SIERRA COUNTY
SARDINE PEAK
Tahoe National Forest
20N-16E-34
20N-16E-34
August 29, 1915: "The lookout station on the top of Sardine peak, between Davies Mill and Loyalton, has been completed and is in charge of Mrs. H.P. Kelley. The building is quite large and on the top of the tower is a room fourteen feet square entirely surrounded with glass windows 54 inches in height. Mrs. Kelley is said to be the second woman in California who has taken up the work of forest ranger." (Nevada State Journal)
June 2, 1924: "Charles Horn, who has been in the Forest service as lookout on Sardine peak for the past six years has been transferred to the station on Grouse ridge." (Nevada State Journal)
June 11, 1924: "The 'top of the world' and a house of glass is the present residence of Mrs. Daisy Parker, recently of Reno. Mrs. Parker is fire lookout for the Sierraville district of the Tahoe National forest and is one of the few women who occupy such a position.
The lookout station is situated on Sardine Point high above Sierraville, and is connected with the world only by horseback trail and a federal telephone line. Water has to be carried up on horseback.
Mrs. Parker and her two daughters live in the lookout, the upper story of which is made entirely of glass. It is her duty to report immediately any trace of forest fires in the vicinity." (Nevada State Journal)
June 29, 1924: " 'We are going to be good sailors soon phoned Mrs. Daisy A. Parker from her aerie on Sardine Point, the forest reserve fire lookout for Sierraville district. 'This place sways like a schooner every time the wind blows and it blows all the time.
The first day my daughter was here it made sick, but she has her sea legs now,'
Mrs. Parker and her daughters are alone at the lookout station which is about two miles above the Sierraville-Reno road. And it is two miles straight up affirm visitors when they have climbed to her windy perch.
The glass house is anchored by heavy cables but they have to be loose to prevent their snapping from the strain.
In a thunder storm the lightning strikes pretty close, Mrs. Parker said.
If it gets too close to be comfortable we hide in a little cave in the rocks. It is barely large enough for the three of us to squeeze into and at night is pretty cold and damp but we have heavy coats.'
Mrs. Parker declares that she is going to stick to the job even after the girls go back to school. Miss Sheila is a junior in Reno high school and Irma attends the junior high school." (Nevada State Journal)
August 13, 1924: "The forest fire in the vicinity of Chilcoot, Cal., was burning fiercely again today, but the lookout at Sardine Mountain reported that from that station indications pointed to it being confined within fire lines the fighters have placed around the blaze.
Within the fire lines the fire seems out of control, the lookout reported. For several hours yesterday and this morning it has burned high, but the wind has changed favorably.
Dog Valley is filled with smoke from the Verdi fire, the Sardine mountain lookout reported this afternoon, and the blaze could be seen at several places coming over the Dog Valley ridge." (Reno Evening Gazette)
July 13, 1925: " 'We are as cozy as birds building their nest,' said Mrs. Daisy A. Parker the morning after her first night at Sardine Lookout, above Sierraville. Mrs. Parker, her two daughters, Irma and Sheila, with two kittens and a pack horse, have reached the lookout from Reno to begin the new season.
The lookout is a 'little glass house' on the very top of Sardine peak, half a mile from water and three miles from the main road. The only connection with civilization is a telephone and a steep and winding trail.
Mrs. Parker held the position last year, remaining at her post from May until October, and she says 'It seems just like getting home again. The forest reserve man said that I have a funny idea of home, but I mean it just the same.'
The trio spent the winter in Reno, where the girls attended the high school and junior high. Miss Sheila was a member of the high school graduating class." (Nevada State Journal)
August 3, 1925: "The first major forest fire of the season was reported near the Trosi ranch on the slopes of Chilcoot valley, southeast of Sierra valley, last night.
The blaze is said to have been started by lightning last Thursday and the small force of men sent to the scene kept it under control until the high wind arose yesterday.
The Sardine Lookout station near Sierraville reported last night that from mathematical observations of smoke travel, the fire had jumped a distance of half a mile in a few hours.
It is believed by Truckee forest officials that none of the few scattered ranches in the vicinity are in danger at present, as the blaze is confined to a comparatively inaccessible country. Pack trains were used to get supplies to the fire fighters yesterday." (Nevada State Journal)
August 4, 1927: "The government road builders under Mr. English have moved from Turner canyon where they have finished a road from Antelope valley to the Rees mill, up to Pat Conley's pasture, where they will construct a road from the Sardine lookout station to the county road by way of the Conley pasture." (Feather River Bulletin)
December 10, 1929: "Harold Flynn, United States Forest Service lookout observer, who maintained a constant seven-month vigil at the top of Sardine Peak, in a remote section of Sierra Valley, has returned to Nevada City, glad that the fire season has passed. Flynn saw but 36 people from the outside world in the seven-month period and a number of those were rangers on supplies detail. Flynn's service on Sardine Peak aided materially in keeping the fire loss in the Tahoe National Forest to the lowest point in history, although the season was dryer and longer than any on record." (Oakland Tribune)
October 26, 1935: "Fire lookouts who were called in on October 14, have been sent back to their stations at McClellan Peak, Sardine Point and Martis Peak.
