the Cook Creek Spar Tree

[eub]

From Ray Kresek's Fire Lookouts of the Northwest

In 1927 a 179' Douglas fir 7 feet in diameter was high-topped by a Hobi Timber Company climber using spurs and a crosscut saw. The huge pole was then debarked with a double-bitted axe as he descended from the top. Three-foot steel rods with an eye in one end were driven into the tree in such a manner as to form a winding staircase with a steel cable threaded through the 130 eyes and stretched taut with a chain binder. The tightened cable served as a hand rail, as well as to hold the rungs securely into the trunk. Four railroad ties were then anchored a few feet below the top, with the 49-square foot house assembled atop them by Paul Meyer and his two helpers. Cedar shiplap siding finished the walls, and sliding glass windows gave the eagle's aerie its own touch of class.
[...]
During its years of service, the Cook Creek Spar Tree became a center of nationwide publicity. Newspapers from coast to coast ran feature stories, and in 1929 Hollywood newsreels portrayed it as the phenomenal one-legged skyscraper.

Crummy scan, but look carefully in the middle above the standing guy and you can see a turn of the helix.

Comments

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

Oh thanks a lot, Mr 'apparently so little fear of heights that a picture like that doesn't freak him out at all'.

The description was pretty cool though.

[eub.livejournal.com]

"Least ergonomic handrail EVAR" was my response.

[hattifattener]

Want to borrow my copy of How To Rent a Fire Lookout in the Pacific Northwest? I have yet to use it, alas.

[eub.livejournal.com]

Heh, I just ran across that book while trying to find the title of the other one, and said "ooh!". Yeah, I'd like to look at it. A directory of rentable cabins and lookouts is online nowadays, but I bet the book would have more context about what's to do in the area of each.