Nostalgia & History > Old Man('s) Winter on Donner 3

This one's not about Winter railroading exactly, but it was a Wintertime venture.  In about 1984 I somehow seized on the idea of climbing up to the old Red Mountain Lookout in the Winter.
Red Mountain Lookout was the SP's solution to the troublesome fires that were the scourge of the wood snowsheds that covered the entire Donner crossing at one time.  Spotters in the lookout watched for signs of fire that they reported via a telephone line to the operator in, um, Cisco?  This was said to be the first use of the telephone on the SP system.  The operator in turn scrambled the Fire Train (another story).  The lookout was abandoned in the 1920's when double tracking eliminated nearly all the sheds.
The visit to Red Mountain took a very long day to complete.  I parked the car at Cisco at 7am, and made it back around 3:00.
SR

Photo 1.  Red Mountain Lookout from a helicopter- a shot I took about a year after I made the climb.
Photo 2.  I followed the old phone line (It's still kinda there!) up to the lookout.
Photo 3.  Made it!  The pile of lumber is what remains of the first lookout built on the site.

Photo 4.  In the plaster inside the cabin.  I don't know if these were the builders or the lookouts themselves.  5ft of snow in 1909!  Yeow!
Photo 5.  From the rear of the cabin.
Photo 6.  The lookout bay.

Photo 7.  The Red Mountain view of the RR below.  That's the Reno Fun Train approaching Shed 10-  El Cap cars trailing Tunnel Motors & F40's.
Photo 8.  Again from the helicopter, an over-the-shoulder view of the lookout in the foreground and the RR below.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/21 10:42 by BoilingMan.

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Truly epic, SR!   Wow-- you climbed up in the WINTER-- must've been a very arduous climb for sure?!?
Phil Brahms has driven up there before w/ his 4-wheel drive and said it took him almost an hour--anything for the photos must be both "youse guys' " motto?!?
You're killing me w/ this stuff--  SR on the move, kinda like Doc Emmett Brown-haha!   What's he gonna come up with next... Helicopters, drones?  ( he's done that, got the shirt, already)...  I'm thinking the DeLorean's gonna make a comeback?!?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/21 15:11 by IC_2024.

Well these were early days for me on The Hill- fresh off the boat from Santa Barbara. I was too green to know a 2000’ climb in the short days of Winter without snowshoes etc was decidedly NOT one of my brighter ideas! But I got away with it.
My Mom always told her friends, “That one’s got more luck than sense”.
SR

Thank you SR. Terrific photos.

BTW, is Old Man winter related to Old Man River?  

Oh man, there’s gotta be a snappy return for that...think!
Damn

I got nothing
SR

Terrific photos, simply terrffic. You nailed art and history together. 

And old man Winter is related to old man River, he just had his face melt when he saw these phtotos. :)

I hiked up there several years back.  The lookout was manned until the 1930s and ended, I believe, with the death of the last watchman due to a lightning strike.

Oliver Barrett

ShoreLineRoute Wrote:
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> I hiked up there several years back.  The lookout
> was manned until the 1930s and ended, I believe,
> with the death of the last watchman due to a
> lightning strike.
>
> Oliver Barrett

As I understand it, the decision to close the lookout had already been made and a date set. But by sheer bad luck the lookout on duty was killed when lightning struck the phone line while he was using it! (I would assume this was the same line I followed up the mountain). So I imagine the SP decided not to replace him and closed Red Mountain a couple weeks(?) earlier than planned.
SR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/21 21:49 by BoilingMan.

BoilingMan wrote:

> In about 1984 I somehow ceased on the idea of climbing up to the old Red Mountain Lookout in the Winter.

Shouldn't the "ceased" be "siezed?"  (these two words have opposite meanings)

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/21 22:24 by johnsweetser.

Ah!
SR

Watchmen were sitting targets for lightning

Yeah- not a lot of places to hide up there!
You sure didn’t want to be the tallest guy.
SR

Fantastic pics SR!

Forest Service lookouts had a stool with insulators on the bottom of each leg to prevent you from getting burnt in a storm.

Yes, beds too, if I recall.
SR