A.R. Bowman Museum

By Steve Lent, Museum Historian

The Forest Service was created in 1905. Many of the vast forest regions were primarily wilderness. Early forest administrators had limited personnel and duties were mostly custodial. It was a transitional period from unrestricted public use to a management-based administration. Most of the forested areas had limited roads and travel was mostly by horseback or pack mules. The initial purpose was to protect and manage the forest resources.

1910 proved to be a critical year for the Forest Service. That year vast amounts of forested land in the West were consumed in massive forest fires. This led to a policy of fire control as soon as possible to prevent fires of that magnitude happening again. Among the first efforts to improve fire control was the establishment of sites for observing fire starts on forests. Early rangers first used tall trees that they would climb and limb. They would nail or spike wooden planks to trees as ladders to climb and look for potential smoke. These were usually on the highest point that would allow the furthest viewing area. These early lookouts were used mostly after thunderstorms

Concerns over a more continuous coverage of observations for fires led to the Forest Service constructing towers and lookout buildings at scattered high points on the forest. Usually young men were hired to staff the lookouts during the summer months and particularly after thunderstorms. Lookouts were often expected to locate fires and then take action to suppress the fires. The need for communications led to crews constructing phone lines throughout the forest connecting lookouts and field offices so fires could be reported and crews dispatched. It was several years before radio communications became established.

Many of the early lookout facilities were inaccessible by roads and lookout personnel often had to hike or pack long distances to the lookout site. They would often spend the entire summer at the lookout and supplies would be hauled in by pack animal. Eventually rough roads were constructed near lookouts and vehicle travel became possible. Early lookout personnel often would spend most of the summer isolated with limited visitors. It was often a lonely job. The Ochoco and Deschutes National Forests had numerous lookouts located from one viewing area to another so that there was visual coverage of most of the forest. The early lookouts were the cornerstone of early firefighting efforts as detection was key to taking quick action.