LATAH COUNTY
MCGARY BUTTE
Potlatch Timber Protective Association
40N-1E-29
40N-1E-29
1935: 50-foot pole tower with L-4 cab. (Kresek)
1939: "On Saturday, July 15, the McGarey lookout reported a bridge on the Three Bear main line burning. John Frei and two smoke chasers were soon on the job, attempting to get the fire under control. A total of seven bents of the bridge were destroyed. The fire burned for more than six hours before being extinguished.
The bridge is on the main line between Camp 6 and the Three Bear camps and provides the only outlet for the Three Bear logs. A crew was immediately put on the bridge making repairs.
As the bridge was the highest on the line, about 70 feet, there was plenty of work in sight for the 20 men for three days, in order to get the bridge completed as soon as possible.
On Wednesday, engine 23 with an empty flat and a loader ahead of it, came over the summit of Boulder hill on its way to the btidge where it was being used in helping repair the bridge.
As the train broke over the summit, oil, leaking from the loader, dripped on the rails, causing the train crew to lose control of the train. The crew set hand brakes and worked to stop the train to no avail. A mile down the grade was the damaged bridge with 20 men working on it, and no way to warn them. The trainmen did everything possible to try and stop the runaway, but finally had to jump to save themselves.
The runaway went on down the track. Just before reaching the bridge, the front flatcar and one with the loader jumped the track. The derailed cars hit the water tank, demolishing it and causing a miniature cloudburst. The engine came to a grinding halt with the skids of the demolished loader under its drivers. Little damage was done to the engine but the loader was wrecked beyond repair.
Down the track a few hundred yards the bridge crew, still at work, was saved by the hand of fate.
On Friday, July 21, the bridge was finished and the first train of logs moved over it again." Written by Chet Yangle of Bovill (The Family Tree - a newspaper by Potlatch Forests,Inc.)
1960: "Extensive repairs were made to the lookout tower." (Potlatch Timber Protective Association Annual Report)
1970: Destroyed (Kresek)