;6
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE.
SUNDAY. JULY 17, 1960
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" HALF-STORY-Soda mountain lookout Is a on the building help reduce the glare o( the
half-story structure located on the Green- sun and assist the lookout in spotting small
- springs mountain east of Ashland. Shutters fires.
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THREE FREQUENCIES-If things are quiet conditions. Radio communication to Med
' on one frequency, Thelma Sims has two ford, Klamath Falls, and Yreka are main
. more to keep busy with in reporting fires, tained at this lookout by three fire districts.
relaying messages, and reporting on weather
if m
. - BURNT PEAK TOWER-The Burnt peak is stressed both during training sessions and
. tower is 29 feet high with two flights of , on the job to help prevent accidents result
stairs leading to the top. Safety on lookouts ing from falls. . . :
Democratic Picnic
Slated July 24
. The annual Jackson coun-
ty Democratic picnic will be
..held at TouVelle State park
Sunday, July 24, starting at
" 10 a.m., according to County
Cemetery & Mortuary in One Location
Centrally Located ;
h SISKIYOU MEMORIAL PARK
(Modern-Care Cemetery) .
iifjl
tate lookouts Aire Manned' by Womemi
1 j"""- 7"' pT"
j , W'"
Commissioner Ralph James,
Sams Valley, picnic chairman.
Entertainment will start at
10 a.m. and lunch will be
served at noon, James said.
Robert Duncan, house speak
er, will be master of ceremon
ies. The annual event is open
to the public.
The picnic committee will
meet this week to decide on
Within Medford City Limit
1
r -n
Ilk 1 -'4
r 3
speakers, James said. Reports
will be given by Jackson
county Democrats who attend
ed the Democratic national
convention in Los Angeles
last week. These include Dun
can, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Nor
ton, Phoenix, Larry Sheehan,
Rogue River, and Mrs. Edward
C. Kelly, Medford.
SISKIYOU
Funeral Service
INCLUDES:
Mortuary
Ground Inttrmtnt '
Miutolflum
Crtmttory
Inurnment
2 Lookouts Have
30 Years Service
With SW District
By JIM FISHER
Sunday drivers out for a
week end trip in the moun
tains occasionally find them
selves at forest lookout sta
tions maintained by both fed
eral and state forest agencies.
Quite often these visitors
are surprised to find Uiese
lookouts "manned" by wo
men. The use of women on forest
lookout stations was a result
of the manpower shortage
during World War II. At that
time, manpower was being de
voted to the war effort. Wo
men were tried as lookouts
and because of their success
they are still being used, but
only by the state forestry de
partment. Uud Married Couples
The U. S. forest service un
til recently used married
couples as forest lookouts with
the husband working five
days and the wife two days.
Some married couples still
live in the towers during the
summers, but only the hus
band is on the payroll.
With the Oregon state for
estry department, the situa
tion is quite different. Women
are still being hired each sum
mer to watch from mountain
top towers for the first sign
of smoke. The southwest Ore
gon district of the state for
estry department, for exam
ple, has hired women as 12
of its 16 lookouts for the 1960
fire season.
The ages of the women
range from 18 to more than
60. For some, this is their first
summer on a lookout, while
others are old hands with
many seasons of experience
behind them.
Meeting During Winter
Oddly enough, the two wo
men with the longest lengths
of service with the district as
forest lookouts get together
during the winter months to
keep their summer friendship
alive.
For Mrs. Thelma Sims and
Mrs. Howard Ash nothing is
more fun than to relate their
individual experiences to each
other in the fall when fire
season is over. Strange, too,
is the fact that both women
are on the same lookout that
they started with many sum
mers ago.
For Mrs. Thelma Sims,
working as a forest lookout
was a welcome relief from
her winter-time employment
as a private nurse caring for
ailing persons . in their own
homes. The solitude, the scen
ery, and the change-of-pace
have kept her coming back to
Soda mountain in the Green
springs mountains east of Ash
land for 15 summers.
