CHINKS PEAK
Bannock County - Bureau of Land Management - 6S-35E-33
June 22, 1944: "Art Campbell, construction foreman for grazing district, and road crew are constructing a fire road to the top of Chinks peak east of Pocatello this week." (The Herald-Bulletin)
July 20, 1944: "Denny Hess, grazing district range examiner, spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Pocatello on business. He has established a new lookout station there on Chink's peak east of Pocatello." (The Burley Herald)
September 3, 1946: "Field contacts may be made through Dee R. Bingham, district fire aide at Chinks Peak lookout east of Pocatello.
The entire grazing district is under detection from lookouts or organized per diem guard crews and any smoke or fires that are not authorized necessitates the dispatching of fire suppression crews." (The Burley Bulletin)
July 25, 1952: "The BLM provided better living quarters this year in the form of a modern trailer which was brought to the top of the peak by bulldozer. Here the family enjoys the most modern equipment, refrigerator, radio, washing machine, electric lights, and butane cooking stove." (Idaho State Journal)
January 1, 1957: "County sheriff's officers today suspected arson as the cause of a fire which last night burned down the fire watch station on Chink's peak, southeast of the city.
The fire was noticed about 7:10 p.m. by Cecil Dixon, who works for the Bureau of Land Management in the station during the summer, and lives about 2 1/2 miles away from the peak during the winter.
Dixon and Deputy Sheriff Jack Vorwaller drove up the mountain road, reaching the top about 7:45 p.m. They found the 12 by 12 foot building, valued at $500, completely burned down.
The sheriff's office said that a south wind kept the flames from spreading to a nearby police radio antenna." (Idaho State Journal
The fire was noticed about 7:10 p.m. by Cecil Dixon, who works for the Bureau of Land Management in the station during the summer, and lives about 2 1/2 miles away from the peak during the winter.
Dixon and Deputy Sheriff Jack Vorwaller drove up the mountain road, reaching the top about 7:45 p.m. They found the 12 by 12 foot building, valued at $500, completely burned down.
The sheriff's office said that a south wind kept the flames from spreading to a nearby police radio antenna." (Idaho State Journal
May 5, 1957: "Plans for Pocatello area fire protection this summer were formulated here at a meeting of State Forester Roger Guernsey, Boise, and representatives of the city, State Fish and Game Department and the U.S. Forest Service.
Approved was daily operation of the Chinks Peak lookout station just east of the city." (Idaho State Journal)
June 11, 1958: "The Bureau of Land Management's Chink's Peak fire lookout southeast of Pocatello will be manned beginning June 24.
And for the first time, it will have a direct telephone line to the world below it. The number will be 2184.
In other years fires were reported to the BLM office in Burley and the information relayed to the peak by short wave radio.
Cecil Dixon, south of city, will man the lookout, and will report fires on State and Forest Service as well as BLM land." (Idaho State Journal)
November 26, 1958: "Proposed Bureau of Land Management withdrawal of 80 acres of public land in Bannock County from all forms of appropriation was announced today by J.R. Penny, state supervisor for the BLM.
He said the land was needed for administrative sites for lookout and radio facilities on Chinks Peak near Pocatello.
Penny noted that there was a lookout station with radio equipment at Chinks Peak, which is manned only during the fire season. He said at present there was no plans for additional construction at the site.
However, he added, the main reason for the withdrawal was to assure that the land would be available for any additional building in future years." (Idaho State Journal)
January 15, 1960: "Other accomplishments were the installation of a radio repeater station at Malad and reconstruction of the Chink's Peak fire lookout at Pocatello." (The Herald-Bulletin)
July 20, 1967: "A new couple is operating the Chink's Peak fire lookout east of the city this summer.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rands began July as the Bureau of Land Managements's fire watchers, replacing Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Dixon who had operated the lookout for 19 summers. The Dixon's were obliged to remain in the city this summer because no one else was available to manage their second-hand store." (Idaho State Journal)
April 2, 1968: "Charles Bale, BLM official from Burley, announced that Cecil Dixon will return this summer to his old job of operating the Chinks Peak Lookout, after a year's absence from the post. And the BLM again will have a fire-fighting unit stationed here." (Idaho State Journal)
June 5, 1968: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing extensive vandalism discovered at the Chink's Peak fire lookout station operated by the Bureau of Land Management.
One entire side of the heavy-gauge glass lookout was smashed with rocks. The board nailed over the door of the downstairs living quarters was pulled off, apparently with a crowbar, and the door was demolished.
Partying teenagers are blamed for the vandalism at the isolated lookout, which is occupied only a few months during the summer. Just when the destruction was committed is not known. It was discovered by Donald Schafer, a BLM official from Burley.
Lookout Cecil Dixon and Mrs. Dixon are scheduled to go on duty there soon." (Idaho State Journal)
June 22, 1969: "Aware of the danger of range and forest fires, Cecil Dixon, lookout stationed each summer at Chink's Peak lookout, has moved to the high hill position ahead of the usual time." (Idaho State Journal)
September 20, 1974: "Clair Baldwin, BLM Burley District fire information officer, noted that although the formal fire protection contract in the Pocatello cooperative area was being ended, the BLM would continue to maintain the Chink's Peak lookout and would fight fires either on or threatening public resource lands.
Baldwin said the BLM's crew, usually composed of college students, had dropped from 45 to 15 men in the past few months. Six men are now on the local crew, on staggered duty days, with reinforcements available in limited numbers from Burley." (Idaho State Journal)
2003: Removed (Kresek)