NYS – ADIRONDACK FIRE TOWER HISTORY
In the late 19th and
early 20th century, fires raged out of control in many of New York
State’s vast wooded areas. The years 1903 and 1908 were
particularly disastrous (nearly 1 million acres of forest were consumed
by fire) and the public cried for protection from the
devastation. Late spring and early summer of 1903 saw 643 fires
burn approximately 428,180 acres in the Adirondacks and more than
36,000 acres in the Catskills. From 1904 through 1908, 1,172
fires burned around 393,647 additional acres in both the Adirondack and
Catskill Forest Preserves. In response, the state began a
rigorous, and ultimately successful, fire prevention program, including
the building of fire towers. The system of fire
wardens was replaced by fire patrols, fire towers, and regulations
regarding the railroads and the logging industry. The governor
was empowered to close the forests when the risk of fire was
high. The NYS Conservation Department followed Maine’s lead in
establishing a series of observer stations and hiring observers.
(Some private owners of large forest tracts also built wooden
observation stations.) The early state fire towers in the Adirondacks, made of logs and trees, were constructed beginning in 1909 with the first being erected on Mount Morris near Tupper Lake (Franklin County), West (Hamilton), Gore (Warren), Snowy (Hamilton) and Hamilton (Hamilton) mountains. An open platform was constructed on the top for the observer who searched for smoke. Each tower was equipped with a telephone, a map and a telescope. When smoke was sighted, the observer would call the ranger and tell him the location of the fire. This enabled the forest ranger and fire wardens to get to the location of a fire at its beginning stages. In the following year (1910), ten more stations were established on the following mountains in the Adirondacks: Cathead (Hamilton), Beaver Lake (Herkimer), Fort Noble (Herkimer), Prospect (Warren), Hurricane (Essex), Moosehead (St. Lawrence), Pharaoh (Essex), Lyon (Clinton), St. Regis (Franklin), and Cat (St. Lawrence) mountains. The state continued to build wooden fire towers in 1911. Forty-nine fire tower stations had been constructed by 1912; the number was to increase steadily as their role in the early detection of fires was perceived to be working. The observers lived in tents and were paid about $50 a month salary. At first they were issued tents but that lasted only two years. Wooden cabins were then built on the mountains for the observers. By the end of 1912, thirty-two of the fire tower stations had cabins. In 1912 these fire towers were established: Moose River, Rondaxe, and Stillwater were built in Herkimer County; Adams, Belfy, Poke-O- Moonshine in Essex County; DeBar and Loon Lake in Franklin County and Swede in Warren County. Tooley Pond (St. Lawrence) and Azure (Franklin) were the last two fire lookouts built of wood. The log structures were gradually replaced with steel towers that came with interchangeable parts. In 1916 the State Conservation Department realized that the wooden towers would not last and they purchased ten towers built of steel. The windmill towers built by the Aermotor Company in Chicago, originally designed to pump water from wells, were adapted for fire observation use. State coverage of the Forest Preserve in the Adirondacks and Catskills continued to expand. Towers were established on Goodnow (1922-Essex), Kane (1926-Fulton) and Spruce (1928-Saratoga). With the fire towers, a full-time force of Forest Rangers and Fire Observers was established. The number of serious fires in the Adirondacks and statewide dropped dramatically as fire towers went up and communications improved.  It was generally the Forest Ranger force that provided the labor to erect the fire towers. Forest Ranger, Albert Tebeau, from Owls Head supervised the erection of the towers statewide. These steel towers cost about $530; this did not include labor. Starting in 1918, circular map tables properly oriented were fastened to the floor of each tower cab. An alidade-type sighting device called an Osborne Fire Finder was attached to each map table enabling the Fire Observer to more accurately locate fires. The years 1916–1945 were ones of expansion for the NYS fire tower program. Durable steel towers continued to be placed on mountain summits and trails were improved. The towers ranged in height from 40’ to 70’ with a 7’ x 7’ galvanized cab at the top of each tower to protect the observer from the elements. Except in winter, the observer spent the daylight hours in the cab searching for plumes of smoke, first by eye, then honing in on the fire with binoculars. When a fire was spotted, the Observer contacted the Forest Ranger by telephone. The Ranger then located the fire on the ground and contacted men to help him fight the fire. Observer stations became favorite destinations for hikers and each station maintained a register log for visitors to sign. The Fire Observer, in addition to his role in fire prevention and protection, became a public educator of the “outdoors” as ever greater numbers of hikers climbed the mountains and visited the Observer in his tower cab. Often an American flag flew from the tower when the Observer was on duty. By the early 1970’s, a new way of spotting forest fires was introduced –surveillance from aircraft—and it soon made fire observation towers obsolete. For sixty years this fire fighting system had been successful; an era was about to end. The state reduced the number of fire towers statewide from 102 to 39. Twenty-three aerial contracts were let out for bids. Three Adirondack pilots awarded contracts would make specific flights when the weather was dry, hot and windy. Aerial surveillance itself was abandoned in 1986 because communications improvements made them unnecessary. In 1990, St. Regis, Blue, Bald (Rondaxe) and Hadley mountain fire towers were the last towers to be closed. Some of the closed towers were removed. Others abandoned by the state were vandalized. Often the lower stairs were removed to discourage climbing and to prevent injury.  There have been 120 fire towers throughout NYS at one time or another with 57 of them located within the Adirondack Park. Today there are presently 23 fire towers within the Adirondack Park available to the hiking public. (Some towers still remain on private land; therefore closed to the public.) Many of these remaining towers are not safe to climb, though with the formation of fire tower friends groups, a number have been restored; others may be restored as new friends groups continue to form. A new age has indeed dawned for these historic towers as their important role in state and regional history has recently come to be recognized and appreciated. Towers not restored to a safe state will ultimately be disassembled and removed from their mountain tops by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). In 1993, the tower on Goodnow Mountain was the first to be restored followed by the Kane Mountain tower. The Blue Mountain tower was restored in 1994, Hadley Mountain (1995), Poko-O-Moonshine (1996), Mount Arab (1997), Belfry Mountain (1999), and Cathedral Rock in 2000 (former Tooley Pond Mountain tower). The DEC restored the Snowy mountain tower in summer 2001. The Azure Mountain tower was made safe for climbing in 2002. Recently formed Adirondack Friends groups are working to restore towers on Owls Head, Vanderwhacker, and Bald (Rondaxe) Mountains. This is an exciting time for the fire tower restoration movement in the Adirondacks. All five of the remaining fire towers in the Catskill Park have been restored. Towers on St. Regis and Hurricane Mountains are slated for removal in 2003 as their land classifications make them “non-conforming” structures according to the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan. Sources: Adirondack Fire Towers Their History and Lore – The Southern Districts by Martin Podskoch Purple Mountain Press (available June 2003) Views from on High Fire Tower Trails in the Adirondacks and Catskills by John P. Freeman with Wesley H. Haynes Adirondack Mountain Club (2001) Overlook Mountain Fire Tower Interpreter Guide April 23, 2001 |