Thelma recalls her first trip
to Soda mountain as quite an
experience. She went on the
station just before July 4,
1946, as a late-comer to the
district. She had missed the
annual fire school and receiv
ed her training on-the-spot be
fore she was left alone. She
says now that "if someone had
told me that I would still be
here now, I would have said :
that they didn't know what
they were talking about."
Sees Into California
From her 6,091-foot peak.
Thelma can see into Califor-I
ma as well as on the south
west Oregon district and the
neighboring Klamath Forest
Protection district. She has ra
dio contact with both Oregon
districts and also the Yreka
headquarters of the California
division of forestry. Last year,
she made the first report on
the fire that later burned a
large acreage in the Horn
brook area.
In 1997, Thelma had a ring
side seat to the 14,000-acre
Bogus mountain fire that
burned Into Oregon from Cali-
Entries Accepted
For Talent Show
Roseburg-Entrics are now
being accepted for the eighth
annual Rickctts Revue and
Talent contest at the Douglas
County Fair and Exposition
Aug. 25 to 28 here.
Contest Manager Chuck
Ricketts said that applicants
should register at Ricketts
Music store in downtown
Roscburg, The contest is open
to any resident of Douglas,
Jackson, Josephine, Lane,
Coos, or Curry county.
Any kind of amateur act
that can be classed as enter
tainment will be welcomed,
according to Rickctts. Contest
ants will be divided into six
categories: singers 16 and un
der, singers 17 and over, In
strumentalists, pianists, danc
ers, and miscellaneous. Acts
are to be limited to a total of
eight people in any one group,
a
LOCATE SMOKE-Uslug binoculars helps Katie locate a
smoke or check a suspected fire. Other oids include glare
proof paint for the buildings, panoramic photographs Willi
landmarks indicated, and contour maps.
fornia to the east of Soda
mountain. Her reporting of
the fire's progress helped Ore
gon state forestry department
personnel to prepare for the
fire's control.
Visitors to Soda mountain
are always greeted warmly by
Mrs. Sims and invited into
the small half-story cabin that
serves as her home and work
ing quarters.
Country Kitchen
The small wood-stove, a
rocking chair, and pretty cup
board curtains gives the im
pression more of a country
kitchen than a forest lookout.
However, the fireflnder on its
stand in the middle of the
room reminds everyone that It
is more than that.
Quite often Thelma may be
found baking cookies in the
oven, but no matter what she
is doing, there is always the
careful looking around for a
tell-tale sign of smoke. After
a while, new visitors to the
station are so caught by her
ever-watchful glance for
smoke that they find them
selves looking too as they talk.
Several years ago, Thelma
had the experience of having
her lookout station struck by
lightning. She had taken all
Vacation Bound?
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. . . but before you leave
ask for the Mail Tribune
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It's
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on all local new and special features when you return,
i
When you leave on your vacation just complete this handy order,
and either give it to your carrier , . , mail it . . or just bring
it in to the office. WE WILL DO THE REST . . .
Medford Mail Tribune VACATION S
Circulation Department PAK
Z Medford, Oregon ' ORDER J
ej Please tave my Mill Tribune while I am on vacation, baglnnlng
. and deliver all el them to m g
when I return en (If date un- J
certain, pleaie call Mall Tribune whan you return!)
-J Name J
Addrett B
City
4.
of the safety precautions of
disconnecting her radio and
telephone and in staying In
side on her glass-lug stool, but
she still got a good shaking-up
and a poor sense of hearing
for a while from the blast.
Relay Station
Recently, Thelma's station
got company on the mountaln
top with the construction of
a television relay station com
plete with electric service.
Thelma lives now for the day
when she can have a refrig
erator, electric lights, and pos
sibly television.
