|
|
|
REVIEWS
FINDING FIRE: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF FIRE LOOKOUTS IN LANE COUNTY, OREGON
|
by Doug Newman
foreword by Ken Metzler
|
| Lane County Historical Society & Museum, Eugene, 2007. Illustrations, maps, appendix. 134 pages. $18.95 paper. |
| Doug Newman's book, Finding Fire: A Personal Story of Fire Lookouts in Lane County, Oregon, covers a neglected topic in Oregon history — life living on remote fire lookout towers and houses in the forests of Oregon. Although the examples are from Lane County, the types of experiences that are recounted in the book resonate throughout the forests of the West. At one time, there were several hundred lookout structures present in the state, especially in the national forests. As new technology has replaced the human eyes with electronic sensors, airplanes, and even satellites, the number of these unique, specialized buildings has been greatly reduced. Chapters are devoted to an overview of lookouts and the people who staffed them, as well as to general discussion of the various types of lookout structures, life at the lookout, the much-neglected women on lookouts, especially during World War II, and several other interesting short chapters. |
1
|
|
Newman collected many manuscripts and oral histories from the lookouts, took thousands of photographs, gave enthusiastic support to lookout repair and recovery efforts, and most of all, loved the out-of-doors and lookouts. Plagued with polio since early childhood, Newman died a tragic death in 1992. This book was in manuscript form until the Lane County Historical Society decided that, with light editing, it should be published. |
2
|
|
The author of this book, himself a former fire lookout, has given lookouts (that is, the people who staff the lookout buildings) an opportunity to share some of their experiences. Personal stories from lookouts have been woven into a narrative that covers the years when there were lookouts on nearly every mountain top. Lookout life was lonely. Lookout houses were staffed only during the summer seasons. Work by the lookouts entailed spotting smoke and fires in the forests, then reporting these "smokes" to the appropriate fire fighting crews. The lookouts received visitors and tried their best to explain operations and duties. They were proud of the work they did. |
3
|
|
Finding Fire serves as a great introduction to the challenges and hardships, as well as humor and personal tragedy, of lookout life in western Oregon. Ken Metzler wrote a nice foreword to the book, recounting Doug Newman's life as an avid lookout researcher, author, and outdoor writer for the Eugene Register-Guard. By narrowing the subject down to Lane County, particularly the Willamette National Forest portion, Newman's book gives an intimate look at what it took to be a lookout in the heyday of lookout work from the 1940s to 1970s. It compliments several other broader-scope books on fire lookouts, such as Ray Kresek's 1985 book covering all lookouts in Washington and Oregon (Fire Lookouts of Oregon and Washington). Finding Fire does not cover every lookout site, or person who served as lookout, during the past almost one hundred years — no book could. The photographs in the book, for the most part, are poorly reproduced, with many having a very soft focus. The Lookout Designs chapter is okay, but not comprehensive. I assume that Newman's many stories from oral histories and other sources are stored in the Lane County Museum, but there is no way to tell. There is no index and no bibliography. |
4
|
| Gerald W. Williams
|
| Portland, Oregon |
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|