SNOW CAMP MOUNTAIN
Curry County - Siskiyou National Forest - 37S-12W-29
February 9, 1914: "Snow Camp. Area, 43.00 acres.
This station was recommended June 4, 1910.
The area is in constant use throughout the summer months as a lookout station, for which purpose it is the valuable site in the ranger district. The improvements consist of a house valued at $59.65, and about 25 acres under fence valued at $93.40. The total value of both improvements is $153,08.
Water has not been appropriated because it is not needed, a large portion of the area being swampy ground.
No hay is cut, but sufficient grass is grown for the use of the patrolmen's horses.
The area has never been applied for under the Act of June 11, 1906." (L Stations, Siskiyou National Forest)
This station was recommended June 4, 1910.
The area is in constant use throughout the summer months as a lookout station, for which purpose it is the valuable site in the ranger district. The improvements consist of a house valued at $59.65, and about 25 acres under fence valued at $93.40. The total value of both improvements is $153,08.
Water has not been appropriated because it is not needed, a large portion of the area being swampy ground.
No hay is cut, but sufficient grass is grown for the use of the patrolmen's horses.
The area has never been applied for under the Act of June 11, 1906." (L Stations, Siskiyou National Forest)
February 1914: "I expect to receive the wire for the Snow Camp line soon and get it boated up the river while there is ample water as far as the foot of Long Ridge then when the river gets fordable at the Tolman place I can pack and distribute the wire and be ready for construction as soon as I can in the spring." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
June 1, 1914: "Frantz brothers #367 and #368 June 11 reports due in June are delayed on account of Mr. Jones endeavors to get the telephone line to Snow Camp lookout completed as well as his frequent trips to Portland." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
December 1914: "I would like to have some data on the cost of constructing the Mt. Bolivar lookout cabin and the material used, how far transported and whether delivered by man or pack horse, is the canvass strong enough to stand the winds and keep the cabin warm enough that the lookout will be fairly comfortable, I have a difficult and expensive one to build at Snow Camp and would be pleased to hear how some of the others have constructed or plan to construct such cabins." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
May 1915: "If things go well I will start the Snow Camp Lookout house, the lookout points are always windy, bleak and miserable and I believe that the cabins should be made as comfortable as possible. Ranger Jones" (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
May 1915: "Mr. J.G. Giddings will be Mayor of Snow Camp this summer and is expected here daily. If the human element of fire setting makes anything off Giddings this summer they will be entitled to keep the change." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
August 1915: "A.H. Kramer, lookout man and weather doctor at Snow Camp is a mighty busy man, there is more work to the weather business than one would think, but, Gus is making good and has secured a very complimentary letter from the Weather Bureau on the neatness and accuracy of the reports, Gus got so enthusiastic that he whirled the wet bulb off the Psychrometer!!!" (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
June 1916: "I have learned that a tree has fell across the Snow Camp house and it will need repairs this spring so I expect to go out and repair it and the snow fence and telephone line." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
August 23, 1916: "A large forest fire has been reported on Reuben mountain, in Douglas county. The fire was sighted by the lookout at Snow Camp, which is nearly fifty miles from the mountain. By a device in use in the local forester's office, whenever two or more reports are turned in the exact location can be found in a few minutes." (Rogue River Courier)
July 1917: "Kramer and Hughes at Snow Camp have constructed a small cabin on the west side of the hump to install the weather instruments and protect them from the weather, they excavated for the structure so that it will be proof against blowing away, they have also built a necessary observatory down at the cabin and have cleaned up the premises till it looks real tidy and Snow Camp will look like the home of a real man instead of wild man as heretofore." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
February 1918: "Acknowledgment must be made to the ladies for the very efficient help they gave during the past fire season. If the war continues very long we may be compelled to employ them for all our lookouts, and would probably find it to our advantage to do so if they gave as good service as Miss Price, lookout on Snow Camp Mountain during the past fire season. (Six Twenty-Six)
October 1918: "During the month we went to Snow Camp and packed in the weather instruments which are to be sent to Portland for an overhauling during the winter and returned in the spring." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
July 1919: "As usual we have had a lot of trouble in getting the weather instruments for Snow Camp, a part of the outfit was sent in last fall for repairs and when it returned it was a little of this and a little of that and so much of both that nothing fit so the instruments have been useless up to date." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
1920: A telephone line from Agness to Snow Camp started.
