NOTE: POST WAS UPDATED ON 12/30/2022 TO ADD INFORMATION AND PHOTOS PROVIDED BY REX KAMSTRA.
REGIONS: ORIGIN SITE ~ Northeast WA, RE-LO SITE ~ Northeast WA
The movement of the L-4 Cab of the last First Thought Mountain Lookout from its location atop First Thought Mountain to the Community Park in the nearby town of Orient is a typical Type 1 re-location. The move was made in 1986, but the re-located lookout was not actually put on display until 2001.
The FFLA website firelookout.org has this information about the lookout: “Established in 1916 with a 35′ pole platform with a log shelter at the base, a 60′ pole tower with 6’x6′ cab replaced it in 1925 (Note: other information calls this a 76′ pole tower). This was followed up by a 40′ steel Aermotor tower topped with an L-4 cab in 1947. In 1986, the cab was moved to the Orient Community Park.”
More details of the history of the last First Thought Lookout and the move is given in articles on Ron Kemnow’s washingtonlookouts.weebly.com website:
September 24, 1946: Concrete was poured for the footings of a steel tower with an L-4 cab.
1947: The 40-foot steel tower with an L-4, post 1936 model cabin was completed. The tower was recycled from a parachute training tower at the Farragut recruit base on Lake Pend Orielle in Idaho.
1985: In the earlier part of the year the lookout was purchased by the Orient Improvement Clubs with plans to move it to the Orient Community Park for a historical point of interest.
1986: After several dates to airlift the lookout failed the cab was successfully set down by a crane onto a trailer and moved to the park.
More details of the move and display in Orient were provided in an article in the Autumn, 2001 issue of the FFLA LOOKOUT NEWORK: FIRST THOUGHT FINDS A HOME After 15 years, the First Thought Lookout cab has finally found a new home. Late in July, the cab was lifted into place in Orient City Park. The Orient Improvement Club has spearheaded the project , which included restoring the catwalk around the cab and giving the structure a new paint job. The lookout was the focal point for Orient’s 100th birthday celebration in August. The cab was initially removed from its 40-foot steel tower atop First Thought Mountain in 1986 and trucked down to town, but when they got close, they had a Woops! To get the structure thru the overhead arch of the bridge across the Kettle River at Orient and into town, the catwalk and shutter supports had to be removed from two sides. [NOTE MORE DETAILS IN THE DECEMBER 30, 2022 UPDATE BELOW.]
The Lookout Site and the town of Orient are in the Orient Mining District. This area was included in the 2,852,000 acre Colville Indian Reservation that was established in 1872. An 1892 Act of Congress cut the Colville Reservation in half. This opened up this area for settlement and development by non-Indians. Mining claims were first staked at the First Thought Mine in 1897 and then sold the following year to First Thoughts Gold Mines, LTD. This mine, which was the largest mine in what became the Orient Mining District, produced gold and silver ore from 1902 until 1910. The town of Orient was platted in 1902 along the Kettle River and on the Washington & Great Northern Railroad line. An overhead tramline transported the ore from the mine to the railroad near Orient. It was then shipped by rail to a smelter in Northport, WA or to one in Trail B.C. There have been several later owners and several unsuccessful attempts by them to work the mine since 1910.
The L-4 Cab from First Thought Mountain LO is Moved to Orient’s Community Park
[December 30, 2022 Update: (Rex Kamstra sent me two long newspaper articles from the Colville Statesman-Examiner dated August 23, 1995 and June 6, 2001. These articles contain interesting details about the movement of the L-4 cab from atop its steel tower on First Thought Mountain to Orient as well as the community effort to restore the cab for display in the Orient Park. I have borrowed from these two articles, including many direct quotes, in this update to the First Thought LO Re-Location Story.)
