LEMHI COUNTY
STORMY PEAK
Salmon National Forest
23N-19E-3
23N-19E-3
c.1920: camp (Kresek)
1928: Two-story log base with R-4 cab. (Kresek)
August 7, 1935: "Pete Burton left Thursday for the lookout on Stormy Peak." (Recorder Herald)
July 5, 1939: "Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Harder and son came down from Stormy Peak Lookout Sunday. Vernon cut his leg and had to have medical attention." (Recorder Herald)
August 9, 1939: "Jean Harder spent several days with Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Harder and Teddy up at Stormy peak lookout last week." (Recorder Herald)
July 13, 1950: "High frequency radio has been installed at Stormy Peak." (Recorder Herald)
July 12, 1951: "Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Schmunk of Fort Collins, Colorado, are stationed on Stormy Peak." (The Recorder-Herald)
August 31, 1956: "Gardening at elevations exceeding 8,000 feet is not advised by most green thumbers.
Al Clary, who manned the forest service lookout on Stormy Peak, and his wife, Wilma, did not know this so they went ahead and planted a small vegetable garden. The garden, in spite of the advice that would have been given by green thumbers, is thriving.
In fact it has been providing the Clarys with radishes, lettuce, onions and spinach for the past two weeks.
The Clarys got the idea of a sky garden during the summer of 1955 when they manned the Oreana Lookout. Fresh vegetables were the one thing they missed in their menus.
As a result, Mr. and Mrs. Clary decided that their next lookout would be complete with garden. When they went up to Stormy Peak at the beginning of the fire season they took along four varieties of garden seeds.
Clary spaded the ground and left it for a week to settle before planting the seeds. That was in July.
Clary was some disappointed when the seeds did not quicken and thrive the way he thought they should. He hurriedly remedied this by irrigating the garden with water from the spring carried to the garden in a bucket.
As it turned out, the sky garden has a lot of stamina and durability. When snow covered the garden and lookout to a depth of six or eight inches the night of Aug. 26, the vegetables came through with greenery flying. They continued to provide the Clarys with a green salad every other day.
Just whether the Clarys will be back on the Salmon forest next year is undecided. He is preparing to continue his study of biology at Tarkio College at Tarkio, MO. Mrs Clary is a teacher during the time her husband is in college.
It appears that Mr. and Mrs. Clary might have an avocation-raising vegetables at elevations over 8,000 feet--8,019 feet to be exact." (The Post-Register)
August 1, 1957: "Robert Miller, formerly the forest service lookout at Stormy Peak, is in an improved condition at Steele Memorial hospital after having been brought in from the Stormy Peak area Monday by Gene Powers and Joe Denny.
A search for Miller was begun by Powers and Denny when he failed to report in by radio on schedule Saturday. An airplane search of the nearby area was conducted Sunday without results, but the missing man, who was in his second season as a fire lookout, was found shortly after in an incoherent condition and was returned to Salmon by Powers and Denny. His mother came from their home at Greensburg, Pennsylvania Wednesday night to be with him, and the physician in charge reported him in good condition Thursday morning.
The Stormy Peak lookout is at present being manned by Steve Bradley of Salmon." (The Recorder Herald)
June 22, 1961: "Stormy Peak became the first fire lookout to be manned this season as George McDonald packed in to take the post last week." (The Recorder Herald)
June 21, 1962: "Although considerable snow still lies at higher elevations and wet weather has continued to prevail, the Salmon national forest personnel is prepating for fire season. Stormy Peak is the only fire lookout manned. George McDonald traveled to the isolated post by pack train June 12. The lookout commands a sweeping view of the forest lands and is also used for the transmission of radio messages from one point in the forest to another." (The Recorder Herald)
July 1, 1965: "The first lookout to be manned was opened Monday with a helicopter placing George McDonald atop Stormy Peak Lookout. McDonald has been stationed on Stormy Peak on the Salmon Ranger District the past three years." (The Recorder Herald)
September 12, 1967: "The first snow of the season was reported Monday on peaks of the Bitterroot Mountains forming the Continental Divide northeast of Salmon.
The Stormy Peak forest lookout advised that the peaks received a light covering of snow above an elevation of 8,000 feet.
Meantime, seven new lightning fires resulting from a weekend storm were brought under control on the Salmon National Forest." (Idaho Free Press)
June 19, 1969: "One lookout, Stormy Peak, was manned Monday by Ed Joy of Salmon." (The Recorder-Herald)
May 26, 1974: "Don Hooper, Salmon District ranger, said that use of the roads now can cause extensive damage.
He asked the public wait until the roads dry before using them, especially the Stormy Peak road." (Idaho State Journal)
July 2022: The Stormy Peak Lookout was destroyed in the Moose Fire.
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National Geodetic Survey |
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DESIGNATION - STORMY PT LOOKOUT CABIN
PID - QZ0550
STATE/COUNTY- ID/LEMHI
COUNTRY - US
USGS QUAD - PINE CREEK RIDGE (1991)
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1945 (JCT)
THE STATION IS THE STORMY POINT LOOKOUT CABIN, LOCATED ABOUT
3-1/2 MILES SE OF SHOUP, AND ABOUT 4-1/2 MILES SW OF THE
INDIANOLA RANGER STATION, ON A HIGH PEAK CLEARED OF TIMBER
ON THE N. IT IS A SQUARE WOODEN STRUCTURE, ABOUT 20 BY 20
FEET IN DIAMETER, WITH AN ALIDADE MOUNTED IN THE CENTER OF
THE BUILDING.
