Summers watching for forest fires, Forest ranger Elijah Coleman has returned to his eyrie lookout, after a combined pleasure and shopping tour in the city.
Mr. Coleman calls the mountain home God's country. The atmosphere of the lowlands, he says, is depressing after becoming acclimated to the high altitude.
Mr. Coleman says that the frequent visits from parties making the ascent of Hood's summit prevent him from becoming lonesome. His recreation comes from testing astronomical and geodetic instruments." (The Sunday Oregonian)
September 7, 1916: “The efficiency of the Forest Service telephone line to the summit of mount Hood was demonstrated last week when W.D. Scott, Division Equipment Engineer of the Pacific telegraph and Telephone company, visited the mount Hood lookout station and conversed with S.H. Hess, Transmission Engineer, at San Francisco, California, a distance of 900 miles horizontally and nearly two miles vertically.
The results of the test were so satisfactory that plans are making for a test telephone conversation between the lookout on mount Hood and the Forester, Washington, D.C. Officials of both the Forest Service and the Telephone company say that such a conversation can be successfully carried on. If this test is made, it will be by the company and the Forest Service working in cooperation.” (The Springfield News)
August 30, 1917: "Miss Alma C. W-------, of Tacoma, was badly injured by a falling rock on Mount Hood yesterday and was rescued thru the efforts of Elijah Coalman, veteran government lookout on the mountain top, who for the second time has made his body a human sledge and thereon conveyed the victim to safety.
Coalman, detecting the accident from his lookout, telephoned to Cloud Cap Inn for a relief party and then rushed to the rescue. After he had applied first aid, he lay prone on the snow, and holding the injured woman...." (Medford Sun)
August 1, 1918: "Elijah Coalman, Government lookout on Mount Hood, was injured several days ago, when, while fixing a telephone wire he lost his footing, and fell, landing in a crevasse. He was unconscious for about an hour, but recovered his bearings sufficiently to get to Government camp.
When Coalman lost his footing he started several stones to rolling, and one fell on his chest, just over his heart.
It was reported that Mr. Coalman would give up his work on the mountain as a result of the series of accidents he has encountered the last year." (The Oregonian)
August 3, 1918: "Elijah Coalman, who for many years has been in the lookout station at Government camp and who resigned recently, has written a letter to T.H. Sherrard of the forest service setting forth the reasons for his quitting the service.
Two years ago he fell through a crevasse above Crater Rock. Since that time he has had heart trouble. Recently he started up the snowbank at the point where Crescent crevasse will soon break through, and was crushed by an avalanche. His heart trouble was made more acute by this latter accident. Mr. Coalman expresses his regret at leaving the forest service and characterizes his work in it as a source of lifelong pleasure." (The Oregonian)
September 28, 1918: "A landslide moving an enormous mass of ice and stone down the northeast side of Mount Hood was recently witnessed by Mark Weygandt, who succeeded Elijah Coalman as observer at the forestry lookout station.
The slide filled the east fork of Hood River at its source and has turned glacier water into the middle fork.
Slides and avalanches have been more frequent on the sides of Hood the past season than in years. With a light snowfall last winter, old-time mountaineers say the peak has been barer than for a quarter of a century." (The Oregonian)
July 9, 1919: "Elijah Coalman, veteran lookout of the United States forestry service, who has been stationed on top of Mount Hood for years, will return to the mountain soon after his long rest since his fall on the mountain late last summer.
