Document text
Photo by Bob Pennell U.S. Forest Service workers (left to right) Jim Spanger, Bill Harris and Dave Knutson reroof the Dutchman Peak lookout. Crews restore Dutchman lookout Station due to be on line by August By PAUL FATTIG A veteran firefighter that has stood watch over Southern Oregon and Northern California for more than 70 consecutive fire seasons is finally getting a break. But the Dutchman Peak fire lookout will be back on sentinel duty before the first smoke of August. "We don't want to break the chain," said Jeff LaLande, archaeologist for the Rogue River National Forest. "We want to have someone up here this summer." Staffed each fire season since it was built in 1927, the lookout is temporarily off duty while the Forest Service's Region 1 Historic Structures Team based in Montana gives it a facelift. The work, which began last week, is expected to be completed by the end of the month. That will allow it to be staffed during what is typically the most critical period of the fire season. The peak juts 7,417 feet above sea level about 35 miles south of Medford in the Applegate Ranger District, giving it a panoramic view of the region. Although Mount Ashland is a bit higher at 7,533 feet, the view of the region from that mountaintop is partially blocked by McDonald Peak and Wagner Butte. The summers with their blistering heat and the snow-laden winters have taken their toll on Dutchman Peak lookout. The wood shingles on the roof need to be replaced; a few of its historic boards have been hit hard by dry rot. In addition to its summer fire staff, the lookout was occupied by members of the Aircraft Warning Service during the winter of 1942-43. But no World War II enemy aircraft were ever spotted from the lookout. The tall peak holding up the 12-by-12-foot fire lookout is named for a gold miner who froze to death in a snowstorm in the 1870s. The team, assisted by staff from each of the four ranger districts in the forest, were pulling shingles and nails from the cupola and stripping the 30-pound felt paper from the cupola roof on Monday. "We'll be replacing any of the wood that is damaged," said Dale Swee, 58, team project leader from Missoula. "We generally find that (dry rot) around the eve. We will replace in kind the material as close as we can." Swee, accompanied by restorer Bill Harris, also of Missoula, has worked on historic Forest Service structures throughout the northern Rockies as well as the Pacific Northwest. In fact, he and his crew have been on Public Television's "This Old House"series twice in the last four years for renovating historic Forest Service buildings in Wyoming and Montana. Dutchman Peak is unique because it was one of more than 200 cupola-style lookouts built between 1915 and 1929 in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and western Montana, LaLande said, noting there are now only eight left in Oregon. "There aren't very many of this style of lookout left," Swee confirmed. The windows and frames have been taken off so that the lead-based paint can be removed. The asbestos siding also has been removed, exposing the original siding. In 1993, the lookout was placed on the private National Historic Lookout Register. It is also eligible for the federal National Register of Historic Places. "It will be formally nominated this summer," LaLande said. "Once you formally determine it is eligible, it is legally protected under the national historic preservation laws." Like many others of that era, the cupola-style lookout was packed to the mountaintop atop horse and mule. "The idea was to have a standard-style lookout built," LaLande said. "They had a contractor build them, pre-fabricated and pre-cut. The kit was packed up here by a Forest Service pack string. "You'd spend a few weeks up here putting it together," he added. "Hopefully, the wind wouldn't blow the set of instructions away." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA