Fire Lookouts: Vandals, Thieves and Firebugs (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780999606759)

The author grew up on a dairy farm in the Pacific Northwest adjacent to the Siuslaw National Forest, where her grandparents and great grandparents had been among the earliest settlers. Family outings often consisted of a drive over narrow dirt Forest Service roads winding through towering fir and spruce forests. The day would frequently include a primitive picnic, with venison steak threaded onto sharpened willow branches and broiled slowly over the glowing coals of a small cooking fire. Sometimes their travels through the foothills of the Coast Range led them to a fire lookout tower. This interest was expanded in later years when she and her husband began visiting fire lookouts and abandoned lookout sites. The fascination with the history of these sites led to an in-depth study and research of original documents pertaining to the subject, much of which is presented in these volumes.