FIRST -- Woman to serve as U.S. Forest Service Lookout - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

Hallie Daggett: Sophisticated Lady and Hardy Pioneer

Hallie Morse Daggett was a refined woman educated in San Francisco, however, her deep love for her childhood home at the Black Bear Mine near Sawyers Bar drew her back to the mountains. She knew how to hunt, fish, ride, trap and shoot early in life – skills that came in handy at the lookout high above the Salmon River.

Hallie was the first woman in the nation to serve as a U.S. Forest Service Fire lookout. She was hired by the Klamath National Forest in 1913 and served at the Eddy Gulch Lookout for 15 years. She was the daughter of John and Alice Daggett, a pioneer family. Her father was a successful miner and also served as California’s Lieutenant Governor and Superintendent of the U.S. Mint in San Francisco.

This rustic home was built in Etna in 1951 on a Main Street lot next to her sister Leslie’s home. She lived in this house until her death in 1964. Her home was donated to the City of Etna by the Rosemary Holsinger family in 1993.

The City of Etna, through a volunteer citizen’s committee, moved the cabin to the city park and developed this historical interpretive site which was completed in 1996. This project was identified in the Etna Community Action plan and was funded by grants from the U.S. Forest Service under President Bill Clinton’s Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative, and from the Ore-Cal Resource Conservation & Development Area. The project was also sponsored by the Native Daughters of the American West.

There is another sign located inside the the cabin and can be read through one of the windows and it reads:

In 1913, Ranger McCarthy of the Klamath National Forest recommended Miss Hallie Daggett as the best qualified for Eddie Gulch fire tower lookout. Hallie, an excellent marksman and absolutely fearless of anything that walked, crept or flew, was hired at a salary of $840 a year, and spent the next 15 years on the job. In her first year, Hallie sighted 40 fires. She reported them so fast that just five acres burned! her boss, Ranger McCarthy, was thrilled. He wrote, "Had one less faithful been the lookout, it might have been 5000 acres. The first woman guardian is a big success." the first woman lookout in the United States. This cabin was Hallie Daggett's home from 1951 to 1964. It was moved to this site from an Etna City Main Street location in 1996 and is furnished similar to how Hallie would have used it when she first moved in.

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