TEMPLE
Los Angeles County - Los Angeles County Forestry Department
June 30, 1935: "Acquisition negotiations were instituted for a lookout tower site east of Temple City." (Los Angeles County Forestry Department Annual Report - Fiscal Year ending 6/30/1935)
August 9, 1935: "Construction of a new lookout tower for the county forestry department to aid in locating brush fires in the Puente hills and along the entire Santa Ana foothill front was scheduled to get under way this week, following negotiation of a lease. It will be accomplished without cost to the county.
The new tower also will provide an advantageous lookout for the 'finger' ranges extending out from the San Gabriel mountain range, according to J.R. Wimmer, assistant fire warden. The location is four miles east of Temple, in the San Gabriel wash lands, and the site is being leased from Anna M. Spence of Monrovia for $5 a year.
The tower, as well as the appurtenant structures, will be built by Emergency Conservation funds and by CCC camp labor, costing the county nothing. Permission is granted in the lease to drill a well on the site and upon termination of the lease it will be capped.
Haze obstructs vision the least in the direction of the Puente Hills and across the foothills toward San Dimas, from this point, it was stated.
Exact location of smoke curls in the Puente Hills district will be fixed by sighting from both the San Dimas and the new Temple lookout towers and taking readings in degrees on a graduated circle. Reading may be telephoned to the Los Angeles headquarters and the street location fixed by the aid of a large map.-- Puente Journal." (La Habra Star)
1936: "During the year the camp constructed the new Temple Patrol Station and Lookout Tower setup, consisting of a station building, a sixty-foot steel tower, garage, fence, walks, drives and leaching system. This tower is located in San Gabriel Wash, gives protection to a highly hazardous area heretofore 'blind' to other towers." (Los Angeles County Department of Forester and Firewarden and Fire Protection Districts - Annual Report)
January 29, 1937: "Fires in the foothills above the San Gabriel valley and in the San Jose and Whittier hills will be more easily detected when the new Temple lookout tower is completed on California avenue just north of the Arrow highway in the San Gabriel river wash, according to the county forestry department.
A 70-foot tower, lookout house and garage are being erected by young men from the CCC camp at Tuna canyon, under the supervision of Spence D. Turner, county forester and fire warden. The new lookout will be ready to function when the coming fire season opens next May." (Covina Argus)
A 70-foot tower, lookout house and garage are being erected by young men from the CCC camp at Tuna canyon, under the supervision of Spence D. Turner, county forester and fire warden. The new lookout will be ready to function when the coming fire season opens next May." (Covina Argus)
June 30, 1937: "The 'Temple Tower,' was erected by the Tuna Civilian Conservation Corps, together with a patrol station in the vicinity of Temple City. This tower has direct visibility along the front of the Sierra Madre Mountains, which is not covered by other towers situated in the back country. This front area is particularly hazardous, as fire originating here will immediately sweep into the most valuable watershed of the County. The tower also overlooks a great deal of lowland unincorporated territory under the protection of the Department, and will no doubt prove valuable in reporting grass and structural fires." (Los Angeles County Forestry Department Annual Report - Fiscal Year ending 6/30/1937)
June 30, 1937: "One Civilian Conservation Corps Camp (Tuna Canyon) has been asisgned to the Division since 1933. It has average enrollment of 160 men, all of whom, excepting those required for camp overhead, are assigned departmental projects. The Federal Government allocates approximately $2,000 monthly to this camp, for purchase of project materials. During the year the camp constructed the new Temple Patrol Station and Lookout Tower setup, consisting of a station building, a sixty-foot steel tower, garage, fence, walks, drives and leaching system. This tower, located in San Gabriel Wash, gives protection to a highly hazardous area heretofore 'blind' to other towers." (Los Angeles County Forestry Department Annual Report - Fiscal Year ending 6/30/1937)
June 30, 1947: "Changing conditions brought about by extensive rural development in the County have resulted in the abandonment of the Temple lookout tower. With the extension of public telephone service, more and more fires are being reported by the citizenry, and after a detection study it was decided to discontinue the use of this tower." (Los Angeles County Forestry Department Annual Report - Fiscal Year ending 6/30/1947