TUOLUMNE COUNTY
ELIZABETH MOUNTAIN
Stanislaus National Forest
January 25, 1913: "The United States forest service is making preparations for the erection of a steel tower fifty feet high to be placed on Mt. Elizabeth, a peak in the county, 4938 feet high. The tower will be used as a lookout station for protection against the spread of forest fires. There are three such lookout stations in the forest reserve at present, one being in this county on Duckwall mountain; one on Pilot Peak, between Tuolumne and Mariposa and one on Blue mountain in Calaveras county." (The Evening Mail)
September 30, 1918: "Tuolumne county has the distinction of having the first Osborne fire locator installed in California. It has just been put in at the government lookout station on the top of Mt. Elizabeth, in the vicinity of Confidence, and was installed and tested by S. J. Stoner, special surveyor and topographer in the U. S. forest service with headquarters in San Francisco.
The Osborne fire locator is a great improvement over the ones commonly in use. With it the distance as well as the direction of a fire can be quickly ascertained by a simple operation of the device, whereas with the old locators it is necessary for two of the lookout stations to work together to accomplish the same result, which of course requires a longer time. It is the intention of a man of long experience in forest service work, and has very properly been given the name of the inventor." (Stockton Daily Evening Record)
October 2, 1925: "On September 9 at 7:15 P.M. the lookout on Mt. Elizabeth reported a smoke on Hunters Bend. As this is an extremely hazardous fire country Guard Tony Siscronn of Wet Meadows was sent to find the fire. He mounted his horse and rode for four long hours in the dark before coming to the top of the hills where he could look across the Tuolumne River. What he saw was some electric lights, on the right-of-way of the railroad of the San Francisco and Hetch Hetchy water supply project.
Tony says he doesn't mind chasing smokes in the Forest, but that when he chases electric lights he prefers to do it in town. -- E.P. - Stanislaus." (California District News Letter)
January 15, 1928: "Work of constructing a Forest Service road from the Longeway ranch, above Belleview, to the ranger lookout station at the top of Mt. Elizabeth, will be begun within a short time, according to word from the forest office here.
At the present time there is no road of any kind up to the station, which makes it quite difficult to carry water and supplies to the lookout." (Modesto News-Herald)
March 15, 1929: "Through an arrangement with P.A. Kevin of Modesto, owner of property at the summit of Mount Elizabeth used by the Stanislaus National Forest Service as a fire lookout, the forest service and the fire protection crews are cooperating in clearing off one hundred trees at the top of the hill in order to give better visibility to the lookout, it was announced this week by Supervisor J.P. Hall here.
Forest Rangers A.E. Freer and Virgil Riley are assisting State Inspector Earl Barton and State Ranger Ed Minners in conducting the work of clearing the ground." (Modesto Bee and News-Herald)
November 6, 1932: "From Atop a mountain peak, H.A. Crowe, forest ranger, perhaps gets to see more of California landscape at one time than any other person in this state.
Spread before his gaze on clear days are 2600 square miles of California terrain--but then that's his business to see lots of territory.
For Crowe ia a fire-spotter and his home is a box-like room dizzily resting atop a 52-foot tower at Mount Elizabeth lookout station, five miles north of Confidence, Tuolumne County.
For five months this perch has been his domain, but soon Crowe will plant both feet on terra firma once more, as the fire danger season is just about over.
Lonely? Not Crowe. For he's too engaged peering over the vast, timbered domain--a domain bigger than the state of Rhode Island.
"Of course, I get my mail and newspapers only once a week, but I have plenty to do to keep busy," he said. "Then, too, the solitude grows on you. You get so you like it, then love it."
Like an artillery gunner, Crowe "spots" fires.
His "weapons" are a map, an alidade, a protractor and a telephone. When he sees smoke, he puts the alidade into action. It resembles a sight on a gun. When accurately aimed at a faraway fire, the instrument, with the aid of a protractor, reveals the mathematical degree of the blaze.
Then observations are telephoned to headquarters in Sonora. As soon as two lookout stations report, results are combined, a triangular calculation is made, and the spot at which the fire is burning is determined. Then the "land forces," men and trucks, go into action." (Oakland Tribune)
1942: "As an outright gift to the United States government, Mrs. Iris S. McKewin of Modesto has donated five acres of her land on the highest point of Mt. Elizabeth within the Stanislaus National Forest, J.R. Hall, forest supervisor, announced.
'Mrs. McKewin's gift to the government has made it possible to move the fire lookout tower from government land to the most advantageous position on the peak and her donation is greatly appreciated by the U.S. Forest Service,' Supervisor Hall stated.
According to forest officers, a much better view is now provided for detection of forest fires. A wide scope of country is visible from the lookout tower and improved detection is now possible in the Twain Harte and Phoenix Lake areas.
The tower is a steel structure 50 feet high with a lookout house perched on top tp accommodate the lookout man during his long vigil in the fire season when the mountains are tinder dry.
The Stanislaus National Forest has 14 lookout stations in operation during the summer to serve as eyes of the Forest Rangers in detecting fires starting in the forest." '50 years ago' (The Union Democrat - 4/22/1992)