WHEELER COUNTY
SPANISH PEAK
Ochoco National Forest
13S-25E-30
13S-25E-30
June 22, 1922: "The telephone line connecting Prineville with Wolf Mountain and Spanish Peak has been completed." (Central Oregonian)
May 10, 1923: "A standard lookout house will be built on Spanish Peak (formerly known as Bald Mountain) near Antone. This will be the first standard lookout house constructed on the Ochoco forest. These standard lookout houses are so constructed as to accord the observer a view in all directions from the interior of the house, windows being provided on all sides. One of the latest type fire finders will equip this station." (Central Oregonian)
September 27, 1923: "A new trail has been completed to Spanish peak to allow trucking of lumber for a new lookout house. The work is in charge of Bert Toliday and B.E. Ford. The road was in shape for travel Saturday night. Work on the lookout house has started." (Central Oregonian)
September 27, 1923: "A load of supplies was taken over for the new lookout house which will be built on Spanish Peak. Lumber for the new station is being hauled by Bert Toliday from the R.T. Brown sawmill at Antone." (Central Oregonian)
June 19, 1924: "Martin Statey is occupying the new lookout house on Spanish Peak as primary lookout man. Very shortly he will be transferred to Wolf Mountain, to a similar place, and W.M. Bailey will take up the lookout work at Spanish Peak." (Central Oregonian)
July 1927: "The other day we borrowed the White truck and hauled up some lumber to fix a garage and storeroom on Spanish Peak. We hauled the lumber up to Cottonwood Spring and Floyd Jones hauled it to Spanish Peak with a team. Mrs. Jones handled the lookout point for two or three days while Floyd was hauling lumber. We expect to have an 8x19' garage there to house the lookout's car, also room to store a few tools and saddle, as well as to put the shutters from cabin up over head during the summer." (The Ochoconian)
August 1927: "Floyd Jones, on Spanish Peak, has been busy reporting fires and seems to have gotten first shot on several, far and near. He has his garage completed, and car, tools, window shutters, etc., will be protected from sun and rain." (The Ochoconian)
1927: The lookout reported three fires during the season.
July-August 1928: "Lester Davenport is holding down Spanish Peak. Rather a lonesome job for Lester with newlyweds on both the other lookout points in sight." (The Ochoconian)
August 28, 1930: "On August 23 at 1:40 p.m., Marvin Angle, lookout on Spanish Peak, reported a fire in the timber about two miles southwest of Derr station." (Central Oregonian)
December 1931: "The lookout house on Spanish Peak was raised up on 20 foot stilts during the latter part of fire season. Such a job proved to be quite an undertaking but we believe the results obtained in better visibility will justify the expense." (The Ochoconian)
August 16, 1934: "The forest radio station on Spanish Peak is working perfectly and is in daily communication with Tamarack Mountain on the Umatilla forest and Fields Peak on the Malheur. This station is a big advancement in communicating information of fires between various forests and enable lookout men to talk directly with others whose stations are visible but does not work so well where mountains intervene. They are very inexpensive, costing no more than $50, and afford the first communication between the various forests except the commercial lines which occasion delays." (Central Oregonian)
September 6, 1934: "Sunday a four acre fire was reported on Cottonwood Creek, near Dayville, in the Ochoco Forest by the lookout on Spanish Peak. The fire, which was man caused, was quickly put under control." (Central Oregonian)
June 11, 1936: "By means of the short wave radio of Spanish Peak the past two years, the lookout there has been in direct communication with Aldrich Mountain and Fields Peak in the Malheur forest and with Tamarack Mountain in the Umatilla. Advantages of rapid and direct communication in the event of forest fires are obvious. Forest Service officials, however, resort to telephone communication in rounding up fire fighters." (Central Oregonian)
July 15, 1937: "When bandit trails pointed through Central Oregon Monday night, lookouts on duty in the Ochoco National Forest got a new thrill when they were called upon to report to state police the movements of any car traveling at night, particularly those pursuing roads other than the usual highways. From their vantage points on the high towers whence they spot small fires ere they can grow to large ones, the lookouts were in a preferred position and could quickly spot the lights of any moving cars.
Request for this service to law and order came when bandits held up the Grant County bank at John Day Monday night, fired a hardware company's warehouse to draw attention away from their movements, kidnapped Edwin Way, cashier of the bank, at his home and forced him at the point of a gun to accompany them to the bank and open the vault.
