COLBY MOUNTAIN
Tehama County - Lassen National Forest
December 6, 1913: "There is a fourth lookout on Colby Mountain in the southeastern portion of the Forest which is manned during the day-time only." (Chico Record)
August 16, 1920: "Fifteen minutes after Mrs. John Willis began her new duties as forest fire lookout atop of Mount Colby, near Jonesville, her eye caught the trail of smoke rising from a forest blaze in a valley which the peak overlooks. Her prompt action in reporting to headquarters checked a blaze that might have been disastrous.
Mrs. Willis was appointed to the Lassen National Forest's corps of lookouts to succeed H.P. Bailey, resigned. The position, always lonely and often monotonous, proved lively enough for Mrs. Willis, and her diligence has been commended by forest authorities." (San Francisco Chronicle)
September 14, 1923: "On one particular Thursday, lookout Ewalt on Colby Mountain called up Butte Meadows several times to say that he worried because he was certain he could smell smoke but just as certain that no smoke was rising anywhere. Guard Speegle was all primed for a quick getaway. It was not noted until the next forenoon, however, that a shakemaker reported a small fire in a canyon and on the opposite side of a ridge from Colby Mt. As well as having a sense of humor, it is recommended that a keen sense of smell be made one of the requisites of a lookout's job. -- Lassen." (California District News Letter)