Hickory Ridge Fire Tower

Last updated
Hickory Ridge Fire Tower
HickoryRidgeTower.jpg
Hickory Ridge Fire Tower, looking up the South-West corner
Hickory Ridge Fire Tower
General information
Type Fire lookout tower
Location Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area
Coordinates 39°02′05″N86°19′16″W / 39.034817°N 86.321235°W / 39.034817; -86.321235
Construction started1936
Completed1936
Height110 feet (34 meters)
Technical details
Structural systemSteel

The Hickory Ridge Fire Tower is a Fire lookout tower located in the Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area. It is an Aermotors type lookout tower.

Contents

Construction of the tower began in 1936 under the auspices of the Civilian Conservation Corps. [1] It is constructed of steel with a seven-foot square 'cab' on the top [1] where the lookout was posted with various equipment including an alidade device used to help locate the location of fire outbreaks. As constructed, the tower included 123 wooden steps to provide access to the cab [1] Following a refurbishment of the tower, the wooden steps were replaced. Today, there are 133 steel steps. Originally there was a cabin or guard station, a latrine, and a garage built on the site. All but the tower have now been removed. [1]

The tower was staffed during periods of high fire danger for approximately 40 years. During such times, a small team of fire fighters was stationed at the base of the tower to respond to fire reports as needed. [1] Some peak times saw as many as four to five fires per day. One of these fires, one of the largest on record for the area, came within half a mile (800 meters) of the tower before it was stopped. [1] The tower never endured a fire, though it has been struck by lightning.

Manning of the tower ceased in the late 1970s as the need for the tower had been replaced by other technologies. [1] The tower was one of eight located in the Hoosier National Forest, but is now the only tower remaining. It was added to the National Historic Lookout Register in October 1990, the first such tower in Indiana to be listed. [1]

The tower remains open to the public throughout the year as an observation tower.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoosier National Forest</span> United States National Forest in Indiana

The Hoosier National Forest is a property managed by the United States Forest Service in the hills of southern Indiana. Composed of four separate sections, it has a total area of 202,814 acres. Hoosier National Forest's headquarters are located in Bedford, with a regional office in Tell City. Prominent places within the Forest include the Lick Creek Settlement, Potts Creek Rockshelter Archeological Site, and Jacob Rickenbaugh House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Keira</span> Suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

Mount Keira is a suburb and mountain in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunter Mountain (New York)</span> Highest mountain in Greene County, New York, and second highest in the Catskills

Hunter Mountain is in the towns of Hunter and Lexington, just south of the village of Hunter, in Greene County, New York, United States. At approximately 4,040 feet (1,231 m) in elevation, it is the highest peak in the county and the second-highest peak in the Catskill Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beacon Mountain</span> Mountain in New York, United States

Beacon Mountain, locally Mount Beacon, is the highest peak of Hudson Highlands, located south of City of Beacon, New York, in the Town of Fishkill. Its two summits rise above the Hudson River behind the city and can easily be seen from Newburgh across the river and many other places in the region. The more accessible northern peak, at 1,516 feet (462 m) above sea level, has a complex of radio antennas on its summit; the 1,595 feet (486 m) southern summit has a fire lookout tower, which was built in 1931.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fire lookout tower</span> Building to house a person who watches for wildfires

A fire lookout tower, fire tower, or lookout tower is a tower that provides housing and protection for a person known as a "fire lookout", whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit of a mountain or other high vantage point to maximize viewing distance and range, known as view shed. From this vantage point the fire lookout can see smoke that may develop, determine the location by using a device known as an Osborne Fire Finder, and call for wildfire suppression crews. Lookouts also report weather changes and plot the location of lightning strikes during storms. The location of the strike is monitored for a period of days afterwards, in case of ignition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Grace</span>

Mount Grace, 1,617 feet (493 m), is a prominent monadnock located in north central Massachusetts in the town of Warwick, approximately two miles south of the New Hampshire border. The mountain is rugged and largely wooded, but a firetower on the summit provides expansive views of the surrounding rural countryside. Little Mount Grace, 1,226 feet (374 m), is the southern summit of the mountain. Mount Grace supports a predominantly northern hardwood forest as well as stands of red spruce near its summit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunter Mountain Fire Tower</span> Historic fire lookout tower in New York, United States

The Hunter Mountain Fire Tower is located on the summit of the eponymous mountain, second highest of the Catskill Mountains in the U.S. state of New York. It was the first of 23 fire lookout towers built by the state in the region, and the next-to-last of the five still standing to be abandoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massaemett Mountain</span> Mountain in Massachusetts, United States of America

Massaemett Mountain is a mountain in Shelburne, Franklin County, Massachusetts, USA. It is named for a chief of the Pocumtuck tribe, a confederacy of Native Americans who inhabited the region. Part of the Berkshire Mountains, Massaemett lies just east of the village of Shelburne Falls, 7 miles (11 km) west of the county seat of Greenfield, Massachusetts, and 87 miles (140 km) west of Boston. The summit features a historic stone fire tower constructed in 1909. The top cab is not open to the public, however the stairway is kept open and offers views from multiple windows facing the four directions of the compass. From the tower, views include the Berkshires and Taconic Mountains to the west, the Green Mountains of Vermont to the north, Mount Wachusett to the east, and the Holyoke Range to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olson Observation Tower</span> Fire towers in Monongahela National Forest

