Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

Volunteers Begin Historic Preservation Work at Wildhorse Lookout

Contacts:

• Patty Burel, Forest Public Affairs Officer, (541) 618-2113
• Don Allen, Sand Mountain Society, (503) 281-0864

MEDFORD, OR, August 1, 2008 – Next week high atop Wildhorse Ridge on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, a group of dedicated volunteers from the Sand Mountain Society will take the first steps toward restoring a deteriorating Wildhorse Lookout. During the week of August 1-7, the efforts to preserve and restore the lookout will involve cataloguing and dismantling the lookout cabin atop the 40' tower platform piece by piece, then lowering bundled materials to the ground.

"This is a volunteer project in partnership with the Sand Mountain Society, a non-profit group dedicated to the preservation of fire lookouts and other heritage resources. The Forest Service is very fortunate to have the Sand Mountain Society involved in this project," said Janet Joyer, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Archeologist. "The members of the organization have a real passion for restoring old fire lookouts, and for adhering to historic preservation principles in their work. Many of the members already have backgrounds in carpentry and other valuable skills," she said.

The Sand Mountain Society has a long history of successfully restoring historic lookouts across Oregon and Washington, including Pearsoll Peak Lookout near Selma. The group travels to southern Oregon at their own expense, supplies all necessary equipment, and donates all their labor, materials and expertise. "While most Sand Mountain Society members are from the Willamette Valley and central Oregon area, they have been coming down annually to southern Oregon since 1991 to restore, monitor and maintain historic Pearsoll Peak Lookout on Wild Rivers Ranger District. For most of them, it is a seven-hour commute," said Joyer.

The Wildhorse Lookout is located about 13 miles northeast of Gold Beach, Oregon and sits at 3,778 feet in elevation atop Wildhorse Ridge, overlooking tributaries of both the Rogue and the Illinois Rivers.

Snow from heavy winter storms this past year collapsed the cabin which sits on top of a forty foot lookout tower. After disassembling the lookout, the painstaking rehabilitation of cabin components will be done off-site by associates and members of the Sand Mountain Society who will take the components back to their workshops and labs in Bend and Portland, Oregon. This intensive restoration work involves removing lead paint, re-finishing and/or painting the older materials, replicating new components where necessary, refurbishing hardware, and preparing for re-assembly of the fire lookout atop the wood tower on Wildhorse Ridge.

The Sand Mountain Society's first fire lookout restoration project was at Sand Mountain in the central Oregon Cascades near Santiam Pass. The group formalized in 1987 and proposed a model partnership with the Forest Service to restore a historic cabin to the summit of Sand Mountain. The structure was assembled from an abandoned structure and other materials donated by Ranger Districts and individuals throughout the state.

"At that time the biggest contributions came from the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest," recalled Sand Mountain Society Chairperson, Don Allen. "Back then the Rogue River and Siskiyou were separate Forests, but the Heritage Managers for each Forest (Jeff LaLande and Janet Joyer), were so helpful that we wanted to return the favor, so our first major restoration project after Sand Mountain was Pearsoll Peak Lookout near Selma."

"Eight years ago, Janet and I first started talking about restoring Wildhorse Lookout," said Allen. "Given how far it is from where most of us live, I was hoping to defer a restoration project until after I retired, which is a long ways away. When we heard that Wildhorse Lookout had been badly damaged this winter, one of the main reasons we were interested in helping was because of our experiences with the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest. We would not have had an interest in a project so far from home were it not for that prior experience."

"The Sand Mountain Society has rehabbed many lookouts and to recognize their work, the Forest Service presented Sand Mountain Society with the national Windows on the Past award for the quality of their most recently completed project: Gold Butte Lookout near Detroit, Oregon." That fully restored fire lookout is now available through the cabin rental program. Photos of the finished product can be found on the Willamette National Forests web site.

Historical records indicate that the site at Wildhorse Lookout had been used as a fire lookout location for many years prior to the construction of the current lookout. The tent accommodations of the 1920s were replaced by a classic "L-4" style lookout by 1935. In 1947, after a windstorm blew the lookout over, the current lookout was reconstructed in the same style. The Forest Service designed the L-4 for use throughout the Pacific Northwest from the 1930s through the 1950s. It was a 14 foot x 14 foot one story observation cabin combined with living area on a 40 foot timber pole tower. The L-4 fire lookouts were made as kits and packed in with horses in pre-cut pieces and assembled on the mountain.

The Wildhorse Fire Lookout was built to help locate forest fires and keep them under control. Over the decades many of the lookout personnel were the first on the scene to deal with a wildfire. During World War II, the Wildhorse Lookout tower with its panoramic view and proximity to the Oregon Coast served as an Aircraft Warning Service station. The lookout was staffed around the clock for the entire year of 1942 in defense of the nation against attack from the air. The Aircraft Warning Service program ended in 1944 when radar became effective along the Coast.

Over the years, the lookout has been staffed by personnel from either the Forest Service or the Coos Forest Protective Association. It has not been used as an active fire lookout for the past decade. Today, Wildhorse is one of only two surviving historic lookouts in an area of the Forest that once had over thirty-five. At one time, the forest was criss-crossed with trails and telephone lines in support of lookout operations.

Restoration of Wildhorse Lookout should be complete within the coming years. Once restored, the Forest Service plans to make the lookout available to the general public for overnight stays through the recreational rental program.

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