NEW JERSEY LOOKOUTS

CATFISH

Warren County

June 5, 1922:  "It has been decided to locate the new steel fire tower on the summit of the Blue Mountain half way between the Millbrook road and the Catfish pond.  A telephone line will be built from the tower either to Jacksonburg on trees or to Blairstown, by way of Franklin Grove, on poles to be furnished by the residents of Hardwick."  (Easton Free Press - Pennsylvania)

July 19, 1922:   "The state department of conservation and development today announced the opening near Catfish pond, Warren county, of a new fire tower on Kittatinny mountain.  It is sixty feet high and situated about five miles west of Blairstown on the Blairstown-Millbrook road.  Watchers from the tower can see beyond the Delaware Water Gap well into Monroe and Pike counties, Pa., and also overlook the wooded ridges surrounding Lake Hopatcong.  The entire Paulins  Kill valley will likewise be under observation."   (Asbury Park Press)

July 20, 1922:   "The last link in the chain of forest fire lookout towers guarding Kittatinny Mountain has been completed with the opening of a new 60-foot steel tower near Catfish Pond, Warren County."   (Daily News)

FY 1923:  "On Kittatinny Mountain at a point about 7 miles west of Blairstown, Warren County, a 60 foot steel tower and a connecting telephone line have been completed.  The 8-mile telephone connection is all new line, opening up telephone services not only to the tower but to a considerable area which otherwise would remain without telephone service.  Because of the mutual advantage to the Forest Fire Service and the local people, the Department paying about one-half of the total cost.  The expenditure by the Department for this and for the tower were paid from Federal funds.  This telephone construction, with its possibility of extension over the mountain where there is still a decided need for such a service, is one of the most important pieces of cooperation for forest fire protection yet achieved in the State."  (Annual Report - Department of Conservation and Development, 1922-23)

August 18, 1924:   "Up to Saturday the new steel fire tower of the New Jersey Department of Conservation and Development on the summit of the Blue Mountain had been visited by 245 persons, making a total of 1023 since the tower was erected in 1922.  Norman Maring is employed as watchman to look out for forest fires in that area."  (Easton Free Press)