Little Bald...
Historical aerial photos
- Thread starter Aerosled
- Start date
Right again. I'll try to find a more difficult one.
Notice the longitude painted on the roof. The latitude was on the other side of the roof so when seen from the air with the numbers right side up latitude was the top number and longitude the bottom number.
How it looks now. Thanks to the Chinook Pass Snowmobile Club, it's a great place to warm up.
This one should be a little more difficult. There used to be a lookout in the cropped in photo just right of center. The lighter shaded area is a burn from at least 50 years before the photo was taken.
More hints. Huckleberry brush grew back in the old burn areas that show as lighter shade in the photo. The area around the lookout was excellent huckleberry picking and well know by Yakima residents through at least the early 70's. Last time I was up there was about 6 or 7 years ago and the huckleberry brush has been crowded out by other brush and trees. There are still some huckleberries but it is far from the good berry picking it used to be.
The Lookout was removed to make room for something else.
The Lookout was removed to make room for something else.
U got me at huckleberry! Used to go up with my parents and pick lots of them.
Reynolds Creek. There a lot of tiny cabins up there now.
GS6
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Nope, The thing they built is very large. They blasted about 50 feet off the top of the mountain to make a flat spot in the mid 60s to build it. Here's a blurry photo of the view out the west window of the lookout.
Ravens Roost!
Now sits a microwave radio tower....am I correct?!
Now sits a microwave radio tower....am I correct?!
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Yes, correct, A BUCMT, Big Ugly Concrete Microwave Tower. Ravens Roost is in line of site to both Seattle and Yakima.
Keep those old pictures coming I love history especially old historical pictures of areas that i have been to.
No hints should be needed for someone to identify this one.
This photo should be fairly easy for most any Washingtonian to identify. On the ridge to west of the lake there used to be a structure. You can see it still standing there in the clearing in the center of the cropped photo. What was it? Hint, it was not a Lookout.
I figured Darland would be identified pretty quick.
Darland Lookout 1961
A D-6 cupola cabin was constructed in 1925. In 1935, a 42' wooden L-4 tower replaced the cupola, which was trucked to Blue Slide L.O. in 1942. The L-4 tower was destroyed in 1966.
http://www.firelookout.com/lktpix.html
<hr> <center> DEFINITIONS
</center> L-4 = standard 14 x 14 foot frame pre-cut lookout house built from 1929 through 1953, also known as an "Aladdin." It has a peaked roof, and wooden panels that are mounted horizonally over the windows in the summer to provide shade, and lowered over the windows in winter. Early models have a gable roof; later models have a hip roof.
L-5 = a 10 x 10 foot frame pre-cut lookout house (smaller version of the L-4) built mostly at secondary lookout points in the 1930's. The term "L-5" was also given to a handful of 14x14' gable-roofed log cabins in Idaho and Montana.
L-6 = an 8 x 8 foot frame pre-cut lookout house (an even smaller version of the L-4) built mostly atop tall wooden towers, with separate living quarters on the ground.
R-6 = standard 15 x 15 foot frame lookout house built from 1953 forward. The roof is flat and extends beyond the cabin a few feet to provide shade. R-6 refers to Region 6 of the U.S. Forest Service (Washington & Oregon), the originator of the design.
D-6 = a cupola house design with main floor being 12 x 12 feet, and having a 1/4 sized second floor observatory, built mostly during the 1920's. D-6 refers to District 6 of the U.S. Forest Service (Pacific Northwest Region), which later became Region 6. Very few remain in the Northwest.
Aermotor = refers to the Aermotor Company of Chicago Illinois, famous for their windmill towers. The lookout towers of this type are more frequently found in the southeastern U.S., and are somewhat rare in the Pacific Northwest.
Darland Lookout 1961
A D-6 cupola cabin was constructed in 1925. In 1935, a 42' wooden L-4 tower replaced the cupola, which was trucked to Blue Slide L.O. in 1942. The L-4 tower was destroyed in 1966.
http://www.firelookout.com/lktpix.html
<hr> <center> DEFINITIONS
</center> L-4 = standard 14 x 14 foot frame pre-cut lookout house built from 1929 through 1953, also known as an "Aladdin." It has a peaked roof, and wooden panels that are mounted horizonally over the windows in the summer to provide shade, and lowered over the windows in winter. Early models have a gable roof; later models have a hip roof.
L-5 = a 10 x 10 foot frame pre-cut lookout house (smaller version of the L-4) built mostly at secondary lookout points in the 1930's. The term "L-5" was also given to a handful of 14x14' gable-roofed log cabins in Idaho and Montana.
L-6 = an 8 x 8 foot frame pre-cut lookout house (an even smaller version of the L-4) built mostly atop tall wooden towers, with separate living quarters on the ground.
R-6 = standard 15 x 15 foot frame lookout house built from 1953 forward. The roof is flat and extends beyond the cabin a few feet to provide shade. R-6 refers to Region 6 of the U.S. Forest Service (Washington & Oregon), the originator of the design.
D-6 = a cupola house design with main floor being 12 x 12 feet, and having a 1/4 sized second floor observatory, built mostly during the 1920's. D-6 refers to District 6 of the U.S. Forest Service (Pacific Northwest Region), which later became Region 6. Very few remain in the Northwest.
Aermotor = refers to the Aermotor Company of Chicago Illinois, famous for their windmill towers. The lookout towers of this type are more frequently found in the southeastern U.S., and are somewhat rare in the Pacific Northwest.
I do know that is Little Kachess Lake to the right and I 90 to the South. The spot is Amabilis Mnt.
I have yet to determine what the structure was.
Looking close at the photo I think I see a shadow being cast like a tall antenna. Maybe radio...?
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Correct on all points including the shadow. It was something tall but not an antenna.
Flagpole?
Nope. It was part of a system built in the US between 1923 and 1933. It was probably about 50 feet tall. There were about 1500 of them across the country.
More hints. Here are the coordinates of three more. They are in a format you can copy and paste into google maps or google earth. On Google earth you can zoom in real close to see what remains.
Near North Bend 47.45131005, -121.8036651
Ridge top between Yakima and Ellensburg 46.84020665, -120.5281213
Ridge top east of Ellensburg. There is a clue near the remains here that should answer the question what these were. 47.10396867, -120.2366611
Near North Bend 47.45131005, -121.8036651
Ridge top between Yakima and Ellensburg 46.84020665, -120.5281213
Ridge top east of Ellensburg. There is a clue near the remains here that should answer the question what these were. 47.10396867, -120.2366611
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