KEEPING WATCH

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[Jack] Why? Why are you interested in preserving them? Or what do you think is worthy in preserving? [Richard] In Lookouts. Well, I think lookouts. They’re very symbolic of forestry work, of conservation work.

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[Richard] They’re also very much an indicator or a symbol of who we were, who we are, and perhaps where we’re going as far as how we view the environment. You know, at a time, lookouts evolved essentially with the Forest Service and fire policy. And you can kind of see that evolution of how science has changed. And lookouts at one time were the key to management, at least on the fire management side of things.

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[Richard] And we saw them completely just come to their zenith right at World War Two. And then after World War Two, it completely changes.

[Jack] Yeah, you can jump right back in.

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[Richard] So you see their zenith right at World War Two. And then after the war, you see all the different technologies come in and the lookout starts to decrease. But it also, as it’s decreasing, still says a lot about who we are. You know, all of a sudden see the, you know, the smoke chaser turns to more of the fire watcher in the early 1960s.

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[Richard] And you see kind of a cultural development away from people that wanted to start a career in forestry and get a career doing, you know, very much forestry hands on practices to somebody who was looking at it more as a summer experience, maybe a two or three year thing. And you also see, you know, writers, people like Jack Kerouac or Edward Abbey or these people that kind of become icons of the environment, spend time on fire, lookouts.

00:01:59:15 - 00:02:25:25

[Richard] And then fast forwarding to the end of the 20th century and into the 21st century, you see a lot of folks that are on fire lookouts are now fire monitors. So in wilderness areas that the few fire lookouts that are left, they’re still a part of the system. No longer are we going to put the fire out, but at the same time, we’re going to make sure that it stays away from perhaps private property or from, you know, structures like Ranger stations and that kind of thing.

00:02:25:25 - 00:02:35:26

[Richard] And so there’s still value in fire lookouts just from the standpoint of how they are integrated into the fire management system.

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[Richard] Well I have been to a lot of lookouts, but, you know, I’m kind of like you guys. I’ve collected stories, not necessarily so much my own stories.

[Jack] Well, first. Yeah, I think we’d like to get your story.

[Richard] So. My name’s Richard Holm. I live in McCall, Idaho. I suppose you’d call me a lookout enthusiast. I’ve written a book I published in 2009 called Points of Prominence.

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[Richard] The book was sparked by volunteering and working at the Payette National Forest Heritage Program, where I visit a lot of the sites and then visit a lot of fire lookouts, sites on my own time as well. I’ve been involved with a lot of lookout restorations over the years Stabilization and salvages, including the lookout that we’re standing in here right now from Cold Mountain, which was originally located in the Idaho primitive area near Big Creek in the Middle Fork.

00:00:58:02 - 00:01:27:08

[Richard] I’ve also restored several that are in the town of McCall. I’ve been involved most recently with the stabilization of the 1914 cabin up at Brundage Mountain Lookout that overlooks the town here in McCall.

[Jack] Can you talk about this particular lookout, maybe give some information about its history and design?

[Richard] Sure, Sure. So this lookout is a is an aerometer design built on a contract for the Forest Service.

00:01:27:10 - 00:01:49:12

[Richard] They came in kits, metal kits. They’re typically most common in the eastern part of the United States where we don’t have as steep of topography. And so they were trying to get above treeline. But out here in the West with the Civilian Conservation Corps, they built a number of these lookouts in more low lying places, Chamberlain Basin, where this one is from out near Big Creek.

00:01:49:12 - 00:02:21:28

[Richard] In the middle Fork is kind of rolling terrain. And there were several of them out there, three that I can think off the top of my head. This one was taken down in 1994. It was originally packed up in 1936 from, I think, Big Creek. And then it came up through up through Cold Meadows and up to the site where there are some pieces on here that are had to be there so long, they had to be strung between two mules.

00:02:22:00 - 00:02:42:20

[Richard] It was then finished that summer of 1936, the following summer in 1937, there was a very well known lookout that was there and a young age. He was wanting to be a he was going to school to be a forestry student and he got a summer job working for the Idaho National Forest and was assigned to the Cold Mountain Lookout.

00:02:42:23 - 00:03:09:09

[Richard] He later went on his forestry career didn’t materialize and he later went on, I should mention his name is Norman Borlaug and he later went on to develop genetic. He modified the genetics and corn and he’s credited, you know, has a big following to some people and not so much to others. But he’s started the Green Revolution, kind of the whole thing of modifying genetics and plants for food.

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[Richard] I actually had the privilege of interviewing Norman Borlaug for about ten years ago now. He was living in Mexico and he gave me his story of being on the lookout. And he said that it was an experience in his life that he thought steered his career. And it taught him a lot of independence and how to live on his own.

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[Richard] And he always cherish those memories of his time at Cold Mountain.

[Jack] Can you talk about how this this look out came to be in your possession?

[Richard] Sure. So in 1994, this lookout had been staffed for a number of years. I’m trying to remember the exact date. I want to say his last staffed in the late 1950s.

00:03:52:02 - 00:04:16:29

[Richard] It sat idle. A lot of lookouts with aerial fire patrols and retardants and different technology that was developed during World War Two became obsolescent. And this was one of them, especially since it was within just a few miles of the Cold Meadows airfield. And so in 1994, they decided that in keeping with wilderness standards, that they would take the a lot of the fire lookouts down that they weren’t using.

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[Richard] That really started happening in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. They targeted the easiest ones. Of course, this one being steel, it was hard to burn or bury at the site. And so in 1994, they finally decided to take it down. It was taken down, I can almost think of their name. They’re from Donnelley and it was taken away.

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[Richard] It’s taken down and packed to the Cold Meadows Airfield, where it was then flown out in pieces with a forest service DC-3. From there it was donated to the Central Idaho Historic Museum, which is a 501C-3 located in McCall. And when I came along in the early 2000s, mid 2000, I propositioned the museum and offered. They had been donated one other tower at that time from Sloan’s point, which is just out near Patty flat.

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[Richard] And I said if I put one out, can I have the other one? And so I put up the Sloan’s Point Lookout there in town at the museum site and ended up with this one and built it and rebuilt it in 2007. Most of the glass is all original. It was, however, painted bright orange. Two stories on that was one that it was because it was so close to the airfield.

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[Richard] They wanted it to have some distinguishing marks so that pilots could see it. I was also told that it was done to preserve it so that the metal didn’t rust, but it’s all galvanized steel and so it wouldn’t have rusted anyway. But I will tell you that the fellow who painted it, Ted Costello, who I ended up meeting, he was the lookout there in 1940, the year that it was painted, and he did not miss a spot, all 72 feet of it.

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[Richard] He clamored all over and painted it with a bucket. So yeah, that’s kind of how I got it. And then I’ve just tried to make it as authentic as it could have been in 1940. And because we’re within 35 feet of a scenic highway, I couldn’t put it any higher than this.