Heavy winds have dried the underbrush and the Sierra summit is reported to be as dry now as in the summer." (Nevada State Journal)
August 2, 1937: (Caption under photo or lookout) "This fire lookout on Sardine Point in Tahoe national forest is one of the new type being erected by the United States forest service." (Nevada State Journal)
July 6, 1943: "A woman ranger lookout with the Tahoe national forest discovered a lightning fire last week on the Plumas national forest and notified a Mono national forest service dispatcher, who sent a suppression crew to fight it. A rain storm finally killed the flames.
This fire, which was near Chilcoot south of Beckwourth pass damaged about seven hundred acres of cheat grass and bitter brush growth, George Holcomb, Carson district dispatcher announced. He said that the most serious results of the fire was the destruction to the bitter brush, which is especially good grazing food for livestock.
The fire was discovered by one of the three women rangers on the Tahoe national forest, Mrs. Marjorie Wesson of Forest Hill, Calif., who is stationed at the Sardine lookout about thirty miles south of Beckwourth peak.
After notification from the Tahoe national forest lookout, Holcomb sent the suppression crew from Reno to fight the fire. After several hours fighting, the crew was assisted by a rainstorm, which finally suppressed it. The wind storm at the time of the fire caused it to move rapidly." (Reno Evening Gazette)
June 9, 1944: "A woman's place is in the home, they say, but that was before the days of Rosie the riveter and Gertie the shipbuilder...and also before May 22, when Mrs. Margery Wesson took over the Tahoe national forest lookout station on Sardine Peak.
Since that date Mrs. Wesson has been living in a lookout station on a 8300-foot mountain. She first reached her new home after walking three miles over the snow with her food and clothing being carried by Ranger F.A. Land.
Her temporary water supply was furnished by the snow pack outside the station, but when warm weather melted a large quantity of the snow, Mrs. Wesson was forced to trudge over the mountain land to reach the receding snow pack. Each day she went further to obtain the snow, and finally she inquired over the forest service radio system: "How can a lady housekeep without water?"
Her plea for water brought Everett Deerwater, county supervisor of Sierraville, to the rescue with a road crew to open a road to a spring. Today Mrs. Wesson, one of the few women lookout station attendants in the nation, has water to do her "housekeeping" on lonely Sardine peak." (Reno Evening Gazette)
August 4, 1950: "One witness who signed the register recently at the forest fire lookout station atop Sardine peak in Tahoe national forest could hardly be called a stranger.
She was Mrs. Harriet P. Snyder of San Diego, the first person to "man" the station back in 1914.
Hundreds of sightseers visit this station each season, but hers commands special mention. Things have changed slightly since her "term of duty."
Mrs. Snyder, then Mrs. Kelly, recalls that she moved up to the lookout point by pack mules in charge of a "wonderful" packer named Tony. At that time, the fire-finding instrument was set up in the shade of mountain shrubs as no lookout building had yet been built.
Water and supplies were packed in from a point at the foot of the mountain. Until the lookout building was completed late that summer, Mrs. Snyder's children lived in a tent-house in a meadow below the lookout. That is where housekeeping headquarters were maintained.
Flopping cables led in many directions into the forest from puffing "donkey engines" that dragged logs into the landings. The "donkeys" were a prolific cause of fires so Mrs. Snyder was kept busy turning in reports of fire discoveries to the ranger station in Truckee, 19 miles away.
Communication from Sardine, located in the Sierraville district, consisted of a twisted pair of wires draped on bushes and branches. It became almost a daily routine for Mrs. Snyder to find and repair places where chipmunks has chewed the insulation on the wires, causing them to short circuit.
"After an absence of 36 years," says Mrs. Snyder. "I was thrilled to drive up to the modern, comfortable lookout quarters equipped with two-way radio communication. I feel proud to have been its pioneer lookout."
It probably pleased Mrs. Snyder even more to see the Sardine lookout is still "manned" by a woman. Mrs. Marjory Wesson, a veteran of seven years at the station." (Reno Evening Gazette)
July 16, 1953: "Fred W. Wesson, forest service lookout, died at the Sardine lookout in Sierra county suddenly Monday evening. He was a resident of Yuba City. Death came suddenly, due to a heart attack.
The body was brought to Stookey funeral home in Portola and sent to Yuba City for interment.
Mr. Wesson is survived by his widow." (Portole Reporter)
The body was brought to Stookey funeral home in Portola and sent to Yuba City for interment.
Mr. Wesson is survived by his widow." (Portole Reporter)
December 1, 1966: "Walt Wenger of San Bruno operated Sardine fire lookout station throughout the fire season." (Portola Reporter)
September 21, 1967: "Sardine Fire Lookout east of Sierraville is being remodeled. A large water tank with shower and kitchen sink have been installed and the building has been painted. Water is hauled by tanker truck to the lookout at 8,134-foot elevation." (Portola Reporter)
July 2009: The lookout is undergoing repairs and painting to bring the structure back to it's original plan, after it was left unused for a number of years. When completed the lookout will be part of the recreational rental system.