SIERRA COUNTY
ALASKA PEAK
 1939 - USFS, Mark Swift Collection |
November 20, 1936: "Another owl-eyed lookout is Leo Chatfield on Alaska Peak in the Tahoe. At 2:30 am he spotted a fire starting in heavy reproduction which was held to three acres. Another fire was picked up at dusk in a canyon and without a cross shot gave a perfect location. During a lightning storm at 3:55 am he sent the boys to nine fires and they held them to small acreage. He has a slogan to the effect that fires are like thieves - you got to watch them but another factor of his success is said to be his evening diet of watermelon and beer. There may be something to that." (California Ranger)
November 2, 1959: "Evacuated families were back in their homes today after the communities of Camptonville and Pike and outlying mining camps were reported safe from the main body of the fire which has swept over 16,415 acres of forest land in Tahoe National Forest.
Several buildings and a lookout station were burned during the weekend, but the area is now considered out of danger." (Appeal-Democrat - Marysville)
GRANITE PEAK
MILLS PEAK
Plumas National Forest
|
|
POVERTY HILL
 1914 - USFS, Mark Swift Collection |
SADDLEBACK MOUNTAIN
 no date - USFS, Mark Swift Collection |
 July 2009 - Ron Kemnow photo
|
VERDI PEAK
 1998 - Mark Swift Collection |
 July 2009 - Ron Kemnow photo
|
November 12, 1958: "Snow last weekend may have ended the season's work for the lone woman fire spotter at the 8400-foot lookout station on Verdi peak, but she had already been at her post more than month longer than usual.
Miss Lane Endicott, who mans the Verdi lookout only a few miles west of Reno, usually shuts up shop on the peak in the first week of October, but dry weather this year extended the period. This is her third season on the job.
There are 49 lookouts in the Tahoe Range, mostly manned by husband and wife teams, and the Verdi lookout which Miss Endicott staffs by herself is the most isolated of the string.
Miss Endicott has a high record this year for spotting fires by the way, with 10 to her credit. From her vantage point she can observe a circled area of 35 to 45 miles.
The petite brunette took up the unusual occupation after being in many different services of the forest department in Washington, D.C., and on Mt. Fremont.
Asked about what she does with her spare time, Miss Endicott said, "There really isn't any spare time, but there is a great deal of opportunity to meditate on future work after the fire season is over."
She has a number of musical compositions to her credit, including a ballad on looking down at Reno from a mountain peak, and has tried her hand at writing fiction but feels her job is too technical to provide much material." (Reno Evening Gazette)
