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Argentine Rock*

Argentine Rock - September 2008 - r.k.
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November 18, 1937: "Visitors to forest service lookout stations sometimes wonder at the strength of cables or steel rods with which the stations are anchored to the rocky summit on which they stand.

.....A demonstration of the need for these heavy anchors occurred a few days ago on Argentine Rock in the Plumas forest. A temporary structure, used as a lookout station this year, while a new and modern station was being constructed, it could not withstand even the first blast of winter. A terrific wind, a forerunner of the last storm, caused the temporary structure to be blown from the rock into a nearby ravine.

.....A crew sent to Argentine last Saturday to move equipment, reported the depth of snow in that locality to be fourteen to eighteen inches." (Reno Evening Gazette)

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August 12, 1955: "Plumas National Forest lookouts not only keep a sharp watch for the start of forest fires, but also keep their eyes open for the sake of personal safety.

.....This is the statement of Mrs.Lillie Hitchcock who mans the lookout perched atop Argentine Rock five miles north of Sloat on the crest of Grizzly Ridge. Starting down the lookout steps last Thursday morning about 10 o'clock for firewood, Mrs. Hitchcock heard one of nature's most blood tingling signals. It came from a few steps lower where a good sized rattlesnake was in charge of the "right of way." Mrs. Hitchcock, ready for any emergency, reached back into her lookout chamber for the 410 shotgun she keeps handy.

.....Now, along with the scalps of four porcupines, she has on display a fine set of eight rattles and a button taken from the rattlesnake.

.....Mrs. Hitchcock says the porcupine visitors are the most disturbing since they have a special liking for tool handles, washboards and the wood siding of the lookout upon which they enjoy gnawing at all hours of the night.

.....Added to Mrs. Hitchcock's thrills in her assignment is the fact that the Argentine Rock lookout building is perched on a cliff, and the northwest catwalk around the building overlooks a sheer drop of 500 feet to the rock side of the canyon below. Mrs. Hitchcock claims that lookout visitors seem to feel more comfortable on the on the east side of the building." (Reno Evening Gazette)

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Bald Eagle Butte

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Ben Lomond

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Black Mountain

Black Mountain - September 2008 - r.k.

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October 27, 1933: "Hall's Flat CCC camp is deserted today except for fifteen men who have been detailed to remain in camp and complete 2500 feet of road on Black Mountain.

.....It definitely is assured Hall's Flat camp will be reopened next spring." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville)

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November 17, 1933: "Emmett and Lester Brockman are hauling a car load of lumber from the railroad station at Doyle to Laufman ranger station. The lumber will be used next spring to build a lookout station on Black mountain." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville)

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September 6, 1952: "Spotting forest fires from Black Mountain lookout in the Plumas national forest has been a little dull lately, but Mrs. Edna Toy, in charge of the tower, got a thrill early Wednesday morning, but not from discovery of a fire. Scanning the area south of the tower looking for smokes, she discovered a huge bobcat trotting within 200 feet of the station headed for a brush patch.

.....Dropping her binoculars and picking up a .22-caliber rifle, Mrs. Toy dropped the cat in its tracks. Fire Control Officer Guy Price, who arrived a short time after the shooting, said the wildcat is the biggest he has seen in that area, and revealed the animal will weigh between 50 and 60 pounds and measures 40 inches from nose to tail." (Reno Evening Gazette)

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Camel Peak

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Claremont

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Dixie Mountain*

Dixie Mountain - September 2008 - r.k.
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July 20, 1928: "Ranger Ben Beard spent several days at Dixie Mountain looking over the site for a lookout station and telephone line." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville) .

September 14, 1928: "The Forest Service is constructing a road from the Ramelli range in Last Chance to the summit of Dixie mountain where they are building a lookout station. On the west slope of Dixie they have a crew of men stringing the telephone line to the lookout site. About fifteen men are employed." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville).