This time, however, he is to have an assistant, and he will not have to live alone in the highest lookout station in the state. The station is still under snow, but Coalman and Maroney, his new assistant, will leave for the summit shortly and will dig an entrance to the house." (Oregonian)
August 1919: "The transportation of the radio equipment to the summit of Mt Hood was a rather difficult problem, which was successfully solved by Mr. Allen. The mast which is used on Mt Hood is of bamboo, made in sections and weighs about 80 pounds. It is 47 feet tall. The first fire report by wireless between Mt Hood and Government Camp was received Saturday, August 9, and gave information about the fire on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Forest officers Coalman and Maroney assisted Mr. Allen in setting up and testing the instrument. Further tests will be made and it is expected that in the not distant future communication between the fire lookout on Mt Hood and the District Forester's office in the Post Office Building, Portland, Oregon, will be possible." (Six Twenty-Six)
February 14, 1920: "Two wireless telephone outfits, one for the Mount Hood lookout station and the other for the fire chief of the district, who will probably be stationed at Clackamas lake, have arrived at local forest service headquarters. These are similar to the test phones used last summer and are to be tried out on Larch mountain and on river boats before installation. They have a range of 100 miles and are valued at $2000 apiece." (The Oregonian)
October 28, 1920: "The lookout house on the top of Mount Hood has been locked up for the winter and will not be opened again until July 1. A.T. Maas and W.C. Kelly of the forest service were lookouts on the mountain top during the past summer. The experimental wireless which was installed during the summer for the first time, will probably be used again next year." (Oregonian)
July 18, 1921: "Hot tea and soup served by A.T. Maas, summit lookout, greeted the Mazama party when they reached the lookout cabin on the top of Mount Hood Sunday morning. Under the direction of Eugene H. Dowling, 170 started the climb in the early morning hours, and of that number 160 were in at the finish.
In accordance with the club policy, the party was made up of anyone wanting to scale the peak whether or not they were Mazamas. In the party more than one half were women.
Leaving Portland Saturday afternoon, the party went to Government camp for the night and at 3 o'clock Sunday morning commenced the climb. The summit was reached at 10:15. During the climb a forest patrol airplane took pictures of the groups." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
June 29, 1922: "Climbing ropes will be placed on Mount Hood Friday, and E.J. Sweeney and C.W. Phelps, who are to be forest service lookouts on the peak this summer, will begin their duties.
A.G. Jackson, forest examiner, was in Portland this morning arranging with Supervisor T.H. Sherrard of the Oregon forest, for necessary men and equipment for the opening of the fire season. Jackson will again be central platting agent but the station is being removed from Zigzag to Summit ranger station, south of Government Camp." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
August 27, 1922: "Charles A. Phelps of Gresham, in charge of the forest service lookout station on the mountain, who with Sam Rotsky, his assistant, was in the little seven by seven station during the storm, wrote a letter describing it while the wind howled around.
'Whipped by the sleet and snow and terrific wind up here out telephone line became broken,' he wrote. 'Sam Rotsky and I decided we would find the break, for Uncle Sam's business can't be neglected. The thermometer showed 22 degrees below zero. We felt our way along the awful wall of the mountain, with the sleet covering us like masts of a ship at sea. It was 10:30 before we finally found the break and got it fixed. Then we literally crawled back up the mountain to the lookout cabin. We were again in connection with the world.
'I am in a tower 11,225 feet above the sea. During the electric storm, the telephone spits fire with every flash. The nail heads around the cabin walls look like flakes of fire, and the wires of the telephone like long strings of gold. I am walled in in a seven by seven room, with two windows making up each side. When the keen flashes come, I go stone blind for a few seconds. Clouds go by in a whoop. It is hard to imagine the force of the storm. I wish the Mazamas were up here to keep me company. I guess I will have to get the Boy Scouts to make me a member. I've nearly passed the test.' " (The Oregon Daily Journal)
September 14, 1922: "Charles Phelps, lookout, is building a new floor in the lookout house before coming off the mountain." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
October 14, 1922: "C.A. Phelps and assistant have put in a new floor at the lookout cabin on Mount Hood, the old floor being worn out by calks. The lumber was sawed in 4 foot lengths at the Sandy Lumber company mill, packed on a horse to the turtle neck and from there taken up by hand. About 1000 visitors climbed to the cabin this summer. Phelps has also packed in his supply of coal oil for next season." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
October 1922: "Late in the afternoon of August 11, a fire lookout on a 11,250 ft. glacier peak climbed back to his lookout, after having been part way down the mountain for supplies. A thunder storm having passed over the mountain late in the afternoon, upon reaching his lookout he immediately tested his phone, for he knew there would be lightning fires to report. He found the instrument dead. It was up to him to reestablish communications with the fire dispatcher. So he started out down the peak, over the 800 ft. almost perpendicular face of a glacier full of crevasses, following not the rope trail but the telephone wire, to find the break. The storm was still in progress. He finally located the break at 11 p.m. on the very brink of a deep crevasse on the almost abrupt face of the glacier, and there, alone in a snowstorm and the darkness, having dug a footing with his icepick, with the aid of a pocket flashlight, he repaired the wire. He then climbed back to his lookout again and got the world outside. This was a part of his job and he did it. The peak was Mt. Hood, and the man was Lookout Charles Phelps. J.D.G." (Six Twenty-Six)
July 19, 1924: "There is one man in Oregon, these stirring times of drouth and fire, who looks down upon the hazards of fighting fire and saving the nation's forests, but he plays an important part in the fight, nevertheless.
