GRANT COUNTY
TAMARACK MOUNTAIN
Umatilla National Forest
8S-26E-18
8S-26E-18
January 27, 1908: "Area 40 acres. Withdrawn by General Land Office January 27, 1908.
This site is approximately eight miles from Dixon Ranger Station and Bull Prairie Ranger Station and is used on general administrative and protective work, its principal use being to provide forage for horses used by Forest officers while on lookout duty on Tamarack Mountain.
The improvements consist of a pasture fence 1 mile long, valued at $135.50.
The forage produced is sufficient for two horses from April to October.
Water for domestic use is available from a spring having its source on the area.
No applications under the act of June 11, 1906, have been received, covering any portion of the site." (Withdrawal Records)
This site is approximately eight miles from Dixon Ranger Station and Bull Prairie Ranger Station and is used on general administrative and protective work, its principal use being to provide forage for horses used by Forest officers while on lookout duty on Tamarack Mountain.
The improvements consist of a pasture fence 1 mile long, valued at $135.50.
The forage produced is sufficient for two horses from April to October.
Water for domestic use is available from a spring having its source on the area.
No applications under the act of June 11, 1906, have been received, covering any portion of the site." (Withdrawal Records)
July 24, 1915: "Forest Supervisor W.W. Cryder, in charge of the Umatilla reserve, has his force well organized to combat any possible fires. So far this season only one small blaze has been discovered in the reserve. This was extinguished without any material damage.
With the aid of observers on Lookout and Tamarack Mountains, and telephonic communication between all of the stations, the supervisor believes fires can now be discovered and steps be taken to check them before they gain much headway. The observers are equipped with strong glasses and Osborne fire finders, by which they can establish the location of a fire without loss of time" (Morning Oregonian)
July 19, 1921: "Frank Bloss, army vocational training man, arrived this week and will take up the duty of lookout at Tamarack mountain in the Heppner district." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
August 9, 1921: "During Tuesday, Lookout Bloss at Tamarack mountain reported a total of thirteen fires. The lookout in the Ukiah district up to Saturday night reported nearly a score. Nearly all of the fires were put out while they were small." (Heppner Herald)
August 11, 1921: "During Tuesday, lookout Bloss at Tamarack mountain reported a total of thirteen fires." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
June 6, 1929: "Marion Saling, Hardman, is temporarily located at Long Prairie where he will count sheep entering the forest. He will be transferred to Tamarack mountain the first of July to act as lookout. Mrs. Saling and children will join him as soon as he gets settled there." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
January 29, 1931: "A fifty-acre pasture was built at Tamarack mountain and a new cabin erected for the lookout." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
October 6, 1932: "A hundred-foot steel tower is to be erected at Tamarack mountain this fall or early next spring before fire season." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
June 15, 1933: "The new steel tower at Tamarack mountain will be completed this month. It is a hundred feet high and built after the latest design in this kind of construction. The base will be embedded in six feet of concrete, and no guy lines will be used. The tower weighs seven tons without the base. John Clouston of the Pendleton office is in charge of the work." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
1933: A 96-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7x7 steel cab erected, also a living quarters cabin.
August 15, 1935: "George Gillis, member of the Lexington school faculty, says he likes his summer job as lookout on Tamarack mountain even though the occasional scream of a cougar causes one's scalp to tingle. George is one who believes that a cougar really screams -- like unto the screams of a woman -- and that it is not just the hoot of an owl combined with overwrought nerves such as one of the theories recently expounded in these columns by F.F. Wehmeyer, the local district supervisor. George tracked his cougar over the mountain and had three shots at the varmint, though he has not yet succeeded in landing the prized hearthstone rug. It's 102 feet to the top of the steel tower on Tamarack, and George says the several-times-a-day trip up and down the stairs has taken off a few pounds of avoirdupois, but his appearance when in town Tuesday makes chances pretty tough for any mat opponent when he comes out of the timber. At odd seasons, George indulges in the bone-crushing game as a form of amusement." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
September 24, 1936: "George Gillis, Tamarack lookout-fireman, has accepted a position to teach in the Lexington schools this winter." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
August 26, 1937: "Mr. and Mrs. Max Buschke were in Hardman Monday from Tamarack lookout." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
July 31, 1938: "A bolt of lightning knocked Max Buschke, keeper of the Tamarack lookout station, unconscious for an hour Thursday night. His wife came to his aid and carried on his work, reporting five fires set by the electrical display. They were all controlled and Buschke recovered without serious injury." (The Oregon Statesman)
October 6, 1938: "George Gillis who spent the summer as lookout at Tamarack and who recently received notice of acceptance of application as educational adviser in governmental work, was assigned to work with a CCC camp at Pocatello, Idaho, this week, with his family he left Heppner Saturday to accept the new position." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
June 29, 1939: "Max Buschke and family have been in town the past week, with annual leave, before going to the Tamarack lookout for the summer. Marion Saling and Max did not go to the fire school which was held at Tollgate June 20th to 24th. Jim Stevens is the only one who went from Hardman." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
September 5, 1946: "Mr. Tate has left Tamarack lookout where he has been located this summer, Roland Farrens will go to Tamarack if weather makes it necessary." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
August 19, 1965: "Dale Vance, a Heppner High graduate and son of Mr. and Mrs. Art Vance, is lookout at Tamarack this summer. We found his facility spic and span Sunday. The grounds around his cabin were raked clean, and he made borders with rocks along the edges of the trails. Dale explained that he was expecting an inspection Monday and wanted to have everything shipshape.
