Sequoia National Forest
February 11, 1936: "A crew of 25 men in charge of Telephone Foreman Buck Evans was sent from Camp Fulton to Isabella for the purpose of building a telephone line to Cook Peak, where a new lookout is to be built in the near future." (Bakersfield Californian)
June 26, 1942: "The fire was first spotted by forest service lookouts on Cook Peak at 12:50 o'clock on Friday of last week. Weather conditions at that time were extremely unfavorable, causing the fire to spread with great rapidity. Twelve thousand acres were burned that first night and great runs continued on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday afternoon, when a reconnaissance was made by plane by Supervisor Norris, smoke clouds boiling thousands of feet in the air covered the entire eastern portion of the fire.
The Cook Peak lookout, manned by Cliff Harrington and Robert Crain, was finally encircled and swept by flames. The men stuck to their posts throughout and were not injured. No damage was done to the twenty five foot steel tower and house." (The Fresno The Republican)
July 29, 1947: "Claude Stewart of Porterville, who has been a lookout on Cook's Peak in the Sequoia National Forest for four years, reported to forest service headquarters here yesterday he sighted a California condor flying south about 100 feet from the lookout station, which is at an elevation of 5,200 feet.
Stewart followed the condor with his glasses and believes it was headed for the Los Padres National Forest in the Santa Barbara country, apparently the only location where the almost extinct great birds are to be found in the United States.
Stewart said the condor had a wing spread of between nine and ten feet, and it was the first of the species he had ever seen." (Fresno Bee)
October 25, 1952: "The crows of Tobias Peak—peerless prognosticators of meteorological phenomena-- have given the sign; rain will fall in the mountains next week, thereby ending the fire season and bringing joy to all and sundry.
The latest word on the burblings of the birds comes by wireless from Mrs. Helen King, U.S. Forest Service lookout on Cook's Peak. Things sometimes get a little slow on top of a lookout tower, so Mrs. King has fun being a bird watcher.
Because of Mrs. Kings persistent bird-watching, a small legend has sprung up—to the effect that the rains always come just five weeks after the crows pick up their feet and fly away. They always head southeastward, but no one has ever seen them land. Maybe they just keep flapping around.
There was a dark suspicion, some weeks ago, about the honesty of the crows but, Mrs. King reports happily, everything is all right now and the birds have flown. The crows, probably just trying to be funny, flew away one day early in September. This was strictly against the rules, and Mrs. King was flabbergasted.
'Another illusion,' she thought, 'has been busted.' But five days later they all returned, cackling and smirking at their joke.
Now they've gone again, this time for the season. Only a few local crows are left, unadventurous, unimaginative stick-in-the-mud birds that don't care whether it rains or not.
So—you'd better carry your slicker next week." (Bakersfield Californian)
July 1, 1968: "A grass and scrub oak fire that burned over 980 acres near Lake Isabella, 50 miles east of Bakersfield, was contained Sunday night.
Cook's Peak lookout station was abandoned and a small cabin, a boat and some sheds were burned." (The Times-Standard)