The Watchman Lookout Station No. 168 is one of two fire lookout towers in

Crater Lake National Park Crater Lake National Park is a national park of the United States located in southern Oregon. Established in 1902, Crater Lake is the fifth-oldest national park in the United States and the only national park in Oregon. The park encompasses t ...

in southern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. For many years,

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

personnel used the lookout to watch for

wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

during the summer months. It is also a common

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

destination because of its views of

Crater Lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ) is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the Western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is a tourist attraction for its deep blue color and water clarity. T ...

and the surrounding area. The building is unusual because it serves the dual purpose of fire lookout and museum. The Watchman Lookout Station is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

History

The Watchman Lookout Station is located 8,025 feet above sea level on Watchman Peak, a high point on the western rim above Crater Lake.Greene, Linda W.
"Summary of Important Structures"
''Historic Resource Study Crater Lake National Park'', Oregon, Denver Service Center, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, Denver, Colorado, June 1984.Tweed, William C., Laura E. Soulliere, and Henry G. Law

''Rustic Architecture: 1916 – 1942'', National Park Service, Western Regional Office, San Francisco, California, February 1977. Watchman Peak was named by William Gladstone Steel in 1886 when he brought a survey team to Crater Lake to measure its depth.Sullivan, William L.,"The Watchman," ''Hiking Oregon's History'', Navillus Press, Eugene, Oregon: 2000. The lookout structure (designated "Building 168") was constructed in 1932, and served the dual purpose of fire lookout and trail museum. The lookout location was selected by Merel S. Sager of the National Park Service Landscape Division. Early detection and prompt suppression of forest fires was a primary responsibility of the National Park Service. Lookouts, like the one on Watchman Peak, were located on heights overlooking great expanses of forest area. The Watchman tower was part of the fire detection network for Crater Lake National Park which included a number of National Park Service,

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

and

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

lookouts. A trained observer, usually a

park ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, field ranger, or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands and Protected area, protected areas – private, national, state, provincial, or local parks. Their duties include ( ...

, staffed the lookout and kept in contact with the fire dispatcher at the park headquarters on

short-wave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...

. During the 1930s, the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

also provided observers. The National Park Service staffed the Watchman Lookout Station during fire season until 1974 and intermittently since then. Today, the Watchman Lookout Station has significant interpretive value. Since the lookout was built, there has been a major philosophical change in how forest managers deal with wildfires. The Watchman tower provides visitors the opportunity to experience the essential elements of 1930s-era fire lookout. The accessibility of the site, the unobstructed view on all sides, and the use of native materials that blend the structure into the surrounding

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

combine to make the Watchman Lookout Station a unique and historically significant structure. As a result, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988."Watchman Lookout Station No. 68"
National Register of Historic Places, www.nationalregisterofhistoricalplaces.com, 12 March 2008.

Structure

The lookout is a simple two-story

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

design with a by wing extending east from the southeast corner of the main structure. The bottom floor of the main building has a by footprint. The first floor is constructed with massive stone masonry walls. It originally houses a small exhibit room. The exhibit area was unusual for a working fire lookout. However, because it was readily accessibility to visitors, the Watchman lookout provided an opportunity for the National Park Service to educate the public about the park and its fire prevention program. The first floor also has a restroom and storage area. An eight-foot glass window provides views of Crater Lake."", Crater Lake PNRO Inventory, Pacific Northwest Cultural Resource Division, National park Service, United States Department of Interior, Seattle, Washington, 17 October 1988. The second floor is a four-sided observation room entirely enclosed in glass with a by catwalk around the outside. The first floor was built into the hill-top so the building's footprint is somewhat irregular. Therefore, the lookout's second story is supported by a steel frame rather than resting entirely on the first floor structure. The lookout's native stone and log construction helps blend the structure into its mountain top environment. There is also a stone parapet in front of building that overlooks Crater Lake, 1,849 feet below.

Watchman trail

The trail to Watchman Lookout Station is approximately three-quarters of a mile up a modest grade. To reach the trailhead from Crater Lake National Park's Rim Village, take Rim Drive north 4 miles to a well marked pull-off parking area. The trail begins about 100 yards south of the parking area. The trail is normally open from mid-July through October.

References

External links

Crater Lake National Park
{{National Register of Historic Places Oregon Government buildings completed in 1932 Towers completed in 1932 Civilian Conservation Corps in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Crater Lake National Park National Register of Historic Places in Klamath County, Oregon Fire lookout towers in Oregon Fire lookout towers on the National Register of Historic Places Tourist attractions in Klamath County, Oregon 1932 establishments in Oregon National Park Service rustic in Oregon

History

Structure

Watchman trail

See also

References

External links