He said that he picked up two wheel borrow loads of dead batteries from the brush where lookouts had thrown them from the tower as they changed the power supply on their radio in previous years." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
1966: An accidental fire destroyed the living quarters. The garage was then converted to serve as living space.
July 13, 1967: "Louis Larson, a school teacher from Washington, is stationed on Tamarack lookout and is serving as a lookout for his third year. He was on Tamarack two seasons ago and on Wheeler lookout last year." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
July 18, 1968: "Dale L. Godwin of Hermiston is atop Tamarack lookout." (Heppner Gazette-Times)
DESIGNATION - TAMARACK
PID - QC1029
STATE/COUNTY- OR/GRANT
COUNTRY - US
USGS QUAD - KIMBERLY (1995)
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1941 (ANS)
STATION IS LOCATED ON THE HIGHEST PART OF TAMARACK MOUNTAIN, A
HIGH AND HEAVILY TIMBERED PEAK LYING ABOUT 7.5 MILES N OF KIMBERLY,
AND ABOUT 12.0 MILES W OF MONUMENT. IT IS THE HIGHEST PEAK IN
THE VICINITY. STATION IS SET BENEATH TAMARACK LOOKOUT TOWER.
STATION MARK IS A STANDARD U.S.C. AND G.S. BRONZE DISK, STAMPED,
TAMARACK 1941 SET IN A DRILL HOLE IN A BOULDER. IT IS UNDERNEATH
THE 100-FOOT LOOKOUT TOWER ON THE HIGHEST PART OF MOUNTAIN.
REFERENCE MARK NO. 1 IS A STANDARD U.S.C. AND G.S. BRONZE DISK,
STAMPED TAMARACK NO. 1 1941, SET IN A DRILL HOLE IN THE CONCRETE
FOUNDATION FOR THE NW LEG OF LOOKOUT TOWER. IT IS ABOUT 1.5 FEET
HIGHER THAN THE STATION.
REFERENCE MARK IS A U.S. FOREST SERVICE BRONZE DISK, STAMPED
TAMARACK L O T 1936, SET IN A DRILL HOLE IN THE CONCRETE
FOUNDATION FOR THE SW LEG OF THE LOOKOUT TOWER. IT IS ABOUT 1.5
FEET HIGHER THAN THE STATION.
STATION IS REACHED AS FOLLOWS--FROM KIMBERLY GO W ON STATE HIGHWAY
19 FOR 9.4 MILES TO ITS JUNCTION WITH STATE HIGHWAY 207. AT SIGN,
HEPPNER 50 MILES TURN RIGHT (N) ON STATE HIGHWAY 207 AND GO 12.4
MILES TO SECOND SUMMIT AND SIGN, TAMARACK MOUNTAIN 10 MILES. TURN
RIGHT ON THE ROAD LEADING TO TAMARACK MOUNTAIN AND GO E 2.3 MILES
TO FORKS. TAKE RIGHT FORK AS PER SIGN ANT HILL L.O., TAMARACK
MOUNTAIN L.O., AND GO 4.3 MILES TO FORKS. TAKE RIGHT FORK
(STRAIGHT AHEAD) AS PER SIGN, TAMARACK L.O. 3, AND GO 2.8
MILES TO LOOKOUT TOWER AND STATION.