PAULINA PEAK
Deschutes County - Deschutes National Forest
July 15, 1914: " Material has been sent out to build a spur line from the Pine Mountain telephone line to the top of Paulina Mountain where there is a fire lookout. From this elevation a view is had for many miles in all directions. With telephone connections notice of fire can be sent at once to the proper authorities." (The Bend Bulletin)
September 30, 1914: "Chas. McNeff is taking the place of G.T. Parker on Paulina Peak lookout, Mr. Parker having been forced to resign on account of his wife's illness." (The Bend Bulletin - The Deschutes Ranger)
1915: "The highest point on this rim, Paulina Peak, is used as a Forest Service lookout station and can be reached by trail from Paulina Lake. Horse feed is poor." (Deschutes National Forest Map 1915)
July 21, 1915: "Lumber has been sent to Paulina lake for the construction of a house for the lookout men at the summit of Paulina Peak. Deputy Supervisor Harpham, Ranger Smith and Guard Allen will do the construction work." (The Bend Bulletin - The Deschutes Ranger)
July 21, 1915: " Supervisor Merritt went to Paulina and East Lakes late in June. While there he looked over the hotel site lease held by Fred Shintoffer, assisted in installing the lookout protractor on Pauline Peak and looked over possible sites for a lookout cabin." (The Bend Bulletin, 'The Deschutes Ranger')
September 8. 1915: "The elevation of the peak is approximately 8,000 feet. On top of it the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture erected during the present summer, a cabin 12x18 feet in size, a Guard A.G. Allen is stationed there for for fire lookout purposes. Telephone connection may be had from the peak to Fort Rock, Bend and the entire Deschutes National Forest system.
The Forest Service has just recently installed a lookout protractor on top of the peak, by which it is possible to determine very accurately the direction to any fire that may occur." (The Bend Bulletin)
January 26, 1916: "The January number of the Deschutes Ranger, just issued from the local forest office, has as a cover picture a photograph showing the method of transporting materials to Paulina peak for the lookout station. According to the Ranger 'the distance is approximately three miles with a rise of 1600 feet. Small skeleton sleds about two feet in length and 18 inches in width were constructed and one end of the boards were placed on this while the other end was allowed to drag. From 100 to 110 board feet was pulled by each mule and two trips per day made. The lookout cabin on Paulina Peak is one of the highest in the State and is at an elevation of approximately 8500 feet." (The Bend Bulletin - The Deschutes Ranger)
April 5, 1916: "A.F. Hauser, of Fort Rock, who was employed on the Deschutes and Fremont forests last year, has been assigned to the position of lookout on Paulina Peak for the coming summer. This is the first assignment that has been made this year, but it is thought that most of our old men will be with us again this summer." (The Bend Bulletin - The Deschutes Ranger)
August 16, 1916: "The frontispiece of the Deschutes Ranger for July, just issued from the local supervisor's office, is a view of the Paulina Peak lookout station taken in 1914. At the time the station was a rough shelter, while a stunted tree whose top was reached by a ladder, formed the look out point. The peak is now provided with a house and a stationary and accurately oriented Osborne Fire Finder. The lookout according to the Ranger, can be said to have reached the second stage of development. Ultimately such primary lookout points will be provided with glassed in lookout towers and the tower itself will be the living quarters of the observer." (The Bend Bulletin - The Deschutes Ranger)
September 28, 1916: "The Forest Service is building a cistern on the summit on the summit of Paulina Peak, says the Fort Rock Times. It is being lined with cement hauled from Bend to the top of the mountain. Supervisor Hastings has charge of the work and forest guard Smith is hauling the material. The intention is to pack the cistern with snow early in the spring and allow it to melt only as the water is needed." (Lake County Examiner)
May 15, 1918: "Douglas Johnson, who for the past several months has been chief clerk in the local office of the Pacific Power & Light Company, will leave soon for Paulina lookout station, an 8400-foot elevation south of Bend, where he will spend the summer in watching for fires for the United States forestry service." (East Oregonian)
July 4, 1918: " For the first time in the history of Oregon, and as far as is known for the first time in the United States, a woman, Mrs. Cora Leland of La Pine, has been installed as lookout at the Paulina Peak station. Mrs. Leland has a shift the same as the male lookouts, extending over a 24 hour period, and occupies the lookout with her only companion, her son, less than 15 years of age.
