Horseshoe Mountain Patrol Point

Curlew Job Corps Forestry Instructor Jim Beckwith finally found someone interested in the remains of an apparently unrecorded lookout tower that he had found on a small, isolated tract of BLM land northwest of Republic. The Forest Service had no jurisdiction over it, and the BLM seemed to have higher priorities. When Eastern Washington Director Rod Fosback heard about it, he made contact and accompanied Jim and his students to the Horseshoe Mountain site in mid-October.

The remains found on Horseshoe indicate that it was likely a patrol lookout that tied in with the lookout on Bodie Mountain to the north. The evidence on the ground showed that the 20-foot pole tower with its open observation platform had been guyed to the rocks with wire. Rotting stumps told the story of trees cut out of the sight line to Bodie. Other trees around the tower had been topped for a better view; they have grown new tops and are now good-sized. Everyone searched hard for any sign of a cabin or tent site, but had no luck. Number nine phone line with white insulators followed the stock trail to lookout; sighs on the trail had writing with dates back to 1932.