PILOT PEAK
Tuolumne County - Stanislaus National Forest
October 4, 1919: "Henry Grayson, the Sonora contractor, has been awarded the contract for, and is now engaged in building, the steel lookout tower on Pilot Peak. Pilot Peak is the highest point in the southern part of the Stanislaus National Forest and is located on the boundary between Mariposa and Tuolumne county. A lookout is maintained on this peak from June 1 until the heavy rains in the fall each year.
The steel tower reached Mariposa county via the Hetch Hetchy railroad owned by the city and county of San Francisco; was taken by auto truck up the Coulterville road to within one mile of the peak. From here it was sledded and packed to withing 200 feet of the Peak. It was carried by hand up the last 200 feet, which is very steep and rocky." (Mariposa Gazette)
The steel tower reached Mariposa county via the Hetch Hetchy railroad owned by the city and county of San Francisco; was taken by auto truck up the Coulterville road to within one mile of the peak. From here it was sledded and packed to withing 200 feet of the Peak. It was carried by hand up the last 200 feet, which is very steep and rocky." (Mariposa Gazette)
October 7, 1921: "Stanislaus - Pilot Peak Lookout -- John Hastie -- reports that he had 63 visitors between June 6 to August 31, 1921. Pilot looks like a mighty popular summer resort, and we hope Hastie spread the fire gospel at every opportunity !" (California District News Letter)
July 6, 1937: "A barn on the Jose Lopez ranch in the Deer Flat district near Groveland, was destroyed by fire 4:30 o'clock Sunday morning. The fire started from an undetermined cause.
The fire was spotted by M. Brown, lookout at the Pilot Peak lookout station of the U. S. Forest Service and was located by him only a few minutes after its start. The Buck Meadows CCC fire suppression crew answered the call and confined the fire to only three acres of grassland.
Had the reporting of the fire been delayed several minutes it would have developed into a serious fire in that district." (The Modesto Bee and News-Herald)