The appointment of Mrs. Leland to this station is an experiment by the forest service to determine the capabilities of women for this class of work. As in most cases the position is a lonesome one, with little or no rest from their duties, few women are willing to enter into the work. At the Paulina Peak station Mrs. Leland has a well equipped and furnished cabin, and is supplied with all the latest improved instruments for fire finding and determining the location of the blazes.
According to the officials of the forest service, she is entering upon the work with enthusiasm and it is expected will fill the position with all the efficiency of a man." (The Bend Bulletin)
July 18, 1918: “For the first time in the history of Oregon, and, as far as is known, in the history of the nation, a woman has been installed as lookout for the forest service. Mrs. Cora Leland, a resident of La Pine, has been appointed to the position on the Deschutes national forest, and has taken up her duties at Paulina Peak station, one of the most isolated lookout points in the whole of central Oregon. Her only companion is her 13-year-old son.”(The Ontario Argus)
August 29, 1918: " The house in which the fire lookout lives at Paulina Peak was struck by a bolt of lightning Sunday evening, but at a time when there was no one in the building. Little damage was done except to tear the paper from the walls." (The Bend Bulletin)
October 7, 1918: "Miss Cora Leland, who has been acting as lifeguard over the national forest in the LaPine basin during the past season, has returned to her homestead near here (LaPine). Early this summer, when it became difficult to get men to fill all of the positions in the forest reserve during the fire season, Mrs. Leland was chosen for the responsible position of fire guard over the government forests in this vicinity. She took up her lonely post on the south rim of Newberry crater, 8476 feet above sea level, and her only companion being her 9-year-old grandson. Her communication with the outside world was entirely by telephone, her food and supplies being brought to her from time to time by a forest ranger.
Mrs. Leland reports many interesting experiences during the course of the summer. At one time, during a violent electric storm, lightning struck her house, entering at one corner and demolishing everything in its path. Fortunately she was on the opposite side of the room from where the lightning entered and so escaped unhurt. Perched as she was on the highest point of the crater wall, one misstep would have sent her headlong 2000 feet to the rocks and trees in the depths of the crater. Frequently, when it stormed and rained below, the lookout station stood bathed in sunshine isolated from the rest of the world like a little island surrounded by a vast sea of fog.
The one-room house, serving as a dwelling and business office combined, is anchored to the rock of the crater wall with heavy steel cables, to keep it from being blown away during some of the violent winds that frequent that altitude." (The Evening Herald)
June 24, 1920: "One of the most important lookout stations in the Deschutes national forest will be in charge of a woman this year, Supervisor N. G. Jacobson stated this morning, a few hours after Miss Virginia L. Barry, school teacher from Lewiston, Idaho, arrived in Bend to take the position as lookout on Paulina Peak. She will leave this week to start her duties on the rim of Newberry Crater.
Miss Barry has had no previous experience in this line of work, she stated this morning, but believes that it will prove an enjoyable vacation after her past year in the Lewiston schools. She hopes to teach in the Deschutes county schools during the coming winter." (The Bend Bulletin)
July 1, 1920: " With two tiny kittens as her only companions, Miss Virginia Barry, recently of Lewiston, Idaho, is now perched securely on the top of Paulina Peak, where she will serve as fire lookout on the Deschutes national forest through the summer season, reported Assistant Supervisor W. O. Harriman Monday on his return from Newberry Crater, where Miss Barry was introduced to her new station." (The Bend Bulletin)
July 4, 1920: (For the 1919 season) "Mrs. Cora Leland was stationed in the Deschutes forest in Paulina Peak." (The Sunday Oregonian)
July 8, 1920: “Miss Virginia Barry, of Lewiston, Ida. Arrived in Bend Wed. to undertake work as fire lookout on Paulina Peak south of Bend. The mountain has an elevation of 8274 feet and lies 35 miles away by auto and several miles further off by foot trail.
