FLATHEAD COUNTY
McCAFFERY
Flathead National Forest
27N-19W-7
27N-19W-7
June 4, 1937: "A guard training school, under the direction of Assistant Forest. Eaton, has been in progress at the Bigfork ranger station and McCaffery lookout the past several weeks." (The Daily Inter Lake)
June 14, 1940: "First lookout stations in the Flathead Forest to be manned this season are two in the Lower Swan district, Mission Lookout and McCaffery Lookout. Ray Wedge was detailed to McCaffery." (The Daily Inter Lake)
July 22, 1951: "Among the married couples working this year are Douglas and Janet Dean, whose summer home is McCaffery lookout north of Bigfork. Most Forest service lookouts are built on towers, and the Deans' is a 14 foot square cabin 40 feet off the ground.
This is Janet Dean's first year on lookout (the Deans have only been married about six months) but she likes it. Doug Dean worked lookout two years in Idaho during vacations from Montana State University's school of Journalism, so he is an old timer at the game.
A dirt road winding through the forest leads to within a few feet of McCaffery lookout. That gives the Deans easy access to civilization. But this is a mixed blessing. Janet and Doug both say it's an awful temptation to watch cars headed for Kalispell or Bigfork, when they themselves must stick with their tower." (The Inter Lake)
July 31, 1953: "A 15-acre forest fire on Mill Creek in the Swan Range, almost 13 miles east of Kalispell, was brought under control at 10 a.m. today.
The blaze, a lightning hangover fire from the lightning storm July 20, was spotted at 3:15 p.m. Thursday by the McCaffery Lookout near Echo Lake." (The Daily Inter Lake)
July 18, 1957: "Manning the McCafferty lookout station are Mr. and Mrs. Neil Hohisel of Detroit." (The Flathead Courier)
June 22, 1958: "The bride has completed two years at Pacific Lutheran College in Parkland, Wash., and the bride-groom is a junior at Eastern Washington College of Education in Cheney where both will attend next year. Mr. and Mrs. Schiltz are with the Forest Service this summer and are stationed at McCaffery Lookout." (The Daily Inter Lake)
September 5, 1962: :Due to the half inch of rain over the last weekend, the lookouts at McCaffery and Mission have been temporarily pulled down. They may again man the stations if there isn't more rain and the burning indexes rise again." (The Daily Inter Lake)
Removed