July 5, 1929: "The lookout station on Dixie Mountain is nearing completion. Ranger Beard states that it will be finished by July 15." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville).

June 5, 1931: "J.C. Horn and son Myron arrived here from Corvallis, Oregon. Myron will be fire lookout at the Dixie Mountain station for this season." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville)

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Kettle Rock

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August 31, 1944: "Gene Leichter, Plumas national forest lookout, stationed on Kettle rock east of Greenville in Plumas country, left his station one evening early this week to check the station water pump located a quarter-mile down the mountain. Returning to a point two hundred yards below the lookout just before dark, Leichter was startled to see two large black bears in the trail.

.....Leichter, an experienced mountaineer, declared he had seen many bear, but none as big as the two facing him, and he became concerned when Mr. and Mrs. Bruin refused to leave or show fright from his yells and gestulations. It was quite the reverse, said Leichter, when the larger of the two beasts stood on his hind legs to survey the situation, Leichter took that as a direct challenge, and ducked with alacrity into the forest for a hurried detour to the safety of his lookout. "I was alone without a gun or club, and those bears looked awful big," Leichter said." (Reno Evening Gazette)

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September 8, 1952: "Kettle Rock lookout in the Plumas national forest built first in 1912 and reconstructed in 1920 was determined by forest building engineers early this year as no longer usable.

.....According to Ranger Harold Turner of Greenville the thirty year old structure has been dismantled and in its place a new standard 14 by 14 lookout building is now under construction. It will be completed the latter part of September.

.....Turner said all forest lookout buildings suffer tremendously from wind and extreme weather, but that old Kettle Rock structure was reduced considerably also by porcupines gnawing on the foundation and floor.

....Lookouts manning the Kettle Rock post this season are Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Clark." (Reno Evening Gazette)

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July 9, 1959: "An almost impossible--but necessary--30 mile drive down a barely passable mountain road in the middle of the night was accomplished recently bu a 15-year-old Greenville girl who has had only a minimum of driving experience.

.....The trip was made from Kettle Rock lookout by Dorothy Hawson, after her father, Bill Hawson, suffered a heart attack and had to be taken into Greenville for immediate medical attention.

.....Mrs. Hawson was also at the lookout but remained to man the post until a relief was sent by the Forest Service.

.....Dorothy made the trip down the mountain with her father in a pickup truck, leaving the lookout about 2:30 in the morning. She broke down at the conclusion of the trying journey and suffered screaming nightmares throughout the following night. The effective treatment for her condition was being forced to make the trip again the following day in daylight.

.....Local residents claim that the trip is almost impossible to make with an ordinary auto or unloaded pickup.

.....The teenager probably would have been unable to make the drive had she not received driver's training at school, according to friends who reported that she is not yet a licensed driver and has had only limited experience.

.....Mr. Hawson was treated at Greenville and transferred to the Veterans Hospital in Reno, where he is reported as progressing nicely." (The Record)

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July 16, 1959: "Bill Hawson, who suffered a heart attack recently at Kettle Rock lookout, is a patient at the Veterans Hospital in Reno, where his condition was reported improved late last week. He will be forced to remain flat on his back for the next 6 or 7 weeks. Hawson will appreciate friends here; he can receive visitors." (The Record)

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July 16, 1959: "Mrs. Violet Hawson spent the weekend in Reno visiting her husband Bill in the hospital. She has given up her lookout post at Kettle Rock Lookout." (The Record)

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July 23, 1959: "First report on the fire came from Kettle Rock Lookout to the north, where Blanche Le Fluer had been on duty since only four days earlier. (Mrs. Le Fluer took over the post after Mrs. Bill Hawson was forced to quit the position by the illness of her husband.)" (The Record)

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Lexington Hill

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Mt Elwell

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Mt Harkness

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Mt Hough

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September 21, 1950: "'Hold the phone a minute, there's a big bear downstairs' was the exclamation of Mrs. Walter Shockley interrupting her telephone conversation from Mt. Hough lookout station to Plumas national forest central fire dispatcher Herbert Hard in Quincy.