Miss Barry is accustomed to high living, for she has taught school in Colorado at an elevation of 10,000 feet. She is a game lady—not afraid of bears, bugs nor busybodies. She knows how to wield a gun, rod, axe and ferule. The lookout territory of Paulina Peak includes the Ft. Rock, Big River and Crescent districts. Miss Barry was busy Thursday making up her pack of supplies for the high trails. She expects to remain at her post during the entire fire season of about four months.---The Bend Press.” (The Ontario Argus)
June 10, 1921: " Miss Virginia Barry, who last summer occupied the Paulina peak lookout station for the forest service, reported for duty this morning, and will again be in charge of the Paulina station, which is 7900 feet above sea level. She will have the companionship of a dog." (The Bend Bulletin)
June 10, 1922: "Ben Estes and Fred Smith, telephone crew for the United States forest service, yesterday drove a car to a point one mile beyond Paulina Lake cabin on the East Lake road, indicating that the lake will soon be open to auto travel, according to word received at the local forest office. They climbed Paulina peak, finding eight feet of snow at the top." (The Bend Bulletin)
June 26, 1922: " A lighted cigarette stub cast aside by a careless camper in the vicinity of Pringle butte started a forest fire which was first glimpsed by the lookout at Paulina Peak, when it had spread over an area of nearly a quarter of an acre. Forest employes yesterday afternoon had the blaze under control." (The Bend Bulletin)
June 29, 1922: " The first fire in the Deschutes national forest since Sunday was located near Dutchman creek, about two miles from Bachelor mountain, yesterday afternoon by the Paulina Peak lookout." (The Bend Bulletin)
July 5, 1923: " Last night a forest fire was spotted near Cultus lake. The Paulina peak lookout located this blaze. The fire was started from the coals of a camp fire left smoldering by a sheepherder employed by R. N. Elliott, Bend stockman. Plumb says this herder, whose name was not learned, will be brought into Bend for prosecution. The fire was checked before it gained much headway." (The Bend Bulletin)
May 20, 1924: "William Beeton, When the lookouts were placed on duty in the later part of April it was expected by Supervisor Plumb that the lookout work would only be temporary, since spring rains were expected. The continued dry spell has altered the forest official’s plans, and it is likely the lookouts will remain on duty until the advent of wet weather in the fall. The lookout force will be augmented from time to time." (The Bend Bulletin)
May 28, 1924: "William Beeton, forest service lookout stationed on Paulina Peak in the Crescent district, has about decided that he doesn’t need field glasses or a telescope to spot fires, for during one of the recent electric storms a forest fire was started within a stones throw from his lookout station.
The bolt of lightning, according to reports made by rangers to the central forest office in Bend, hit some dead trees on Paulina Peak and immediately a timber blaze was started.
No, the lightning fire didn’t cause any serious damage,” said W. O. Harriman, who was on duty in the forest service office Thursday afternoon. “Beeton organized his fire fighting force, consisting of himself, and checked the blaze.” The timber in the Paulina Peak region is sparse." (The Bend Bulletin)
1926: Lyle Anderson was the lookout until late September, when he was relieved by William Roe, so he could enroll at O. A. C.
October 1926: "The lookout at this point had reported three false alarms this fire season." (The Six Twenty-Six)
February 28, 1928: " Construction work listed in the 1928 estimates call for the building of a lookout station on Paulina peak." (The Bend Bulletin)
August 1, 1928: "Prepared to defy Thor and his most wicked bolts, Professors O. F. McMillan and E. L. Starr, O. A. C. specialists in high-tension electricity, left Bend this morning for the 7975-foot high summit of Paulina Peak to set up 600 pounds of electrical equipment which will be used in testing and taming lightning.
Original plans specified that the representatives of the O. A. C. engineering department, cooperating with the forest service, were to spend the summer on a Deschutes peak, waiting for electrical storms to strike; but these plans have been changed and, after setting up the Paulina Peak equipment, McMillan and Starr will leave for Vinegar Mountain in eastern Oregon, where similar equipment will be erected.