When Way complied they slugged him and left him for dead but in their haste to get away they wrecked the car they had stolen in Pendleton and abandoned a part of the stolen money, groceries they had cached in the car and several guns, according to statements made over the telephone from John Day when the aid of the lookouts was requested." (Central Oregonian)
July 21, 1938: "About August 1 a crew will begin construction of a new 40-foot creosoted, ring connected tower with 14 x 14 house and catwalk on top of Spanish Peak. This will add materially to the visibility of fire from the Spanish peak lookout." (Central Oregonian)
August 25, 1938: "When the road to Spanish peak is completed about September 1, the forest service will truck in a new tower and lookout house to replace the old tower which was built a number of years ago. It is anticipated that the new 40-foot tower will improve the detection coverage of that section of the forest. Glenn Swift has charge of the road improvement." (Central Oregonian)
October 20, 1938: "The lookout tower 40 feet high has been completed on Spanish Peak and H.F. Skinner and Nels Sande with a crew of ERA men are now building a house for the lookout which will be finished this month. Reports coming to the Supervisor's office are that the wind 'is blowing so strongly that three men have to hold a board down while the fourth nails it.'
The 40-foot tower was built in five and a half days with caps, stairway and braces from sawn lumber. Starting at the ground it was only one-eighth of an inch off plumb when completed, an error which was easily corrected." (Central Oregonian)
November 1938: "When Van Foster went on Spanish Peak Lookout July 9 he boxed up his old cat and took it along in his car. September 30 the weather turned bad and the cat disappeared. On October 8 when Van returned to his home he found the cat casually seated in the sun on the back porch. The distance between the lookout and Van's home is 16 miles airline and 25 miles by road. Van is uncertain as to which route the cat took. G.P. McClanahan" (Six Twenty-Six)
December 1938: "The Ochoco is completing construction of a new 40 foot type CT-3 tower on Spanish Peak, and a 20x20 foot combination garage, storage and woodshed building. The garage was built first, and served as cooking and sleeping quarters for the crew.
Spanish Peak rises to an elevation of 6885 feet and tapers off gradually to the south, the north side being a precipitous cliff. Winter sets in early on the peak, and a constant wind blows, rarely below fifteen miles per hour. The wind reaches high velocities that are unbroken by trees or other obstructions.
On November 2 the writer visited the project and spent two days there. Some though weather was experienced - rain, snow, and a wind of from twenty-five to forty miles per hour. The tower became coated with ice and snow from the ground to the lightning aerial. On the night of November 2 the wind blew hard from the south and was accompanied by fine snow. Early in the morning, perhaps about four o'clock, the wind changed to the west-northwest and warmed enough to thaw the ice from the tower. The garage is located east and slightly south of the tower and is forty feet from it. While the crew was asleep, the wind picked up a quantity of the loosened ice and icicles from the tower and with a loud clatter dropped on the roof of the garage. Almost instantly half the crew was out of bed before they realized what had happened. From then on until the tower was stripped of ice the clatter continued at frequent intervals. No apparent damage was done to the shingles - perhaps because it is a new roof - and the crew settled down after becoming accustomed to the noise.
The moral of this is evident. Locate the ground buildings so that they will be on the windward side of the tower should the wind blow warm during the winter. Most generally thawing winds in this region came from the south or west; therefore, if at all possible, locate the ground buildings on the south or west of the tower to avoid damage to the roofs by falling ice from the tower. Arvid J. Nelson" (Six Twenty-Six)
June 28, 1945: "The Misses Wilma and Elaine Hatch of Prineville are on Spanish Peak for the summer, as Forest Service lookouts." (Central Oregonian)
June 27, 1952: "Two Crook County high school girls, Eudora Houston, class of 1952, and Leora, class of 1953, will join the staff of fire lookouts on the Ochoco this summer. They will be stationed at Spanish peak. They are daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Houston." (The Bend Bulletin)
Removed
DESIGNATION - SPANISH PEAK LOH
PID - QC1021
STATE/COUNTY- OR/WHEELER
COUNTRY - US
USGS QUAD - ANTONE (1992)
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY US FOREST SERVICE 1935 (WOB)
STATION IS ON THE SUMMIT OF SPANISH PEAK, ELEVATION 6885 FEET,
ABOUT 5 MILES AIR LINE SE OF ANTONE. STATION IS IN THE IMMEDIATE
LOCALITY OF STATIONS SPANISH PEAK AND SPANISH PEAK (U.S.G.S.). SEE DESCRIPTION OF THOSE STATIONS FOR INFORMATION ABOUT RELATIONSHIP
OF THE THREE POINTS. POSITION GIVEN FOR LOOKOUT HOUSE IS THAT
OF CENTER OF STRUCTURE.
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1946 (DHK)
STATION IS THE CENTER OF THE NEW LOOKOUT TOWER WHICH IS ABOUT 50
FEET HIGH AND CONSTRUCTED OF WOOD. IT IS OF STANDARD FOREST SERVICE DESIGN AND IS LOCATED ON THE SUMMIT OF SPANISH PEAK, A HIGH BALD
MOUNTAIN LOCATED ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ANTONE. IT WAS
CONNECTED BY TRAVERSE TO TRIANGULATION STATION SPANISH PEAK
1933. THIS STRUCTURE REPLACES AN OLD LOOKOUT HOUSE WHICH WAS
ABOUT 6 METERS NORTH OF THE PRESENT LOCATION.