MOUNT ADAMS
Yakima County - Gifford Pinchot National Forest - 8N-10E-12
September 14, 1916: "Mr.s Osborne said that he would leave in a few days for Mount Adams to ascertain the best location for a lookout on the summit of that peak. With those additional fire lookout stations it will be possible to control all Southern Washington and most of Western Oregon." (Morning Oregonian)
September 19, 1916: "the feasibility of locating a forest lookout station on the summit of Mount Adams will be investigated by a party of forest officials who left district headquarters yesterday. The party consists of T,H, Sherrard, District Forest Supervisor; W.B. Osborne and W,L, Merritt, of the Portland headquarters, and T.H. Brundage, supervisor of the Columbia National Forest, the tract within which Mount Adams is situated.
The peak will be scaled by all four of the officials, and, if possible, a desirable site selected for a station." (The Sunday Oregonian)
October 5, 1916: "Forest Officers Merit, Brundage and Osborne returned last week from a trip to the summit of Mt. Adams, made for the purpose of selecting a site for a lookout station on that peak. Ranger Lickel and Mr. Fuhrer accompanied them.
The trip was made from Portland by train to Guler, Wash. from Guler to snow line, a distance of 10 miles, the trip was made partly by machine and partly on foot. The party camped the first night at Cold Spring on McDonald Ridge. They left camp at 5 a.m. the second day, and arrived at the top of the mountain five and a half hours later, climbing from the south side. The main summit covers an area of about 160 acres of rolling country, half a mile west of the summit is a separate pinnacle about 150 feet lower in elevation which was also visited. From this point an excellent view is obtained of a large area of national forest land in Rainier and Columbia forests more than is visible from any other point. To the north could be seen Mt. Baker, near the northern boundary of the state, and to the south the Sisters Mts. mass in Oregon.
This pinnacle was chosen as the site for a lookout station, on which will be built a standard lookout cabin. This cabin will be 12x12 feet, with a cupola or conning tower six feet square. Both main cabin and cupola will have a solid strip of window glass on all sides. A sub-station, equipped with telephone and fire finder, will probably be established on the main summit.
Mt. Adams is 12,307 feet in elevation, or about 1,000 feet higher than Mt. Hood, where a successful lookout station has been maintained for the past two fire seasons.
The party returned to timberline the same day, and the third day returned to Portland. An incident which occurred on the way down illustrates strikingly the efficiency of the fire lookouts on high mountains. When breaking camp at Bird Creek, on Bird Creek Meadows near timberline, the party piled the bows which had been used for bedding onto the fire, in order to clean up their camping place. For perhaps half an hour or less this caused considerable smoke, but it soon burned out. When the party arrived at Gotchen Creek Ranger Station they found a telephone message for Ranger Lickel informing hi, that a fire had been discovered near timberline on Mt. Adams. This fire has been sighted by Ranger Coalman, the lookout on Mt. Hood, 55 miles distant, and reported to the ranger station through the district office in Portland, the message reaching the ranger station an hour and a half after the fire started." (Gold Beach Reporter - Oregon)
October 23, 1916: "Supervisor Brundage, of the Columbia National forest, is spending several days at Guler. Mr. Brundage is making the final arrangements for conveying the material to the base of Mount Adams for the lookout cabin that the forest service contemplates erecting next Summer on the top of the mountain.
The wagon road that leads to Morrison Valley, near the base, will be improved in places and will be continued up McDonalds Ridge to the Crescent Glacier, which is the highest point that may be made with horses. The plan is then to wait for snow and haul the lumber to the top on hand sleds.
The forest service will also install a telephone on the mountain." (The Sunday Oregonian)
May 27, 1917: "One of the most important pieces of work for this season will be the establishing of a fire lookout station on the top of Mount Adams, 12,307 feet elevation. By July Ranger Lickel will begin hauling the necessary timber up the mountain to the 6000-foot elevation by the use of an endless line to the top of the mountain. The line is of strong telephone wire and will be fastened on the top of the mountain. On each end of the wire will be a sled. The sled at the bottom will be loaded with lumber and that at the top with stone. The stone-laden sled will haul up the lighter load of lumber.
This tower will be one of the best in the country, and with the lookout on top of Mount Hood will cover observation over an immense territory." (Oregonian)
June 2, 1917: "One of the most important pieces of work for this season will be establishing of a fire lookout station on the top of Mount Adams, 12,307 feet elevation." (The Colville Examiner)
July 3, 1917: "A new stairway is being erected at the Ice Cave, and lumber is being taken to the summit of Adams for a new forest service lookout house." (The Oregonian)
July 17, 1917: "District Ranger Lickel, of the Columbia National Forest, has a large crew at work improving the road and bringing supplies and material to Mount Adams for the lookout to be placed on top of the mountain this Summer.
Mr. Lickel says that he is going to build a cabin and inclose in fence some 10 acres and also install a telephone in the Morrison Valley, at the base of the mountain, all for the free use of tourists." (The Sunday Oregonian)
August 5, 1917: "The construction of a highway from Trout Lake in Western Klickitat County to the snowline of Mount Adams and work being done on the trail from snowline to the summit of the mountain foe construction of a forest service fire lookout station will make the ascent of the mountain by tourists comparatively an easy trip.
