SAN JOSE
Los Angeles County - Los Angeles County Forestry Department
July 17, 1925: "At the July meeting and dinner of the directors of the Angeles Forest Protective association held on Tuesday evening in the private dining room of the Palace of Sweets, an announcement was made that Supervisor Cogswell had authorized the erection of a lookout tower on a high point in the San Jose hills. It will be connected with the telephone exchange and is so located as to give a direct range of visibility looking into the foothills and up the canyons from Pasadena to the county line. The various water users and fruit growers in the San Gabriel valley are vitally interested in this watershed, and the fruit exchanges have raised approximately $800 toward this project. The Federal government joins the county in the maintenance." (Covina Argus)
September 15, 1925: "A new steel lookout tower has been built on the San Jose hills from which to watch for fires in the Pomona valley." (The Santa Maria Daily Times)
1925: The Los Angeles County Forestry Department constructed a lookout tower at this site, south of San Dimas, for a cost of $700.
July 26, 1935: "J. B. Sigrist, stationed in the lookout tower on the San Jose hills, observed a curl of smoke three miles north of Dalton Wash. A telephone call to San Dimas sub-station brought Patrolman C. E. Ingram to the DeLozier ranch, where he found a trailer and other automobile equipment on fire in the lean-to back of the house.
The fire was extinguished without serious damage when surprised occupants of the house pitched in and helped Patrolman Ingram." (Covina Argus)
June 30, 1946: "At the close of the fiscal year, a new telephone line between San Jose Division Headquarters in San Dimas and South Hills Patrol Station at Walnut was under construction. This line will also connect the San Jose Fire Lookout Tower situated near Puddingstone Dam and will complete the Departmental Telephone System connecting all Mountain Battalion Stations." (Los Angeles County Forestry Department Annual Report - Fiscal Year ending 6/30/1946)