This exclusive gentleman is C.A. Phelps, chief lookout of the Mount Hood national forest, who has taken up his seasonal post in the little government cabin on the top of Mount Hood, there to watch with his instruments for the wisp of smoke that denotes a fire, and telephoning the tidings below. Phelps' supply of grub is cached on the mountainside, where a pack train brought it, and if he wants any he has to go down and pack it up. The cabin that shelters Phelps was built from lumber brought up the mountain stick by stick on the backs of rangers.
The tiniest camp fire can be spotted from the lookout cabin, any many a camper who thought he was far away from any ranger has been surprised to have a forester stop by and inform him that Uncle Sam knows he is there and to be careful with his camp fire." (The Bend Bulletin)
August 1924: "A Lookout's life is not always a happy one. After a night of mist, rain and sleet, C.A. Phelps climbed down the slippery slope from his lofty perch on top of Mt. Hood until he came to the break in the telephone line on the triangular moraine, where a large rolling rock had cut the wire in two. Repairing the break, he climbed back to the top, called up the dispatcher, ate his breakfast and was ready to begin his day's work as lookout man. This happened Sunday, July 20, the same day that saw 268 visitors go over the top on rugged old Mount Hood." (Six Twenty-Six)
September 11, 1924: "Charles Phelps, lookout on Mount Hood, was injured by a falling boulder Sunday while attempting to escape the force of the electric storm around the peak. His ankle was sprained and his foot bruised when the rock struck him as he was going down the mountain. He camped for the night in the bottom of the crater and made his way to Government camp the next day." (The Morning Oregonian)
February 15, 1925: "How Charles Phelps, forest lookout on Mount Hood, made his way over a glacier to repair telephone lines damaged by storm is told in the March number of Sunset Magazine. John D. Guthrie, forest service official, is the author of the article." (The Sunday Oregonian)
September 9, 1925: "The Mount Hood lookout cabin was struck by lightning three times during a severe electrical storm. The lookout man escaped without injury. He has patched holes in the cabin made by the lightning. Two small fires were started by bolts, one at Potato Butte and one at Tom, Dick and Harry mountain." (La Grande Evening Observer)
September 16, 1925: "The Mount Hood lookout was closed Saturday to get things in shape before the bad weather comes. Lookout Fred Schmelling took ropes down Monday." (Morning Oregonian)
October 1925: "Fred Schmeling, of Cascade Locks, was lookout man on Mount Hood this summer. He took the place vacated by John Calverley, Sr., who found after a few days on the job that he was unable to stand the altitude, and was compelled to come down to a lower level. Mr. Calverley and Sam Rotschy worked the telephone line from timberline to the summit and did most of the packing of supplies from the cache below Crater Rock to the top. Mr, Schmeling finished this packing and made his residence on top of the world during the present fire season. A.G. Jackson" (Six Twenty-Six)
June 17, 1926: "A lookout will probably be put on Mount Hood about June 25." (The Klamath News)
August 27, 1926: "Three forest service rangers had a harrowing experience this afternoon when they descended from the lookout station on the summit of Mount Hood, in a terrific storm of wind, snow and sleet. The men were Sam Roctschy, Edward Schenk and Dean Van Zant. They had great difficulty keeping their footing and the force of the wind was so great as to hamper breathing at times, they reported.
They had been packing supplies and parts for a lightning arrester to the summit lookout." (Morning Oregonian)
August 1926: "Dean Van Zant, a guide and hotel man for the past five years at Government Camp, is now lookout and on duty on top of Mount Hood. A Forest Service crew is restringing the 'phone line to the top and expect to have it done by the tenth." (Six Twenty-Six)
July 3, 1928: "A wedding party will climb Mount Hood next Monday when Robert G. McVicar, forest service lookout at the station on the top of Mount Hood will marry Miss Elva Taylor, former school teacher of New York.
Mr. McVicar was scheduled to climb to the top of the mountain today to begin his summer's work.