The road will end in a 10-acre meadow, which will be fenced, and on which bunkhouses, camp ovens and other conveniences will be arranged for the comfort of tourists. A new stairway is being erected at the ice caves, and other points of interest to tourists are being made more easily acce3ssible by the United States Forest Service." (Oregonian)
August 16, 1917: "The lumber and other material for the construction of the lookout station on the summit of Mount Adams, 12,307 feet high, is now being hauled by sled to the summit of the snow peak. A wide view of the surrounding country is obtained from this lookout, and constant watch will be maintained. Telephonic communication will be keep the observer in close touch with other stations, forest guards, as well as the outside world below." (The Oregonian)
September 19, 1917: "Chief Ranger Lickel, who is stationed at Guler, reports that the Forest Service now has the material for the lookout to be placed on top of Mount Adams, up two miles above the Crescent Glacier and at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
Ranger Claude E. Crum, who is the lookout, has been occupying a tent at this point for several weeks, but today pulled up stakes and came to Guler. The recent rains have minimized the danger of fires. A telephone has also been installed at the lookout and also extended along the west of the mountain to the summit of the Cascades, which is also the boundary between the Columbia and Rainier forests." (Morning Oregonian)
July 21, 1918: "The highest lookout station in the United States will be located on the summit of Mount Adams, 12,227 feet above sea level, about August 1, when the standard house which started on its upward journey more than a year ago will have reached its destination, and securely anchored by ropes and wires to the topmost pinnacle of the mountain will house the man whose work is to watch for forest fires.
Last summer the standard lookout house, the same as used on peaks of lesser altitude, was purchased by the forest service in pieces to be put together when it reached the summit. The lumber was packed in bundles weighing 7000 pounds altogether. Only two pieces of the house were 13 feet in length, the other parts were less." (The Evening Herald - Klamath Falls, Oregon)
August 19, 1920: "The forest service standard lookout house, which has been on the way up Mount Adams for three years, has finally reached the summit, D. Vincent Stroup of the forest service says. All the lumber has now been packed to the top, and it only remains to decide upon a location and then put the house together.
Here the difficulties begin, says Stroup, for there is only solid, blue ice on the mountaintop. The Mount Hood lookout is solidly anchored upon bare rock, but there is no such a rock on Adams--only a glacier. If the house is set upon the glacier, the ice will be cold underneath the floor and any heat within the cabin will tend to melt it and cause a sinking of the house.
Delay in getting the lookout up Mount Adams has been due to forest fires each summer, which have called the packers away from the mountain." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
August 20, 1920: "Just what to do with a look-out house after is parts have been packed to the top of Mount Adams is worrying forest service officials. According to D. Vincent Stroup, who has been investigating the situation, the site is solid blue ice and if the house were set upon it the ice will be cold underneath the floor and any heat within the cabin will tend to melt it and cause the house to sink. The look-out on Mount Hood is anchored to a rock, but there are no rocks on Adams." (The Oregonian)
October 10, 1921: "Blinding snow storms have been a hindrance to the building of a U.S. Forest Service signal station at the top of Mount Adams, in the state of Washington.
This peak is 12,307 feet high. Four years ago material for building a station was lugged to the peak and the frame work erected. Then a snow storm finally drove the builders down the mountain sides and the station frame and all the material was buried in a huge drift.
This summer it was discovered again and work was taken up. Then another drift came and work has now been postponed until next summer. The Forest Service has telephone wires already poled to the summit of the peak.
When the shack is finished fire lookouts will be on duty to report outbreak of flames in the country that can be seen for miles around.
Recently the Cascadian Mountain Climbing Club of Yakima, Wash. made the trip to the peak and found the partly-finished station half buried in snow." (The Bridgeport Telegram - Connecticut)
October 1922: "The house on the top of Mt. Adams has been completed by Lookout Arthur Jones and Fireman Adolph Schmid. The boys didn't enjoy the August storm as much as the rest of us. Ice formed all over the lookout house and the wind blew so hard for four days that they could not go outside. They spent all this time basking in the heat of an oil cook stove." (Six Twenty-Six)
September 2, 1923: "A severe earthquake shock at 7:45 Wednesday morning and lasting about one minute, on the top of Mount Adams was reported today by Arthur Jones, forest service lookout, who was stationed on the peak.
Mr. Jones said the windows and dishes rattled, the lookout station was shaken and that guy wires tugged (broke)." (The Oregon Statesman)
1925: The lookout was discontinued and abandoned.
August 1, 1928: "A forest fire lookout station on top of Mount Adams, 12,307 feet, has been abandoned by the United States forest service on the Columbia national reserve in favor of forest fire lookouts on promontories of a lesser altitude connected by telephone lines." (Morning Oregonian)
August 18, 1937: "Only two other climbers were encountered by the party. The climbers rested for an hour in the cabin on the summit. Originally built for use as a forest service lookout the cabin was later abandoned by fire lookouts and remodeled to fit the needs of a crew of sulphur miners engaged in developing a sulphur deposit project just below the summit on the northern side of the mountain. The cabin is being used again by the forest service, members of the Chemeketan party report. They brought back sulphur samples with them from the old workings.
Supplies are brought to the lookout on the summit by pack horse train, they said the man on duty there told them. The party followed this trail much of the way on the way up. Lumber for the cabin was also transported on the back of pack horses several years ago. Regular trips to the top were begun by the sulphur mine company headed by Wade Dean, owner of the telephone service in the vicinity." (The Oregon Statesman)
