OHIO LOOKOUTS
COPPERHEAD HILL
Scioto County
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
July 26, 1924: "A steel fire tower with observation room sixty feet high has been ordered by the state forestry department according to B.R. Lette, assistant forester and will be placed on the state forest at the Roosevelt game preserve in the near future. It will be used to protect both the state forest and the refuge and practically all the woods of the western half of the county. A telephone line is already being built from Lombardville to connect the tower with the ranger station there. Other towers will be secured later, Mr. Lette said." (Portsmouth Daily Times)
September 25, 1924: "Rising on the top of a high hill at the head of Bear's Meat Branch of Harbert's Fork near here is a 60-foot steel fire tower, the latest equipment for state wardens in Western Scioto County to detect forest fires. The tower was delivered in August.
The hill on which the tower was installed is 1300 feet above sea level and it was placed in that position principally to afford protection for both the state forest on which it stands and the Roosevelt Game Preserve, which is close by. Thousands of acres, in addition, in western Scioto County will be well controlled from this observation point. A telephone line from the state forest headquarters at Pine Flat to the tower site is well under way, and another line will doubtless be constructed at an early date on down to the lodge on the Game Preserve." (Lancaster Eagle-Gazette)
November 1924: "Firewardens will be particularly interested to learn that a 60-foot steel fire lookout tower equipped with stairs and an observation cabin at the top has been erected on a high hill at the head of Bear's Nest Branch of Herbert's Fork about two miles north of the Game Preserve Lodge. The tower will give excellent protection to both the state forest on which it stands and to the Roosevelt Game Preserve which is close by. Ohio Service Bulletin" (The Forest Worker)
October 27, 1934: "The Copperhead Hill Tower, the oldest in the system, built in 1924 will be manned by James Morgan and his substitute, Isom Morgan. This tower and the Twin Creek Tower are on the large Shawnee State Forest of 35,000 acres." (Chillicothe Gazette)
October 7, 1948: "A short-wave radio system is being installed in Shawnee forest, West Side, to aid in fire control.
A short-wave station will be set up in Copperhead fire tower on top of a high hill between routes 125 and 73." (Portsmouth Times)