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Wildhorse Lookout
Location:
13.8 miles ENE of Gold Beach, Oregon
Restored by SMS:
Built in 1931
Rebuilt by SMS in the summer of 2008, completed restoration October 2011.
Ranger District:
Siskiyou National Forest
Honors:
USFS “Windows on the Past Award”
Our Team
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JOHN ELOWER
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Wildhorse Lookout has high value as a historic resource and will
be restored by volunteers from the Sand Mountain Society and
their associates in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service.
The anticipated date of completion is October 2011.
Wildhorse in need of repair
We are still in a scoping phase, really, but we recognize the primary importance of meeting the District’s goal of removing the remains of the crushed lookout cabin atop the Wildhorse Lookout tower in a timely manner. This requires a swift decision on our part as to the feasibility of removal of the cabin debris. In recognition of this fact, I made a scouting trip on May 25, 2008 to obtain numerous detailed photos of the tower. Some of those photos and a brief narrative were forwarded to Pete Cecil electronically on May 26, 2008, and a full array of photos on disk was mailed today (May 27) for his review.
A duplicate set of photos is also going out to Janet in UPS today.
The SMS will defer to Pete Cecil as to feasibility of salvaging the cabin remains, and—if he feels a salvage operation is feasible—we will ask for his participation in the salvage effort. The goal is to get word back to the District ASAP, and to either take action in June or remove any objections to their earlier plan to blow up the tower. As mentioned above: Pete may require an actual visit to the site to make his determination. The situation was precarious enough that I felt his consultation was probably a good idea.
It is possible that helicopter work might need to needed to help with removal of the roof/ceiling assembly. In a case such as this (where action may need to be deferred until later in summer), a preliminary step might be to simply remove the lower flight of stairs and post hazard warnings for the public.
Obviously, if Pete recommends against trying to disassemble the roof/ceiling assembly, the rest of this report will be moot. Ideally, however, we hope to remove the remains of the cabin and remove the first flight of steps ASAP to meet the immediate goals of the District and to preserve the option to restore the cabin on site at a later date.
Summary of findings on site
As we expected from earlier photos, the situation at Wildhorse is complicated. Generally speaking, I found the south and west walls to be affected by severe dry rot from the window sill on down. The studs above the window sill were furred-out to during a remodel to the necessary width to accommodate modern aluminum frame windows which replaced the original wooden windows. It is possible that many or all of the studs were even replaced at that time.
Generally speaking, the structure (under pressure from wind and/or force of snow) failed at sill level on at least three sides, and the roof/ceiling assembly toppled north and west as the studs between the sill and the ceiling tipped over. The roof/ceiling unit slammed to a stop with two sides resting on the badly deformed west and north handrails, and the back end resting on debris from the collapsed walls. An indoor/outdoor carpet covered the entire floor, providing some protection for what appears to be the original (1 x4 T&G fir) floor beneath. No furnishings were fully visible, but remnants were observed to be crushed beneath the weight of the roof.
The lower west and south walls, despite significant dry rot in each, are still standing, held in place by the corner posts which were shorn at sill level. The tops of the windows and wall framing tipped inward off the sill on both these sides. The corner posts (which unlike the lower walls are continuous from floor to ceiling) were shorn by sheer force at sill level where some evidence of dry rot (early to middle stages) was observed. It appeared that the southwest corner post was especially weak.
The east wall folded outward at the sill, and the lower wall now lies on the deck as a single complete unit. I could not get a good look at the north side because it was covered by the roof.
Wildhorse Fire Lookout
If removal is feasible
If—as we hope—the cabin can be safely removed and parts salvaged, the pressure to take immediate action will be passed, and the SMS can go about its previously scheduled summer activities. At a later date, we can look for sources of funding to pay Pete for future stages.
We have $2500 now from Engineering to assist in paying Pete for removal of the cabin (SMS will cover any additional fees from Pete), and $2000 from heritage that is discretionary, but may be used for something such as new framing lumber for a frame to be pre-fabricated off-site, etc.
Effects on other projects
In the event Pete determines that we should not try to salvage the Wildhorse remains, the SMS could conceivably focus on the Pearsoll deck for this season. It was agreed that trying to accomplish both projects this year would probably be biting off too much.
It would be my preference to defer any significant work at Pearsoll to next year, regardless of what decision might be made about Wildhorse, in part because of the workload we already have piled up for this year, and also because of the scope of the effort that will be required at Pearsoll.
The early October snows of last autumn in the Cascades (combined with a snafu on our primary project where we had to accommodate an oversized outhouse hole) caused us to leave that project unfinished. As a result, most of our tools are tied-up on the mountaintop in a fire lookout. These same tools would be needed for the work we are planning at Pearsoll. The thinking last year was that we would have our tools available by now, and that we would be done with that project.
While it is conceivable that we could accomplish Pearsoll later in the season, we tend to favor early season work there because we can get to Pearsoll before we have access to lookouts in the Cascades. Also, it seems to work out well for the reservation system at Pearsoll if we do the work prior to the start of the season of public use. If we are going to do work this season, we will need to block out dates toward the end of the season, after our tools are freed up.
In light of all these factors (and recognizing that projects always take longer than expected), I would propose to stack the Pearsoll deck remains outdoors in such a way that they will be sufficiently level and supported to withstand a winter, and to focus our efforts instead on disassembling Wildhorse Lookout (if possible) and the Stella cabin (if there is time near the end of the season). These projects do not require any consideration of the public use, like Pearsoll does.
It would probably be best to be ready to go in early June of 2009, before the reservation season begins. A well-organized and more sustained effort could be planned for that summer, then.
Wildhorse fire lookout in need of repair
