MCHENRY
Stone County - Mississippi Forestry Commission
January 22, 1929: "An all steel lookout tower, 93 feet in height, is being completed today beside the Magnolia Highway about a mile north of McHenry in Stone county, and a second all steel lookout tower 102 feet in height will be completed this week in Jackson county about six miles west of Vancleave near the Tom Ramsey place, according to C.E. Kimball, district forester speaking today in Wiggins.
These towers are to be used in the effort to detect forest fires when they are small and through immediate fire fighting responses to extinguish them before they gain headway and destroy the forests.
From the top of the tower at McHenry it is possible for the lookout to see on a clear day the country for a radius of 75 miles. Smokes from Poplarville, Picayune, Gulfport, Wiggins and nearby sections can be seen.
Henry Edwards has been appointed to keep a lookout for smoke and to report to L.O. Bond, the smoke chase who is stationed at the tower, and Mr. Bond in turn with a crew equipped with apparati suitable for fighting fires in forests will quickly go to the place of the fire and prevent its spread.
The two towers have been constructed by the Aermotor Company of Chicago, contractors for the steel work." (Biloxi Daily Herald)
These towers are to be used in the effort to detect forest fires when they are small and through immediate fire fighting responses to extinguish them before they gain headway and destroy the forests.
From the top of the tower at McHenry it is possible for the lookout to see on a clear day the country for a radius of 75 miles. Smokes from Poplarville, Picayune, Gulfport, Wiggins and nearby sections can be seen.
Henry Edwards has been appointed to keep a lookout for smoke and to report to L.O. Bond, the smoke chase who is stationed at the tower, and Mr. Bond in turn with a crew equipped with apparati suitable for fighting fires in forests will quickly go to the place of the fire and prevent its spread.
The two towers have been constructed by the Aermotor Company of Chicago, contractors for the steel work." (Biloxi Daily Herald)
June 26, 1929: "Two new lookout towers were built during the year, the McHenry Tower on No. 49 Highway." (The Greenwood Commonwealth)
July 9, 1929: "A mile above McHenry, alongside the Magnolia Highway and located on the highest point between Gulfport and Mount Olive the forestry department constructed, the early part of this year, a 100-ft steel observation tower. In this tower is a register in which those who stop and go up in the tower are requested to register their names and addresses, and between the dates of March 1 to July 2 of this year there were 963 visitors who went up into the tower and registered, this 963 visitors hailing from the following states: Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, Iowa, Massachusetts, Indiana.
The above, of course, does not include people who stopped and either did not go up into the tower or did not for some reason register." (Sun Herald)