KLAMATH COUNTY
YAMSAY MOUNTAIN
Klamath Indian Agency > Winema National Forest
30S-11E-36
30S-11E-36
1928: "We are figuring on placing a lookout on Yamsey Mountain just north of the Long Bell holdings on the Klamath Indian Reservation.
From this mountain one can see over all the Long Bell tract and is thought that a lookout placed there would be of great benefit to the Long Bell Lumber Company in protecting their tract from fire.
Mr. Space along with Mr. John Hamilton covered the fire road running north through the Long Bell tract and it is believed that this road can be extended very easily to the top of Yamsay Mountain. This road traverses the ridge running north and south thru Long Bell tract thru the west row of sections in Range 12 east. This road is good enough for fire protection purposes and the taking of supplies to the lookout. There is not over 5 miles to be built onto t6his road to extend it to the top of the mountain.
The Long Bell Company has a telephone line running to their fire station in Section 18 - T32S - R12E and this can easily be extended to the top of Yamsay along the road referred to before.
Would the Long Bell Company be willing to extend this telephone line and construct the road thru their tract. Would they also be willing to bear half the expense of the lookouts wages as long as he was on the lookout." (A letter to the Long Bell Company from the Superintendent of the Klamath Agency)
From this mountain one can see over all the Long Bell tract and is thought that a lookout placed there would be of great benefit to the Long Bell Lumber Company in protecting their tract from fire.
Mr. Space along with Mr. John Hamilton covered the fire road running north through the Long Bell tract and it is believed that this road can be extended very easily to the top of Yamsay Mountain. This road traverses the ridge running north and south thru Long Bell tract thru the west row of sections in Range 12 east. This road is good enough for fire protection purposes and the taking of supplies to the lookout. There is not over 5 miles to be built onto t6his road to extend it to the top of the mountain.
The Long Bell Company has a telephone line running to their fire station in Section 18 - T32S - R12E and this can easily be extended to the top of Yamsay along the road referred to before.
Would the Long Bell Company be willing to extend this telephone line and construct the road thru their tract. Would they also be willing to bear half the expense of the lookouts wages as long as he was on the lookout." (A letter to the Long Bell Company from the Superintendent of the Klamath Agency)
1928: A truck trail was constructed to the top of Yamsay Mountain by the Klamath Indian Agency Forestry Department.
May 8, 1929: "Plans for the house on Yamsay are being prepared by Mr. Davis and he is also getting out the bill of material." (Memorandum for the Superintendent)
1929: "Seven miles of the Yamsay Lookout road has been completed, leaving an additional two miles, which will be completed by July 31 of this year. The Yamsay Lookout will have an eighty foot tower and be equipped with an Osborne fire finder." (FY 1929 Annual Forestry Report, Klamath Agency)
July 16, 1929: "The Indian Service is building a lookout house on Yamsay Mountain. One of the telephone lines near Silver Lake will be connected with this." (Lake County Tribune)
August 2, 1929: "The Indian Service is constructing a steel lookout tower on Yamsay Mountain. A road from the west to the top of Yamsay Mountain is almost completed, and work on the tower will start as soon as the road is done. This tower will serve not only the Indian Service but also parts of the northern part of the Fremont National Forest. The Forest Service road crew, which is building a road into Yamsay country from the east, has been kept in telephone communication by means of emergency telephone wire for fire protection purposes. (Lake County Tribune)
1929: An 80-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7 x 7 steel cab was erected in the month of August. A 12 x 16 ground cabin was constructed. for use as living quarters.
June 11, 1931: "The Yamsay steel tower is 80 feet high. A good road has been built to the tower on Yamsay mountain." (The Klamath News)
April 1, 1935: Narrative justification of projects proposed for 1935. "No. 63 - Reconstruction of the telephone line to Yamsay Mountain. Construction will consist of relocating on road, and replacing present wire with Copperweld, salvaging old wire. The project is important, as it is the intention to use this line as a main line to the Fremont National Forest. No. 64 - New construction telephone line Yamsay Mountain Lookout to Rodman Rock Lookout on the Fremont National Forest." (Conservation Working Plan Report)
September 25, 1937: "The Yamsay Mountain truck trail has only recently been completed. The work consisted of widening and grading the old truck trail constructed by the Forestry Branch in 1928, to an average width of 14 feet. The switchbacks were also widened and new open-top wooden culverts four inches wide were installed. The average grade of the Yamsay Mountain trail is eight and one-half percent." (From a report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs)
May 9, 1955: "Claudette Parazoo, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Parazoo, will be the lookout on Yamsay Mountain for the Indian Service this summer.
At present she is attending Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kansas, and was recently elected treasurer of the student body. She has indicated her intention to return to Haskell next year to complete her training there." (Herald and News)
August 21, 1961: "Winema Forest announced construction of a $9,000 lookout tower would begin shortly. Awarded the contract were Kyle and Britton construction companies, both of Portland. The tower, of treated timber, replaces an 80 foot steel tower on Yamsay Mountain.