The wedding party will climb the mountain from the north side next Monday morning and the ceremony will be held in the afternoon." (Morning Oregonian)
Mr. McVicar was scheduled to climb to the top of the mountain today to begin his summer's work.
The wedding party will climb the mountain from the north side next Monday morning and the ceremony will be held in the afternoon." (Morning Oregonian)
September 17, 1928: "Mrs. R.G. McVicar, wife of the Mount Hood lookout, came down three weeks ago. Mr. McVicar went up the mountain yesterday to wind up telephone wires and fix things up for winter. The ropes were taken down just before the storm of this week which added a deep, fresh coat to the mountain." (Morning Oregonian)
November 1928: "It is estimated that 2000 people climbed Mount Hood during the season of 1928, of whom 1109 actually registered with Bob Mac Vicar the lookout.
Among the interesting side lights of this season on Mount Hood was the marriage of Bob Mac Vicar to Miss Elva M. Taylor of New York City. They were united in marriage by the Rev. T.H. Stains of Selah, Washington. This is the second wedding to be performed by Mr. Stains on the summit of Oregon's highest peak." (Six Twenty-Six)
July 2, 1929: "Mount Hood will be officially opened to climbers this week as ropes are being put up, telephone connections have been replaced by the forest service and R.G. McVicar, lookout, is at the top of Hood for the season." (Morning Oregonian)
July 24, 1929: "The world looks brighter, at least from the top of Mount Hood, Oregon's monarch.
R.G. McVicker, lookout on the topmost point of the mountain, looked out of his cabin window the other day and saw nine persons climbing the peak. Upon arrival, McVicker's wife was in the party. She will spend the summer with him, and will act as hostess to mountain climbers." (Bakersfield Californian)
July 3, 1930: "R.G. McVickers, Mount Hood lookout, went up the mountain yesterday (7-1), to get things lined up for opening the cabin for the season, and get the ropes put up in time for mountain climbers on July 4. Mrs. McVickers, who spent the past two summers with her husband on the summit, is expected to join him there again later." (Morning Oregonian)
August 21, 1930: "Today was Mrs. Earl McVickers' day to water her garden, and she walked 50 miles to do it. She is the wife of a Mount Hood forest lookout, and resides more than 10,000 feet above sea level in the summer.
From her Mount Hood summer home Mrs. McVickers can look down on one corner of her garden. To reach it she walks seven miles down the mountain and then around the loop highway, a total of 50 miles. She waters her garden every two weeks." (The Salt Lake Tribune)
September 13, 1930: "As soon as the weather clears R.G. McVickers, Mount Hood lookout, will climb to the summit, close the cabin and take down the ropes." (Morning Oregonian)
August 1931: "Although divested of its mantle of snow, Mount Hood still calls to the hardy. July finds that an average of over 250 persons have made the climb each week.
Lookout and Mrs. Bob McVicar are still on the mountain and find anything but lonesome." (Six Twenty-Six)
August 7, 1932: "Forest Lookout Mack Hall, whose cabin is on the usually secluded 11,000-foot summit of Mount Hood, has suddenly reversed his yearnings for eggs.
Last Sunday he hungrily observed he'd give 35 cents a dozen for fresh eggs, a rarity in his seldom delivered provisions. Early yesterday morning he was aroused from his slumber by a Portland bank messenger, who smilingly proffered him a dozen eggs and collected 35 cents. Early today, his sleep again disturbed, Mack found himself surrounded by other egg-delivering enthusiasts.