.....Hard keeping the receiver to his ear, heard shouts by the lookout lady followed by the loud banging of a metal dishpan.

....Scaring Mr. Bruin away and returning to the phone, Mrs. Shockley exclaimed:

...."Well. I don't mind bears calling once in awhile when my husband is home, but I certainly don't care about entertaining them when Walter is away."

.....Dispatcher Hard explained that the regular lookout, who is Mrs. Shockley's husband Walter,

was down over the rugged side of Mt. Hough at the time fighting a lightning fire. The Mt. Hough station is not a tower but a two story wood structure." (Reno Evening Gazette)

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Mt Ingalls

Mt Ingalls Lookout at the Plumas County Fairgrounds - September 2008 - r.k.
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August 3, 1960: "Mount Ingalls was chosen as one of three lookouts in Northern California to have a time lapse camera installed. This is a cooperative study between the State Forestry Division and the Weather Bureau in conjunction with the use of radar in fire detection. The lookout operator is instructed to photograph any build up of clouds that they see. They can't see at night and that's where the radar is especially valuable.

.....Eventually, as a result of these observations, it is hoped that fire fighters will be warned far enough in advance to move in before fires start." (Star-News)

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Pilot Peak

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Radio Hill*

Site of the former Lookout building - September 2008 - r.k.

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Red Hill

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Red Rock*

Red Rock Lookout - September 2008 - r.k.
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June 6, 1941: "A new lookout station is to be constructed on Red Rock, Plumas National Forest, a peak two miles south of Diamond Mountain and two miles east of Lights Creek-Susanville road. Construction will start this week, advises Forest Supervisor D.N. Rogers, with the establishment of a spike camp near Red Rock to house the Gannser Bar CCC Camp who are to do the work. The project is to be rushed for completion by June 30.

.....The new Red Rock station, which will boost the total of Plumas National Forest Lookouts to twenty-one, will be a valuable addition to the forest detection system, since it overlooks highly valuable stands of government and private timber lying in the Moonlight, Lights Creek and Lone Rock areas. Increased logging activity in these areas this year has necessitated the construction of the Lookout Station for use this season." (Nevada State Journal)

September 29, 1949: "Figuring himself lost in the wilds of the Plumas National Forest, D.J. Costa, a 21-year-old hunter from Chico, set the forest on fire at the edge of a logging road and within three miles of Lights Creek Ranger Station shortly before noon on September 25. Panic stricken, and facing the thought of a possible night alone in the woods with wild animals prowling around him,, left it to attempt a return to camp. He was overjoyed when meeting Sid Donathan, forest fireman who had been dispatched to investigate Costa's fire which had been spotted by nearby Red Rock lookout. Readily admitting he had set the fire in his fear of being lost, Costa was charged with negligence for having caused a forest fire.

.....Taken before Justice of the Peace Frank Standart of Greenville, Costa was fined $25, with $15 of the amount suspended." (Indian Valley Record)

September 23, 1954: "Mrs. Wanda Hansen, efficient Plumas National Forest Lookout at Red Rock, called in to Fire Control Chief Johnny Murray at the Greenville Ranger Station Monday and asked for an immediate replacement. Murray, who is nothing if not a man of action, immediately dispatched the lady's husband, Ralph Hansen, to the lookout with Patrolman Jim Forstner as a replacement. Mrs. Hansen was taken to the Westwood hospital and at 5 p.m. gave birth to a 7-pound baby boy - but a month ahead of schedule. Both mother and baby are reported to be doing nicely. The new arrival has been named Frank Wesley." (Indian Valley Record)

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Smith Peak*

Smith Peak Lookout - September 2008 - r.k.
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August 19, 1955: "Serving as a fire lookout in the Plumas National Forest is an exciting job, according to Mrs. Emma Kolb stationed on Smith Peak five miles north of Portola.