Olson Observation Tower is one of the few remaining fire towers in Monongahela National Forest. Olson is located at the southern end of Backbone Mountain northeast of Parsons in Tucker County, West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Azure Mountain</span> Mountain in New York, United States

Azure Mountain is a 2,323-foot-tall (708 m) mountain near Blue Mountain Road in the Adirondack Park town of Waverly in Franklin County, New York. Azure Mountain is the site of the Azure Mountain Fire Observation Station, a 35-foot-tall (11 m) steel tower that was built in 1918 and later restored in 2002. The fire tower was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Hill Fire Observation Station</span> United States historic place

The Red Hill Fire Observation Station consists of a fire lookout tower, cabin and pit privy located on the summit of Red Hill, a 2,990-foot (910 m) Catskill Mountain peak in Denning, New York, United States. It is the southernmost fire tower in the Catskill Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balsam Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station</span> Former fire lookout tower in the Catskill Mountains of New York, USA

The Balsam Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station is located at the summit of the mountain of that name in the Town of Hardenburgh, New York, United States. It comprises a steel frame fire lookout tower, the observer's cabin and privy and the jeep road to the complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station</span> United States historic place

The Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station is a historic fire observation station located on the western end of the Loon Lake Mountains west of Loon Lake in Franklin County, New York in the Debar Mountain Wild Forest. The station and contributing resources include a 35-foot-tall (10.7 m), steel-frame lookout tower erected in 1917; it replaced a wooden fire tower that was constructed in 1912. The tower has been unused since 1971, and the stairs have been removed to keep people from climbing it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unity Ranger Station</span> United States historic place

The Unity Ranger Station is a United States Forest Service compound consisting of five buildings and a lookout tower in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest of northeastern Oregon. It was previously the administrative headquarters for the Unity Ranger District. It is located in the small unincorporated community of Unity, Oregon. The historic structures were built in the rustic style by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1936 and 1938. Today, the ranger station is only used during the summer months to house Forest Service fire crews. The ranger station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Lookout</span> United States historic place

Union Lookout is a lookout tower located within Trail of Tears State Forest in Union County, Illinois, United States. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the tower circa 1934 as part of a network of fire lookout towers in Shawnee National Forest; the fire towers were one of many CCC conservation projects in the forest, which also included planting trees, constructing bridges and trails, and preventing erosion. The tower was used through the 1960s, by which time airplanes had largely replaced towers as a means of detecting fires; it is now the only remaining lookout tower in the forest. On February 5, 2003, Union Lookout was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Udell Lookout Tower</span> United States historic place

The Udell Lookout Tower is a fire lookout tower located on Forest Road 5207 in the Manistee section of the Huron-Manistee National Forests, near Wellston, Michigan. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock Rift Fire Observation Tower</span> Historic fire observation station in Delaware County, New York, U.S.

Rock Rift Fire Observation Tower, also known as the Rock Rift Fire Tower, is a historic fire observation station located in the Town of Tompkins, Delaware County, New York. The tower stands at the summit of Tower Mountain at an elevation of 2,376 ft (724 m) and rises above the Cannonsville Reservoir, part of New York City’s extensive water supply system. It was built in 1934 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places # 100003231 in 2018. The Rock Rift Fire Tower is also listed on the National Historic Lookout Register of the Forest Fire Lookout Association. Its listing numbers are US 1183, NY 41. The tower was transferred to the Town of Tompkins from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in 2017. The land that the tower rests on is owned by New York City as part of their West of Hudson Watershed. The tower was decommissioned from active use in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chews Ridge Lookout</span> Fire lookout tower in Los Padres National Forest

The Chews Ridge Lookout is located at the northern end of the Santa Lucia Range of the Los Padres National Forest, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Monterey, California and approximately 30 miles (48 km) west of Highway 101. The current tower was built in 1929 and staffed until around 1990. A volunteer organization began recruiting individuals to staff the tower in 2019. The ridge and tower were named for homesteaders Constantine and Nellie Chew, who patented 315 acres (127 ha) on the ridge in the late 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ojibway Fire Tower</span> United States historic place

The Ojibway Fire Tower is a fire tower located at the junction of Greenstone Ridge and Mt. Ojibway Trails in Isle Royale National Park. The tower was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tower Mountain (New York)</span> Mountain in New York, United States

Tower Mountain is a mountain located in the Catskill Mountains of New York state, east-northeast of Deposit in Delaware County. Speedwell Mountain is located west-southwest of Tower Mountain, Walton Mountain is located north-northeast of it, and Crane Hill is located northeast of Tower Mountain. In 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps built what was known as the Rock Rift Fire Observation Tower on the mountain. The tower ceased fire lookout operations at the end of the 1988 season and was officially closed in early 1989. At the present time the tower is not safe to climb. The first set of steps has been removed to prevent injury. Restoration of the tower is planned by the Town of Tompkins.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 United States Forest Service. "Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower- History" . Retrieved 2007-06-14.