The new lookout will be only 20 feet high and will include living quarters in its topside station. The present facility has buckled from heavy ice load during the winter months and Winema officials consider it unsafe." (Herald and News)
1961: "A steel tower and ground house at Yamsay Mountain Lookout was replaced with a new house of modern type design on a 20-foot wooden tower." (Winema National Forest Multiple Use Progress)
1968: "The lookout at Yamsay Mountain reported an increasing amount of smoke in the same area as a previously extinguished fire. Fire fighters returned to the site and discovered another abandoned campfire along the road 300 yards below the previously burning stump. Foresters said later that the stump did not emit sufficient smoke to be observed by the lookout and remarked that the first fire fighter came upon it accidentally, believing it to be the reported blaze. The burning stump did not qualify as a "reportable fire" because it did not spread out of the area where it started." (Herald and News)
1968: New casings put on the north and west facing windows, steps on the tower were repaired. A new deck on the porch was built. The outhouse was moved and painted.
1969: Five new window sashes were installed in the tower. A new front door was installed on the living quarters.
August 25, 1969: "For 21 years now Pat Lake has been up in her lookout on Yamsay Mountain watching for fires when fire weather comes to the Pacific Northwest.
She is looking for 'Tiger red' in the Winema National Forest in Southern Oregon. 'Tiger Red' is any fire sign in the forest below, and that is the name of the book she is writing about her experiences.
'Hunting fires has a fascination, like hunting gold or agates, or any surprise activity,' she explains. She spots an average of nine fires a season." (Colorado Springs Gazette) (Note: Pat had spent the 21 years on numerous lookouts not just Yamsay. Her book, in an unpublished manuscript form can be seen at the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum in Florence, Oregon.)
July 5, 1973: "Yamsay Mountain in the Chemult District will not be manned during the entire fire season, because of increased cooperation between the Winema National Forest and the KFPA. The lookout will only be used during periods of peak fire danger." (Herald and News)
Removed
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1933 (FGJ)
THE STATION IS ON THE HIGHEST PART OF THE MOUNTAIN 13.06 METERS
NW OF THE LOOKOUT TOWER AND ABOUT 6 FEET FROM THE EDGE OF THE
CLIFF ON THE OUTCROPPING BEDROCK.
STATION AND REFERENCE MARKS ARE STANDARD BRONZE DISKS IN
OUTCROPPING BEDROCK AS DESCRIBED IN NOTES 2 AND 12A.
BEAR BUTTE LOOKOUT, AZIMUTH MARK, IS ABOUT 12 MILES N OF STATION.
STATION IS BEST REACHED BY GOING N FROM KLAMATH AGENCY ON
U.S. HIGHWAY 97 TO MILEPOST 224, CONTINUE 0.2 MILE TO A ROAD
LEADING TO THE RIGHT MARKED BEAR FLAT. FOLLOW THIS ROAD 17.4
MILES TO A LARGE RANCH HOUSE AT A STREAM CROSSING. CONTINUE
STRAIGHT AHEAD 0.8 MILE TO A SIGN ON THE RIGHT MARKING THE CENTER
OF THE STOCK DRIVEWAY. TURN RIGHT HERE AND FOLLOW THE
MAIN-TRAVELED ROAD 8.5 MILES TO A SIGN YAMSAY MOUNTAIN
LOOKOUT. TURN LEFT AND FOLLOW THIS ROAD 8.0 MILES TO THE TOP
OF THE HILL, THE LOOKOUT AND THE STATION.
(NOTE) THE STATION WAS MARKED IN 1932 AND OBSERVED IN
1933. MT. THIELSEN IS ABOUT 39 MILES NW OF STATION.
HEIGHT OF LIGHT ABOVE STATION MARK 1.4 METERS.
STATION RECOVERY (1935)
RECOVERY NOTE BY US FOREST SERVICE 1935 (NS)
ON THE HIGHEST PART OF YAMSAY MOUNTAIN, ABOUT 42 FEET NW OF THE
LOOKOUT TOWER AND ABOUT 6 FEET FROM THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF. THE
POINT MAY BE REACHED BY ROAD. IT IS ABOUT 15 MILES SW OF SILVER
LAKE TOWN, BUT IS EASIER TO REACH BY TURNING E FROM THE
DALLES-CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY (U.S. 97) AT MILEAGE 223.8. STATION
MARKED BY STANDARD DISK IN BEDROCK, NOTE 2. TWO REFERENCE
MARKS, EACH CONSISTING OF DISK IN BEDROCK, ARE, RESPECTIVELY,
2.585 METERS (8.46 FEET) SE OF STATION IN AZIMUTH 324 DEG 27 MIN
AND 14.105 METERS (46.26 FEET) SW OF STATION IN AZIMUTH 41
DEG 10 MIN 58.3 SEC. YAMSAY MOUNTAIN LOOKOUT TOWER CENTER IS
13.06 METERS (42.84 FEET) SE OF STATION IN AZIMUTH 323
DEG 40 MIN 04 SEC. UNITED STATES INDIAN SERVICE STATION YAMSAY,
1926, CONSISTING OF 1/4-INCH DRILL HOLE IN BEDROCK, SURROUNDED BY
CUT TRIANGLE AND LETTERS USIS, IS 1.038 METERS (3.41 FEET) N
OF STATION IN AZIMUTH 174 DEG 50 MIN. TIP OF MT. THIELSEN,
ABOUT 39 MILES NW, IS IN AZIMUTH 113 DEG 28 MIN 14.8 SEC.