PENNSYLVANIA LOOKOUTS
BLUE RIDGE MOUNT DUNLAP
Franklin County
August 4, 1936: "CCC forest workers from E.C.W. Camp S-70, located at the Old Forge near Waynesboro, will erect the steel structure.
Jesse Thompson, state forest fire warden at Blue Ridge Summit, who has been serving as forest fire observer at Mount Dunlap, will be in charge of the new tower." (The Gettysburg Times)
Jesse Thompson, state forest fire warden at Blue Ridge Summit, who has been serving as forest fire observer at Mount Dunlap, will be in charge of the new tower." (The Gettysburg Times)
August 5, 1936: "Increased protection from fire for forest lands in southern Franklin and Adams counties will soon be afforded by a modern 80-foot steel observation tower to be erected near Blue Ridge Summit. According to Henry E. Clepper, state forester at Mont Alto, the new tower has been purchased for this district by the United States forest service from emergency conservation work funds. It will be erected on Mount Dunlap in Washington township, Franklin county. This knob, which had been used by the state forest service as a fire lookout for the last ten years, has an elevation of 1,740 feet." (The Gazette and Daily)
November 2, 1936: "Blue Ridge Summit,-- An 80-foot steel fire observation tower on Mount Dunlap, near here, was completed recently. The knob on which the tower has been constructed has an elevation of 1760 feet. The tower provides the lookout for some 100,000 acres of forest land." (Harrisburg Telegraph)
March 2, 1939: "Mt. Dunlap fire tower is being put in readiness for the spring fire season. Telephone lines have been inspected, underbrush and fallen trees removed, and everything in order for the spring fire season which is close at hand. The tower was manned last spring on March 1." (Waynesboro Record Herald)
March 21, 1939: "Despite near zero weather twenty-five persons visited My. Dunlap fire tower on Sunday." (Waynesboro Record Herald)
April 17, 1939: "C.C.C. boys from Camp No. 70, Old Forge have repaired the road leading to Mt. Dunlap Fire Tower, and it is now ready for visitors, who will go to the tower during the summer." (Waynesboro Record Herald)
October 16, 1939: "Mt. Dunlap Tower was visited by more than seventy-five persons on Sunday who took advantage of this elevation to see the mountains in their autumn beauty.
A caged rattlesnake at Mt. Dunlap tower which had been an attraction to the many visitors during the summer and a worry to Ranger Jesse Thompson's cocker spaniel, was stolen cage and all some time after midnight on Friday, Jesse Thompson, fire warden, who stays in the cabin during the night missed the cage early on Saturday morning. He has no idea by whom or why the reptile was taken." (Waynesboro Record Herald)
December 9, 1939: "After nearly a week of layoff on account of damp weather, Mt. Dunlap fire tower was again manned yesterday. The high winds made the possibility of mountain fire again hazardous." (Waynesboro Record Herald)
November 9, 1945: "A towerman at Mt. Dunlap, near Cascade, Md., discovered a forest fire Wednesday which is said to have destroyed about 75 acres of timberland in the Mt. Alto State Forest along Leaf Road near Deep Hollow. High school students of Quincy, Pa., helped battle the blaze. A few days ago another fire burned over a small section caused by a hunter 'smoking out' a squirrel." (The Morning Herald)
November 2, 1951: "Four Pen Mar youths are in the Franklin County, Pa. jail pending investigation of a series of thefts in the mountain area recently.
Three of the boys--two of whom are 16 and the other two 17--have admitted to police they stole gasoline from the property of R.G. Happel last Sunday and also entered the cottage of the Forestry Department towerman at Mt. Dunlap last week." (The Morning Herald)