.....Mrs. Kolb witnessed one of na(tures wonders within) calling distance of the lookout last Thursday morning, following which she telephoned this report to Claude C. Cooper, chief fire dispatcher for the Plumas Forest:

..."A weird sort of cry woke me at a few minutes before six this morning. Stepping out on the catwalk, I saw below me several deer dashing out of a cherry thicket. Jaybirds were sounding a loud warning, and a big doe with two little fawns came out of the brush, stopped and all looked back. It was then that I heard a bleating type of cry and a loud thrashing in the brush interspersed by deep throated growls.

....."The doe guided her two fawns to a safe place and then ventured back into the cherry thicket to investigate, but it was but a second or two until she came bounding out. The disturbance and noise from the thicket was such that I was certain I was hearing and almost in sight of a bloody battle between a buck deer and a mountain lion. At one time I could hear distinctly above the crashing of brush a loud cat-like hiss following a gutteral vicious sounding growl. Then all of a sudden it became quiet."

....."The leader of the little band of deer which feeds in the cherry thicket is a fine three point buck. He was missing this morning when I watched the evacuation of the deer from the thicket, and just ten days ago, I witnessed a mountain lion sunning himself in the rocks below and within a stones throw of my lookout quarters. So, while I did not actually see the struggle. I am positive it was between this mountain lion and the three point buck, and unfortunately, it ended as usual in victory for the big cat."

.....Mrs. Kolb has asked that a state hunter be sent to Smith Peak in hopes that the offending lion may be eliminated before he again gets hungry." (Reno Evening Gazette)

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Spanish Peak

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Table Mountain

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Taylor Rock

Could be another name for Kettle Rock?????

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Thompson Peak*

Thompson Peak - September 2008 - r.k.
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April 4, 1931: "Work will be started shortly on a trail leading to the proposed lookout on Thompson Mountain." (Fresno Bee)

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July 7, 1931: "The forest service are building a two story building on top of Mount Thompson, back of Janesville at a lookout station. The mountain is over 7000 feet high and the severe winds at that height are giving the carpenters much trouble in shingling the lookout.

.....The lookout station had to be anchored by big cables to hold it in place." (Reno Evening Gazette)

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June 26, 1932: "Ranger Beard was at Mt. Thompson the past week where there is a lookout station being erected." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville)

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July 26, 1932: "F. Bell of Laufman Station spent the past week painting the Mt. Thompson lookout station." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville)

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August 4, 1933: "A sudden blaze shooting up from below the floorboards of a logging truck, ate its way over nearly six hundred acres of timber south of Thompson peak as early efforts to check it Friday failed.

.....A defective wiring underneath the truck blazed forth without warning. The driver alone could not check the flames even with the aid of a passerby, so rapidly did the blaze spread. The lookout on Thompson peak reported the fire to headquarters, and two hundred men from the Crocker CCC camp in Plumas County, were ultimately called to fight the fast moving blaze.

.....On Saturday, the day after the fire started, the flames were once brought under control, but the high wind which held the fire in the tops of the trees, carried it over the the narrow trail and neccessitated all night work before being brought under control.

.....The fire was the largest that has hit this section of the counbtry this season. Over half of the timber was government property, the rest being private holdings of the F.G.S." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville)

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April 27, 1934: "Harry Foster spent several days at the Mt. Thompson lookout station while he was working on the grade going to the station." (Lassen Advocate - Susanville)

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June 22, 1950: "Plumas national forest lookout station atop Thompson Peak which overlooks Honey Lake valley was the scene of a wedding ceremony last Sunday when Miss Elizabeth Allen and Clifford Moore, both of Herlong, were married by the Rev. Thomas Moore of Herlong.

.....Arrangements for the wedding were made by Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Moore, parents of the bridegroom who are stationed as lookouts on Thompson Peak, and the ceremony was performed in the tower room with refreshments served afterward on the "catwalk" of the lookout. Thirty guests were present for the occasion." (Reno Evening Gazette)

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