MARYLAND LOOKOUTS
DAN'S ROCK
Allegany County
November 11, 1912: "Lookout stations for the forest fire protection service in Allegany county have been established on St. John's Rock and Dan's Mountain, near Frostburg, two elevations from which a view of the mountain forests can be obtained for many miles in all directions." (Evening Times)
1921: "A new lookout station at Dan's Rock, Allegany County, was completed in the spring of 1921." (State Board of Forestry Report for 1920 and 1921)
1921: "The Consolidated Coal Company, the George's Creek Coal Company, and the North Maryland Coal Company entered into a cooperative agreement with the State Board of Forestry, whereby the four should equally share in the cost of the erection and maintenance of a lookout station at Dan's Rock on Dan's Mountain. This station was put in operation in April, 1921, and gives promise of rendering efficient fire protection service to the George's Creek Valley." (State Board of Forestry Report for 1920 and 1921)
January 14, 1921: "As the result of a visit to Dan's Rock yesterday by Assistant Forester J.A. Cope, in company with Eugene Bowers, local manager for the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company, the final details of the plan for giving better forest fire protection to Western Allegany county and Big Savage mountain in Garrett county were arranged. A telephone line will be constructed to the top of Dan's mountain, a station erected at that point and a lookout watchman will be on duty there during the dangerous fire season of spring and fall.
The funds for this work are being contributed jointly by the Consolidation Coal Company, the Georges Creek Coal Company, the Western Maryland Coal Company and the State Board of Forestry. This is the first of an extensive series of steps whereby the forestry department is planning to cut down the enormous destruction to forests caused every year by fires in this section of Maryland." (Cumberland Evening Times)
March 26, 1921: "State Forester F.W. Besley and Assistant Forester J.A. Cope, in charge of fire protection, will be in Cumberland on Tuesday, April 5 in conference with the forest wardens of the county.
Special invitations have been sent to the County Commissioners, the State's Attorney, and the County Agent, but interest in the protection of the forests from fire makes any one eligible to attend.
Of special interest to Allegany county mountains will be the report on co-operation in fire protection with the Consolidation Coal Company, the Georges Creek Coal Company, and the North Maryland Coal and Coke Company for the erection of a lookout station on Dan's Mountain." (Cumberland Evening Times)
1929: "In April 1929, a 15-foot tower was erected on Dan's Rock in Allegany County. Previous to the erection of the tower a lookout had been stationed at the Rock for five or more years. While the view from from the Rock itself is sufficiently broad to justify maintaining a station at this point, the fact that the lookout had no station to protect him from the weather, and was required to climb up and down the rough sides of the peak in order to telephone, made arrangement rather unsatisfactory. The new tower is similar to other forest fire lookout towers used in the State, except for its height. The house has greatly increased the efficiency of reporting fires from this station." (State Department of Forestry Report for 1929)
October 23, 1929: "Dan's Rock, for generations a mecca for view seekers and lovers of landscape, has been recently put to a more utilitarian purpose. A fifteen-foot steel observation tower has been erected on the summit of the promontory and the State Department of Forestry now uses the favorite picnic spot as a vantage point in discovering and checking forest fires.
During the spring and fall seasons when fires are most likely to occur a watchman is on duty and covers the 200-mile area visible with powerful glasses. At the first trace of smoke the lookout telephones the fire warden nearest the supposed spot and he in return telephones the deputy fire wardens living near. The blaze thus receives the earliest possible attention and much valuable timber is saved.
District Forester H.C. Buckingham says that since the erection of the tower the area burned per fire has been materially reduced." (Cumberland Evening Times)
May 13, 1939: "A sassy forest fire yesterday burned right up to the base of the lookout tower on Dan's Rock. District Forest Warden Urner Wigfield reported.
The fire also burned over thirty acres before it was brought under control by a local crew. The fire was sighted by Towerman Fred Meyers when it was half a mile away, but a brisk breeze was blowing and the crew had to fight most of the day to check the blaze." (The Cumberland News)
August 4, 1945: "Completion of a new tower at Dan's Rock was announced yesterday by District Forester William H. Johnson who said that the new 60-foot steel tower eliminated blind spots in observation along Dan's Mountain that existed with the former 15-foot structure." (The Cumberland News)