July 5, 1921: "Four fire finders have been received by the local forestry office for distribution to the various lookout stations in the county. By the use of these instruments the lookouts will be able to definitely place the fire before phoning in his information to the office. Snow Mountain received one of them." (Grants Pass Daily Courier)
September 17, 1923: "On Friday the wind reached an 80 mile velocity at Snow Camp and the lookouts had a hard time holding their mountain top." (Grants Pass Daily Courier)
August 7, 1924: "A.A. Wilke, forest ranger, is taking a supply pack train of goods out to the fire lookout posts as far out as Snow Camp. With him is Lou Higgins. Fred Gardiner and Herbert Payne have gone out to Snow Camp to whip-saw out about 4000 feet of lumber for a house for the lookout there. The timber has to be carried up the mountain after it is sawed. They say it has enough elevation there to find frost nearly every morning, but real hot during the day. Mrs. Herbert Payne has accompanied her husband for a vacation of a month." (Curry County Reporter)
September 25, 1924: "Fred Gardner and Herbert Payne finished sawing the timber for the house to be built on Snow Camp for the Rangers." (Curry County Reporter)
June 25, 1925: "A lookout is being being built by R.O. Park, the new forest ranger, at Snow Camp. The wind is so strong there it is necessary to use iron straps to hold the building down. Fred Gardner is doing the work of putting up the new structure." (Curry County Reporter)
July 6, 1925: "Will Lake, forest ranger at Snow Camp, says he is better than forty dead men yet. He returned Monday to the ranger station two weeks after he was carried home on a stretcher in an almost dying condition." (Curry County Reporter)
July 30, 1925: "Will Lake came down from his lookout station on Snow Camp. He was not feeling well and called on the doctor." (Curry County Reporter)
September 1925: "William Lake, Snow Camp Lookout, who furnishes the daily weather record, was taken ill the other day and was obliged to go to the hospital at Brookings. He is suffering from abdominal trouble and the doctor states he will be laid up for the summer. His place is filled by H.G. Yontz, Snow Camp Fireman. Yontz is an old time logger and is reputed to be a first-class fire fighter." (Six Twenty-Six)
October 1925: "Mr. Lake, our weather man, has a rather complicated instrument, know as an anemometer, which registers wind velocity. It has a double dial, and is operated in part by wind, electricity, and a clock. He keeps a record of hourly reading day and night throughout the season. The maximum wind velocity for the last season occurred in August when it blew 95 miles. Mr. Lake, who is not a heavyweight, says he locks himself in when he gets a blow of this kind." (Six Twenty-Six)
May 1926: "The District Ranger made a trip to Snow Camp Lookout the first of the month, and the lookout house had been broken into. The guilty parties evidently were hungry as they helped themselves to six weeks provisions left at the lookout station by Mr. Lake last season. They also took two axes, a twelve man mess kit, and two knap sacks. Keep your eyes open boys, these tools all branded U.S.F.S." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
July 1926: "Snow Camp Lookout has fleas up there that can jump 25 miles. He discovered this by placing a flea on the fire finder and then counting the sections of land that it 'cleared' in one jump." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
May 1929: "Snow Camp Lookout was placed on the 16th for a few days but has been working trail lately as weather changes for better." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
July 1929: "Snow Camp lookout station was unoccupied when I arrived there was a note signed by Allen Lawrence said he was working trail and would return at three o'clock. Fog and high humidity made this work possible. A.G. Jackson, Assistant Forester." (The Siskiyou Bulletin)
May 1940: "Fire danger data indicates that this position should be the first lookout manned. In past years it has been manned in May, but the date of June 1 appears more reasonable for average conditions." (Plans, Guard Placement, Siskiyou National Forest)
1941: The lookout staffed for 120 days and reported to the Gold Beach station by way of West Coast telephone Company.
August 2, 1958: "The Snow Camp lookout is being rebuilt according to Joe Amundson of the forest service.
The old building is being torn down and a new one erected. Because of its height the lookout is not built on a tower.
The lookout is actually in the Chetco ranger district.
Supplies have been dropped both for construction and for an inventory crew that will be working for 10 days in the district.
Local pilots have spotted the parachutes from the drops and reported them to the civil aeronautics authority." By R.R. Van Leer (The World)
The old building is being torn down and a new one erected. Because of its height the lookout is not built on a tower.
The lookout is actually in the Chetco ranger district.
Supplies have been dropped both for construction and for an inventory crew that will be working for 10 days in the district.
Local pilots have spotted the parachutes from the drops and reported them to the civil aeronautics authority." By R.R. Van Leer (The World)
1958: A flat roofed R-6 lookout house constructed.
July 1, 1964: "Snow Camp lookout is manned by Steven K. Davis of Hood River, Oregon. Davis is a junior at Oregon State University, majoring in pre-dentistry. Snow Camp lookout is located on the Lawson Creek - Pistol River divide, and provides lookout protection to a large and important part of the Chetco District." (The World)
August 7, 1968: "Believe it or not, the Forest Service still mans many of those remote lookout towers. One of them is the Snow Camp lookout in the Siskiyou National Forest where Lester Williams, a native of Sulphur Springs, Texas, is keeping the vigil this summer." (The Oregonian)
August 14, 2002: "The historic Snow Camp lookout Monday became one of the first structures in Curry County to be consumed by the newly renamed Biscuit Fire.
Fire Fighters had tried unsuccessfully to save the lookout by clearing around it and wrapping it in fireproof material." (Curry County Pilot)
2004: Volunteers rebuilt the lookout, primarily to replace the rental unit lost in the fire.