During the summers of 1999 and 2000, the National Park Service will rehabilitate the historic Watchman Fire Lookout and Trailside Museum. Onsite work will begin about August 1st and continue through the end of September both years. Visitors who hike the 0.75 mile (1.2 km) trail to the top of Watchman Peak will be able to observe National Park Service employees, skilled in preservation techniques, treat and repair or replace the old structure's woodwork, metalwork, and stonework.

It will take two summers to rehabilitate the Watchman. Winter snows at Crater Lake National Park begin in late September and end in late June. Snow remains on the higher elevations until about August 1st. We have snowfree access to perform work at the top of Watchman Peak for only about eight weeks each year. The project focuses on restoring the Watchman to its early 1930s appearance. The restoration work is based on the original construction drawings from 1931. Work during 1999 includes restoring the balcony surrounding the observation deck, the exterior stairway, and the roof of the museum. During 2000, work will focus on rehabilitating the exterior of the observation deck, and the interiors of the observation rooms. Repairs will also be made to the structure's masonry. The rehabilitated observation room will allow continued use of the Watchman as a modern fire lookout station.

The Watchman Fire Lookout, circa 1935

The Watchman rehabilitation project is a cooperative effort involving several branches of the National Park Service. Crater Lake National Park is coordinating funding, local support services, and required National Environmental Policy Act documentation. The Historic Preservation Training Center in Maryland is providing the onsite management, supervision, and preservation specialists for the work on the Watchman. The design and construction office, Denver Service Center, is providing design and engineering support. The Harpers Ferry Design Center in West Virginia is planning, designing, and overseeing the construction and installation of the interpretive exhibits for the Trailside Museum. The Columbia Cascades Support Office in Seattle is assisting with the technical advice for the project, and for a new photovoltaic electrical system that will be installed on the Watchman to provide power to the radio repeater located inside the facility.

The rehabilitation project will also provide an opportunity to train nearly twenty National Park Service employees in historic preservation techniques. Historic Preservation Training Center specialists will server as teachers. Every two weeks, three new trainees from Crater Lake and other national parks will work onsite with the team of professional preservation specialists. After successfully completing the training session, the trainees will be able to apply their new skills on historic structures at their home parks.

Park visitors are directly involved with the funding to rehabilitate the Watchman. This project is part of the park's Recreational Fee Demonstration Program. The estimated $430,000 needed to complete the project is available from entrance fees. The rehabilitation project will help preserve and protect on of the park's historic resources. When work is completed, visitors can again enjoy the magnificent views of Crater Lake and the Cascade Range from the Lookout's balcony, and will be able to explore the new interpretive exhibits about the park's forests and wildland fire management program at the Trailside Museum.

Watchman Peak

Towering 8,013 feet (2442 meters) above sea level and 1,837 feet (560 meters) above the surface of Crater Lake, Watchman Peak is one of the highest points on the rim of he caldera. It's a significant landmark that played a role in the first attempt to learn the depth of the deepest lake in the United States. In 1886, scientists measured the lake's depth by lowering a calibrated piano wire with a weight on the end. Readings were made from a boat at various lake surface locations. Watchman Peak was one of the two fixed points necessary to triangulate the boat's position on the lake. This method, although crude by today's standards, indicated a maximum depth of 1,996 feet (608) meters in the lake's northeast basin. Using sonar in 1958, scientists were able to calculate a more accurate maximum depth of 1,932 feet (589 meters), a difference of only 64 feet (19 meters) from the 1886 measurement!

The Watchman Fire Lookout and Trailside Museum

The Watchman Fire Lookout and Trailside Museum is located on top of Watchman Peak, 8013 feet (2442 meters) above seal level. It is an ideal site from which to view Crater Lake, and to locate or track wildland fires inside the park and the surrounding National Forests. The facility was built in 1931-32 in the Cascadian Rustic style. This style incorporates large native lava boulders and heavy wooden beams into an attractive structure that blends into the majestic scenery of Crater Lake National Park. Historically, the Trailside Museum, attached to the lower section of the tower, has housed interpretive exhibits about the park's forests and wildland fire suppression. The Watchman Fire Lookout and Trailside Museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.