'No more eggs,' he ordered today. Thirteen dozen had been brought to him by as many persons." (The Salt Lake Tribune)
September 13, 1932: "The ropes were taken down from Mount Hood Saturday by the lookout, Mack Hall, and Hall climbed again Sunday to roll up the telephone lines and close the lookout cabin. This ends the official climbing for the season." (The Morning Oregonian)
September 1932: "Mack Hall, forest lookout on the top of snow-clad Mount Hood, jokingly told climbers he would gladly pay 35 cents a dozen for eggs delivered, although the market price was 20 cents. Barney Young, 20, bank clerk, climbed Mount Hood, presented Hall with a dozen eggs, collected the 35 cents, and descended again that night. And it is understood that later the lookout was almost deluged with 35 cent eggs!" (Six Twenty-Six)
April 1, 1933: "Mack Hall, ex-University of Oregon student and for the past few years lookout on Mount Hood, was instantly killed early Tuesday morning, March 14, when his car skidded in loose gravel, plunged over an embankment east of Eugene and crashed to the railroad tracks below." (The Forest Log)
April 5, 1933: "Proof of unusual conditions is to be found at the summit of Mount Hood, where the sturdy built lookout cabin has been practically destroyed. The cabin, fastened down by cables anchored to mighty rocks, has been pushed partly on its side, cracked open, and broken away from the cables." (The Morning Oregonian)
April 12, 1933: "Although anchored to solid rock by heavy chains, the tiny lookout house on top of Mt. Hood, highest of Oregon mountain peaks, has been battered by the winter's heavy gales until it is almost demolished.
For years the glass-encased cabin has withstood the winds of the 11,000=foot altitude. First mountain climbers to reach the top this year found the building moved a foot off its foundation and leaning at an angle of 60 degrees." (Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune)
May 1933: "Blizzard wrecks Hood Lookout. Ray Lewis of the Mazamas, Everett Darr of the Wy-east Club, and Miss Eisa Hanff of Spokane, who climbed Mount Hood in March, reported that violent winter storms had almost demolished the lookout house. The cupola has been torn off and lies almost on its side. The cabin has been ripped open and the interior filled with snow and ice. The building is canted at an angle of about 60 degrees to the southward, and apparently has been moved from its foundation about a foot. The anchor cables are missing on two sides. The climbers reported extremely steep snow, dangerous and difficult to traverse, and a new crevasse, apparently hundreds of feet deep. They said the cabin would have to be almost completely rebuilt. Here's a good job for the ECW boys! A strange coincidence is the fact that Mack Hall, popular lookout at this point last season, was killed in an auto accident at Eugene in March." (Six Twenty-Six)
July 1, 1933: "Mountain climbers report that considerable damage to the Mt. Hood lookout tower has occurred due to the violent storms of last winter. The cabin was ripped open and filled with snow and ice. The building has been moved from its foundation and has acquired quite a tilt." (The Forest Log)
July 17, 1933: "The request of Ray Lewis, new lookout on the summit, for a bottle of 3.2 beer, and some rat poison to oust rodents in his cabin, will filled by Everett Darr." (The Morning Oregonian)
August 8, 1933: "High-climbing rats, pack-rats who made their way 11,253 feet above sea level, are the bane of Lookout Ray Lewis' existence on top of Mt Hood.
The rodents, seldom known to venture more than 7,000 feet up, have devoured the supplies in Lewis' lookout cabin buried in the deep winter's snows. He had to send to civilization for rat poison.
Members of the biological survey are studying the pack rats, which weigh half a pound more than wharf or city rats and have slightly bushy tails." (Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune - Missouri)
February 1936: From the fifteen years past column: "The mysterious forty-four bones unearthed sixty feet below the summit of Mount Hood by lookout man G.C. Marony in 1919 have just been turned over to the Oregon Historical Society which will put them on display in their headquarters at the Portland Auditorium. These bones were at one time the personal property of some large animal as an elk or moose. How such a beast crossed thew glaciers and qualified as a Mazama by reaching the summit of Mount Hood is a puzzle which the scientists whose attention has been called to the find have been unable to solve. In these later days it isn't really being done by any large animals excepting those belonging to genus homo." (Six Twenty-Six)
July 26, 1936: "For the past few years the lookout on the peak of Mount Hood has not been used because layers of clouds often hugged the mountain between the summit and timberline, completely hiding the valleys. This condition exists even on otherwise clear days and so the Lone Fir lookout above timberline and at an elevation of 7000 feet is used." (The Sunday Oregonian)
June 30, 1970: "Elijah Coalman, 88, who first climbed Mt Hood near Portland, Oregon in 1897 and then climbed it 586 more times before he retired as a guide in 1928, died Monday in a La Habra, California rest home.
Coalman guided his first party to the summit of the 11,000 foot peak in 1905.
In 1915 he became the U.S. Forest Service's first lookout on Mt Hood's summit and began construction of a cabin there. He carried all the materials for the cabin to the summit on his back. And on the last trip carried a load of nails, hinges and other hardware totaling 120 pounds." (Herald and News)
Removed