“Standing atop a 40-foot high steel tower on First Thought Mountain in northern Stevens County, the 14xl4 foot lookout cabin, abandoned since 1976, was in serious need of repair. In 1984, when it became readily apparent that the timbers under the cabin were rotting and that it had become a safety hazard, Kettle Falls Ranger District staff proposed to sell the cabin and tower…Vic Daily, long-time active community member, could visualize the legendary building as a focal point in the Orient Park.” Kaiser Welding in Kettle Falls wanted the steel tower and won the bid for the lookout. After some negotiations, the Orient Improvement Club bought the L-4 cab for $200.
Now that they owned the L-4, the question was how to get the L-4 off the 40’ tower atop First Thought Mountain and then down the five miles to Orient below. The first idea was to have it flown off by helicopter. Vic Daily contacted McChord Airforce Base and the general there decided that it would be a good training exercise for his troops to move the cab. But then, all of the big military helicopters were grounded until further notice after one of them crashed on the east coast.
The backup plan was to use donated equipment and local volunteers to lower the cab and haul it down the steep and narrow rocky lookout access road to Orient. One morning in the spring of 1986 volunteers drove a mill crane from a nearby mill, the Orient fire truck and a one-ton truck and trailer to the lookout. The crane hooked on to cables attached to the cab and catwalk and lowered it onto the trailer. Then the procession slowly started down the steep and narrow road. The one-ton truck and cab-laden trailer was followed by the Orient fire truck and a group of other volunteers from Orient. The fire truck was attached to the trailer and used its winch to brake and slow down the trailer.
The procession ran into two major clearance problems during the move. The cabin with catwalk was too wide to go between two large trees that grew beside the narrow road. The solution is described in one of the articles: “…it was a no-no to cut the trees, so we had to figure something else out. With a chainsaw, the men cut off the roof overhang shutter supports and the catwalk on two sides. The procession continued down the road…”
When they reached the bridge over the Kettle River at the edge of town they found that the L-4 was too tall to fit under the overhead steel girders of the old bridge. They had carefully measured the width of the bridge and the width of the cab before the move and knew that the bridge was wide enough for the L-4 and catwalk. However they had not measured the height of the old bridge’s overhead steel girders. The solution to this second clearance problem is also described in the newspaper article: “Taking turns with that trusty chainsaw, they shortened the height of the building four feet by cutting off the top of the roof and turning it over with the peak hanging upside down inside the structure.” The cab was then hauled over the bridge into town and placed behind the kitchen pavilion of the Orient Park where it sat for the next fifteen years.
There were several work parties organized to restore the First Thought LO cab during the fifteen years between 1986 and 2001. An August 13, 1995 group effort which repaired and re-shingled the roof was reported in one of the newspaper articles.
In June, 2001 it was reported that “After 15 years of languishing behind the kitchen in the Orient Park, the historic First Thought lookout cabin is on the move again to a place of prominence along Main Street Orient. The old structure…will be spruced up for Orient’s 100th birthday celebration August 24-26…” The renovated L-4 cab and catwalk was placed on a 10’ wooden pole “tower” at its new location and still was there in 2021 when we visited it. ~ END OF 12/30/22 UPDATE]
The L-4 Cab on its 40’ steel tower atop First Thought Mtn ~ 1979 photo by Dave Bula
Our visit to the Orient Community Park the RE-LO SITE for the First Thought Mountain Lookout
Peggy and I visited Orient, WA and the Re-Located First Thought Mountain Lookout Cab on August 29, 2021. The L-4 Cab had been mounted for display on a short tower in Orient’s Community Park.
The Re-Located Lookout is the centerpiece of Orient’s Community Park. The 2010 census listed 115 inhabitants of the town of Orient.
After visiting The Re-Located LO at the Orient Community Park on August 29, 2021, we drove from there to the top of First Thought Mountain to visit the abandoned lookout site.
There were an number of concrete and metal lookout artifacts remaining at the abandoned First Thought Lookout Site.
Concrete and steel artifacts of the Re-Located 3rd First Thought Mountain Lookout remained ~ 2021 photos
The remains of the first two First Thought Mountains lookouts included concrete foundations ~ apparently from the log ground cabin used by these earlier lookouts ~ were still there in 2021.
Views from the First Thought Mountain Lookout Site ~ 2021 photos