While the two professors are away from Paulina Peak, John Colvard, the lookout, is to make a daily reading of the various instruments and change recording plates. But just as soon as thundercaps push their way above the southern horizon and menace the Deschutes woods, McMillan and Starr will be notified and one of the two will return to Paulina to be on hand when the storm strikes.
Primary purpose of the research is to determine methods of improving devices for the protection of telephones and lookout houses against bolts, but the professors also hope to secure data which will prove of value in determining why bolts strike in certain areas more frequently than in other sections.
Indicating that the professors will not depend entirely on electrical storms, they have brought along equipment capable of generating artificial discharges of 500,000 volts.
They plan to remain on Paulina Peak for three days this time." (The Bend Bulletin)
August 1930: Plans were revealed that a new lookout house is to be built.
August 12, 1930: "Construction of five lookout houses and two guard cabins and several telephone lines is planned by the Deschutes national forest for the coming fall, winter and early spring, Carl B. Neal, supervisor, announced today."
A standard lookout house is to be constructed on Paulina peak. (Morning Oregonian)
September 30, 1930: " Arctic weather prevailed on the high mountains of Central Oregon Monday afternoon and last night, with forest service lookouts on Paulina and Maiden Peaks reporting an inch of ice plastered on the outside walls of their living quarters. The temperature last night was not far above zero at levels above the 7000 foot mark.
The ice which formed on the sides of the lookouts’ houses was the result of cloud vapor congealing as it touched the chilling surfaces. A high wind whipped the clouds the high peaks through the night hours." (The Bend Bulletin)
November 1930: " I have just finished a job of packing 2 of the new Aladdin Junior Lookout houses on Bachelor and Paulina Peaks. There are 9 bundles of material in each house, the longest piece being 12 feet.
The Forest officer that ordered these houses and the Aladdin Company deserve a lot of credit for the way this lumber is sorted and baled. There is no doubt that a good deal of thought was given the size of bundles, weight, etc. The Aladdin Company did a very workmanlike job of packing and baling the material. Hardware, paint, etc., were all boxed in good and substantial boxes while the lumber was baled tightly with from 2 to 5 strips of tin so that very little difficulty was experienced from lumber slipping in the bales. The large windows are crated 2 in a package. The wind blew one of my horses over on Bachelor butte, as the animal was small, the wind blowing a hurricane, and the windows giving a sail effect, this horse fell about 50 feet and lit on top of the windows and never cracked a glass.
I had only a 3 to 3 1/2 mile pack in each case but about a 3,000 foot climb in each case and over grades on Paulina that would stretch Table I in the Trail Manuel beyond recognition. I packed the 89 packages in 28 horse loads (I was using only four pack horses). I used the alforjas as slings on the lumber, then threw a single diamond over each pack. A 50-foot lash up will go around any of the stuff.
Dee Wright side-pads will save hair and hide but as we do not have much of this kind of packing we decided that hair and hide were cheaper than the pads, and we didn’t lose much hair or hide either. If these houses build as well as they pack, they are just what we want and I think they will, and are. R.C. Burgess" (Six Twenty-Six)
The Forest officer that ordered these houses and the Aladdin Company deserve a lot of credit for the way this lumber is sorted and baled. There is no doubt that a good deal of thought was given the size of bundles, weight, etc. The Aladdin Company did a very workmanlike job of packing and baling the material. Hardware, paint, etc., were all boxed in good and substantial boxes while the lumber was baled tightly with from 2 to 5 strips of tin so that very little difficulty was experienced from lumber slipping in the bales. The large windows are crated 2 in a package. The wind blew one of my horses over on Bachelor butte, as the animal was small, the wind blowing a hurricane, and the windows giving a sail effect, this horse fell about 50 feet and lit on top of the windows and never cracked a glass.
I had only a 3 to 3 1/2 mile pack in each case but about a 3,000 foot climb in each case and over grades on Paulina that would stretch Table I in the Trail Manuel beyond recognition. I packed the 89 packages in 28 horse loads (I was using only four pack horses). I used the alforjas as slings on the lumber, then threw a single diamond over each pack. A 50-foot lash up will go around any of the stuff.
Dee Wright side-pads will save hair and hide but as we do not have much of this kind of packing we decided that hair and hide were cheaper than the pads, and we didn’t lose much hair or hide either. If these houses build as well as they pack, they are just what we want and I think they will, and are. R.C. Burgess" (Six Twenty-Six)
1931: A 14x14 L-4 hip-roof ground cabin lookout was constructed at a cost of $713.56. Later a 12x16 wood frame woodshed was built.
May 25, 1932: This station has been designated as a precipitation recording point and will be supplied with a rain gauge. (The Bend Bulletin)
1936: In June, hazard sticks, balanced scales and wind recording instruments were installed.
August 26, 1954: "Three inches of snow covered high Paulina Peak, overlooking Newberry crater and East and Paulina lakes, but Sylvia Andrews, lookout, said the August pack was rapidly melting." (The Bend Bulletin)
July 10, 1958: "Clearing of a road from Paulina Lake to the top of Paulina Peak, a distance of a little more than four miles, is underway.
The work is in preparation for the installation on Paulina Peak, at an elevation of about 7990 feet, of a U.S. Air Force gap filler radar station. The work will be under the supervision of the Army Engineers.
A Tacoma, Wash., firm, the Cable Construction Co., has the contract to construct the installation, and is also building the road, total length of which will be 22,000 feet.
The road takes off from the Newberry Crater route near the U.S. Forest Service guard station, at Paulina Lake.
From that point, the mountain road swings into the south, moves a bit to the southwest, then angles sharply to the east before ascending Paulina Peak up the high southern slope.
The Air Force installation will be just northwest of the U.S. Forest Service lookout building.
There was some restricted burning along the road right of way today, and this resulted in a report from a passing plane that a woods fire was burning in the area." (The Bend Bulletin)
The work is in preparation for the installation on Paulina Peak, at an elevation of about 7990 feet, of a U.S. Air Force gap filler radar station. The work will be under the supervision of the Army Engineers.
A Tacoma, Wash., firm, the Cable Construction Co., has the contract to construct the installation, and is also building the road, total length of which will be 22,000 feet.
The road takes off from the Newberry Crater route near the U.S. Forest Service guard station, at Paulina Lake.
From that point, the mountain road swings into the south, moves a bit to the southwest, then angles sharply to the east before ascending Paulina Peak up the high southern slope.
The Air Force installation will be just northwest of the U.S. Forest Service lookout building.
There was some restricted burning along the road right of way today, and this resulted in a report from a passing plane that a woods fire was burning in the area." (The Bend Bulletin)
September 6, 1959: "Near at hand for those who love good scenery is one of Oregon's most remarkable viewpoints—high atop belligerent, rugged Paulina peak, named for a belligerent, rugged Indian chief.
It once was that those who longed to see the wide vistas, available from the 7,985-foot rock point, used their feet for the climb.
But the United States Air Force has just completed a good road from Paulina lake to its Lapine Radar Station, a part of its aircraft and warning protective network, and a trip up is worth anyone's time.
The ACW radar project, now nearing completion, stands alongside the U.S. Forest service fire lookout station, regarded as one of the best fire viewpoints in the state—and with reason." (The Sunday Oregonian)
It once was that those who longed to see the wide vistas, available from the 7,985-foot rock point, used their feet for the climb.
But the United States Air Force has just completed a good road from Paulina lake to its Lapine Radar Station, a part of its aircraft and warning protective network, and a trip up is worth anyone's time.
The ACW radar project, now nearing completion, stands alongside the U.S. Forest service fire lookout station, regarded as one of the best fire viewpoints in the state—and with reason." (The Sunday Oregonian)
1964: A new R-6 flat roof lookout cab was constructed on a short tower.
1969: Recommendations were made to declare the lookout structure as surplus and suggested the building be sold for removal.
Removed