Most visitors to Soda moun
tain have the opportunity to
look at Thelma's scrnpbook
filled with photographs, news
paper articles, and her poetry
collected over her years on
the mountain. The subjects
for her poetry range from a
thunderstorm building up or
a beautiful sunset to a fire
burning or just thoughts on
life.
What force has brought
Thelma back to Soda moun
tain each summer from her
work in California or her
present home on Sterling
creek will probably bring her
back for many more years.
Almost SO miles northwest
cenuirc
FR
of Soda mountain is Burnt
peak, a mountain that should
almost be culled Ash peak In
honor of n family thai has
been closely Identified with
it for a long time.
Working her Itllh summer
as forest lookout on nurnt
peak this year Is Mrs. Howard
(Katie) Ash. Katie and her
husband havo lived on Elk
creek at Iho foot of the moun
tain for many yours while he
worked at Elk creek guard
station for the U. S. forest
service. Ill health forced Ash's
retirement from that work In
11140.
The following your, a son,
Gene, worked on Burnt peak
as forest lookout, In 1942,
Katie worked as a "checker"
for a forest service closed area
near her home. The follow
ing spring, she was working
as an aircraft observer with
the Air Watch Service when
it was discontinued. Another
son, U c n n y, had Just left
Burnt peak as lookout and
the Job was still open. With
Howard persuading both her
and the forest service, she was
soon Burnt peak lookout.
Worked At Cook
Katie has held the Job each
summer since 1943 except for
the summers of 1U52 and 10S3
when she worked as a cook
for the Medford headquarters
of the state forestry depart
ment. In 1940, the local area
and the lookout were trans
ferred from tho U. S. forest
service to the state forestry
department. Doth Katlo and
the state wore happy for her
to continue as lookout.
At the present, the Ashes
arc living In the third lower
to have been built on Burnt
peak. The foundation and
main structure of the present
tower was built, of course,
with all of the Ash family
helping at one time or anoth
er. Two years later, the lower
was lowered 13 feet from a
42-foot hclghth to approxi
mately 29 feet. This Job was
done by the lookouts olong
with friends from Uic depart
ment to make It easier to sec
out and down without walk
ing the catwalk on the outside
of the building or getting near
the windows on the Inside.
Katie and Howard live In
a small cabin at the foot of
the tower. They hope to make
living quarters within the
SPring
SIGHT8 FIRE Lining up the fireflnder, Thelma Sims care
fully sights through tho cross-hairs for the exact setting of
the fireflnder. This Information, as well as the fire's loca
tion by both legal description and landmarks, Is radioed to
the fire dispatcher.
friimewoik of the tower In the
ncur future to help cut down
on the stair climbing.
Make Lookout Home
Both a dog and a kitten
make their homo at the Burnt
peak lookout with the Ashes.
The kitten wus first too small
to climb the stulrs up tho tow
er, so she would walk the nar
row boards up the side of the
stairway.
Katie's lookout cabin l also
more like a person's home
than a lookout with com
fortable furniture and small
conveniences that experience
teaches a forest lookout to
have. If they aren't painting
the cabin on the tower, they
are cutting brush on the
ground or working on the
mountain road that leads to
their station In addition to.
their other duties.
Supplies are brought to the
lookout by Howard from tholr
F.Ik creek home, Including
fresh vegetables from their
garden. Other supplies are
often brought by their son.
Gene, now forest wurden at
McLcod guard station five
miles south.
Katie also hopes to keep
coming back to Burnt peak
as the forest lookout along
with Howard to help her pick
out the smokes and locate the
landmarks.
Each spring, Katie Ash and
Thelma Sims assist with Uie
fire school cooks In the prepa
ration of meals. Then, It's "so
Complete This Vacation
Pay Order Today or
Phone the Circulation
Department.
2-6141
fit ill
i
rT T D
.- :, mmim, - uJtk-Mi
long" until next full when
they cun once agnln got to
gether to discuss their sum
mer's experiences.
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