SAN DIEGO COUNTY
BOTTLE PEAK
Cleveland National Forest
T12S-R1W-5
T12S-R1W-5
May 26, 1912: "Bottle Peak lookout, over which floats the Stars and Stripes at a height of 2106 feet above sea level, has been established on top of Bottle Peak Mountain, seven miles east of Escondido, by Forest Ranger E. D. Bush, who built the unique structure at his own expense, but who has now been reimbursed by the Forestry Department of the government.
It is erected on the crest of a huge rock known to local fame as the 'Devil's Anvil.' The dimensions of the 'anvil' are 75 x 50 feet, and its top is reached by a ladder twenty-nine feet long. The structure's dimensions are 7 x 7 feet, and the material is wood, resting on a concrete foundation, the wooden sills of the building being fastened securely to the rock by means of iron bolts running down from the surface and held in place with cement. The flooring is of the cement.
The lumber was carried to the top of the big rock by the ladder route piece by piece, in fourteen-foot lengths, and there cut into the desired lengths. Fourteen sacks of sand were used in mixing the cement. Under the adverse circumstances, it was the work of weeks to complete the edifice.
The lookout is equipped with two telephones, one instrument connecting with the system of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company and the other with the service of the Escondido Mutual Water Company. The lookout is designed for the use of the forest rangers ib keeping watch for fires, and a wide expanse of country can be seen from it. The Forestry Department is so well pleased with the work of Mr. Bush that it has ordered his transfer to Warner's Spring, sixty miles east of Escondido, where he will immediately commence the erection of a lookout on top of Warner's Hot Springs Mountain, the highest point in San Diego county, with the possible exception of the highest of the Cuyamuca peaks." (Los Angeles Times)
It is erected on the crest of a huge rock known to local fame as the 'Devil's Anvil.' The dimensions of the 'anvil' are 75 x 50 feet, and its top is reached by a ladder twenty-nine feet long. The structure's dimensions are 7 x 7 feet, and the material is wood, resting on a concrete foundation, the wooden sills of the building being fastened securely to the rock by means of iron bolts running down from the surface and held in place with cement. The flooring is of the cement.
The lumber was carried to the top of the big rock by the ladder route piece by piece, in fourteen-foot lengths, and there cut into the desired lengths. Fourteen sacks of sand were used in mixing the cement. Under the adverse circumstances, it was the work of weeks to complete the edifice.
The lookout is equipped with two telephones, one instrument connecting with the system of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company and the other with the service of the Escondido Mutual Water Company. The lookout is designed for the use of the forest rangers ib keeping watch for fires, and a wide expanse of country can be seen from it. The Forestry Department is so well pleased with the work of Mr. Bush that it has ordered his transfer to Warner's Spring, sixty miles east of Escondido, where he will immediately commence the erection of a lookout on top of Warner's Hot Springs Mountain, the highest point in San Diego county, with the possible exception of the highest of the Cuyamuca peaks." (Los Angeles Times)
June 5, 1913: "Forest Ranger George Park was down from Bottle Peak lookout Tuesday and brings the news that an additional telephone line is to be run to the lookout in order that direct connections may be made from that point to the headwaters of the Mutual Water Company's upper ditch. The line will be installed by the water company. In reference to the new road built up Bottle Peak, Mr. Park states that the road goes only to the station, which is within a half-mile of the top and that the last half-mile up to the lookout now has a good trail to accommodate sight-seers." (Oceanside Record)
July 9, 1913: "One of the best views of the county can be secured from the fire lookout on Bottle Peak. Mr. Park, the ranger in charge, has recently had a substantial stairway built to the top of the big rock in place of the former ladder." (Times-Advocate)
July 2, 1915: "The Forest Service is giving up its stations at Duizura, Ramona, Lakeside and Bear Valley in San Diego county, is now an established fact. Protection will be withdrawn from about one-half the present area in the county. Some of the men will be moved back so as to concentrate on the important watersheds, and funds and men not required on the reduced area will be transferred to the northern Forests. Auto trucks and teams are now busily engaged in removing Government fire tools and tool boxes, equipment of various sorts and personal effects of the rangers. Boundary posts, telephone lines and lookouts are being moved back or shipped north.
July first will see this work completed and the force re-aligned, ready for what will no doubt be a serious fire season, owing to the unusually heavy grass caused by two years of excellent rainfall." (Weekly Times-Advocate)
May 19, 1916: "The following property will be sold at public auction on May 20, 1916, at 2 p.m., on the Las Lomas Muertas Ranger Station site near Bottle Peak, approximately 6 miles northeast of Escondido:
One lookout house, 6 X 6 ft., drop siding; good repair.
Since the property listed above is on land that will be restored to entry under the public land laws, the Forest Service desires to sell it.
The land will be restored to entry after the improvements are sold. The right to reject any and all bids is reserved. A deposit of 10% of the amount bid must be made in cash or money order, by the successful bidder, balance payable in three days. N.H. Sloane, Forest Supervisor" (Times-Advocate)
June 16, 1916: "A statement from Forest Supervisor N.H. Sloane was received to the effect that he plans to present the Chamber of Commerce with the cottage or lookout on Bottle Peak, the plan of the government being to sell the ranch property and abandon Bottle Peak station." (Weekly Times-Advocate)
June 13, 1924: "Vandals have smashed all the windows out of Bottle Peak Lookout." (Weekly Times-Advocate)
August 11, 1927: "Fire Warden Robert J. Bradly, under direction of J. E. Elliott, supervisor of the Cleveland National Forest, is maintaining a dire vigil at Bottle Peak during the summer season. He is connected by phone at the lookout as well as at his residence in the Escondido valley." (Times-Advocate)