San Bernardino County
GRASS VALLEY
San Bernardino National Forest
August 7, 1925: "On Grass Valley Ridge north of Strawberry Flat, summer home settlement and public camp ground on the San Bernardino Forest, a number of enthusiastic Forest Service cooperators have just completed the highest lookout tower in District 5. This tower is built of lumber and is constructed along the same lines as a typical oil derrick. It is eighty feet high, is anchored to railroad iron that is set in concrete ten feet deep in the ground, as is, undoubtedly, the largest structure of this kind that the Forest Service has ever put up. The ladders leading to the lookout house on top of the tower are on the inside of the structure and there is a platform every fifteen feet. The lookout and his family live in the base of the tower where two stories have been fitted up for living quarters.
This tower was practically all built through cooperation, less than $100 of the total cost having been paid by the Forest Service. Local sawmill men sawed out the lumber and helped construct the tower, and a number of permittees cooperated in the construction work. Cable for guy wires was furnished by other cooperators, and the structure was put up in record time. It fills a long felt want on the part of the Forest and covers practically all of the west end of the San Bernardino except the brush slopes between the Forest boundary and the Rim of the World Drive. - L.A.B." (California District News Letter)
September 17, 1927: "Motorists driving through the Lake Arrowhead region should avail themselves of the opportunity to visit the United States ranger lookout station at Grass Valley, according to the touring department of the National Automobile Club. This station is located about four miles west of Lake Arrowhead Lodge on the Rim of the World Drive and can be reached by turning north at Strawberry Flats, close to the Twin Peaks post office on a fair dirt road for one mile.
The lookout station itself is on a tower 80 feet high situated 5,800 feet above sea level and affords a commanding view of the surrounding country. This is one of the most inspiring panoramic views in southern California." (Modesto News-Herald)
August 24, 1931: "Because of the increasing fire hazard, officials of the San Bernardino national forest have ordered another lookout stationed in the Grass valley lookout tower overlooking the Lake Arrowhead region in San Bernardino mountains.
The new lookout will be employed today or tomorrow and will go on duty immediately, according to J.S. Everitt, assistant supervisor of the forest.
With the addition of the new man the Grass valley lookout tower will have two men who will maintain a vigil over the Lake Arrowhead district 24 hours a day." (The San Bernardino County Sun @Newspapers.com)
January 1933: During the winter the lookout collapsed under the weight of the snow. A new tower to be erected at Strawberry Peak will replace this site.
January 25, 1933: "The 80-foot United States forest service lookout station at Grass Valley collapsed during the storm and was reported to be almost a total wreck yesterday. Assistant Supervisor John S. Everritt said that the snow had evidently crushed in the supporting framework section by section, until only the lookout house remained. The settling process was so gentle, however, that not a window was broken in the house, which had tipped over and rested in the snow.
The entire structure will have to be rebuilt. It was not occupied when it collapsed." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
The entire structure will have to be rebuilt. It was not occupied when it collapsed." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
February 2, 1933: "The recent heavy snows caused the collapse of the lookout at Grass valley last week, and forest officials plan to reconstruct it on one of several other sites which are considered better for protective purposes, according to Mr. Elliott." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
