ARIZONA LOOKOUTS
O'LEARY PEAK
Coconino County
23N-8E-3
Coconino National Forest
23N-8E-3
Coconino National Forest
August 20, 1952: "It has been the desire of the Forest Service for approximately thirty years to establish a fire lookout on O'Leary Peak. Cost of materials and construction and lack of adequate engineering in the past have prevented realization of such a lookout. Said lookout is extremely desirable for sundry and obvious reasons a few of which are :- to furnish detection service for the entire Cinder Hills area and other areas which are at present blind from other established lookouts,- to complete our north end radio coverage and eliminate all "blind spots" as far as radio is concerned,- to eliminate Deadman lookout which is very limited in its scope of country served. There are various other reasons for the desirability of a lookout on O'Leary instead of the present location on Deadman." (Memorandum to Forest Supervisor from H.V. Allen Jr., D.F.R.) The above is only a portion of the memo.
May 12, 1959: The contract was awarded for the construction of the new tower. Martin Cline of Globe, Arizona with a winning bid of $5,480.00.
May 13, 1959: The contractor and forest officers met at the site to determine the exact location of the tower.
May 18 - June 3, 1959: Hauling of materials, setting up camp and preparing the foundations.
May 23, 1959: "A contractor working on a new Forest Service lookout tower on O'Leary Peak 16 miles northeast of Flagstaff spotted a small fire in a "blind spot."
Martin Cline, builder of the new tower, was working yesterday around 2 p.m. when he spotted a small lightning fire in the same area where 1500 acres of valuable timber burned in 1948.
Four men were immediately sent to the area and the fire was put out before it could do any serious damage.
Forest Service officials said if Cline had not spotted the fire it quite possibly could have "gotten bigger." Normally, the O'Leary Basin area, where the fire occurred, is checked only once a day by airplane." (Arizona Daily Sun)
June 3 - 9, 1959: The contractor and two ironworkers erected the 30-foot tower and cab supports, also installed lightning ground.
June 10 and 11, 1959: The stairs and catwalk were installed.
June 15 - 16, 1959: Erected the CL- 100 cab, on the second day one ironworker drop a plank on foot, breaking two toes, the balance of the work was completed with only one ironworker.
June 22 - July 3, 1959: Completed the interior finishing, installed eaves through and down pipes. Painting and other finishing touches.
July 6 - 8, 1959: Site cleanup and final inspection on the 8th.
July 24, 1959: "After operating a gunsmith shop in Flagstaff since 1945, Marion J. Bedwell has become "king of a mountain."
Bedwell's mountain is 9,000-foot O'Leary Peak, overlooking Sunset Crater and its vast, twisted lava fields. And his "castle" is the U.S. Forest Service's newest fire lookout tower in Coconino National Forest.
Bedwell moved into the newly completed 30-foot tower atop O'Leary Peak on July 11. Since that time, he and his Siberian husky, Buck, have been batching in the 20-foot-square glass-enclosed tower on the wind-swept mountain top.
But, within the next two weeks--as soon as cooking and refrigeration facilities and furniture are installed in the tower--they will be joined by Bedwell's wife, Agnes Mae, at the lonely lookout station.
The Forest Service built the O'Leary tower, and an $18,000 access road up the mountain, to provide a lookout for one of the existing "blind spots" in the Coconino Forest fire detection system--the Sunset Crater area.
It's value has been proven quickly. Since taking over at the lookout, Bedwell has plotted 27 fires--all of which were quickly checked." (Arizona Daily Sun)