MARYLAND LOOKOUTS
HAMBURG
Frederick County
1926: The Report of the State Department of Forestry, fiscal year 1930, indicates that a 60-foot steel tower was erected and ready for service in 1926.
1930: "The City of Frederick has developed a city water supply in this area and now owns approximately 6,000 acres of forest land on the headwaters of Fishing and Hunting Creeks. This area, while producing a valuable water supply, is to be developed into a commercial forest. The Department of Forestry has been cooperating with the city in an effort to solve the fire problem. Through the cooperative effort the Hamburg Forest Fire Tower has been equipped and is operated for the protection of the city forest and adjacent lands." (State Department of Forestry Report for 1930)
April 15, 1932: "Assistant Forester Walter J. Quick, Jr., in charge of forest protection, announced the appointment of R.H. Wempe, Highfield, Washington County, as towerman on the Hamburg Fire Tower in Frederick county." (The Midland Journal)
July 16, 1932: "While picking huckleberries this week on Catoctin mountain, near the Hamburg fire tower, Mrs. Ella Elliott, Lewistown, killed a large rattlesnake which she noticed in the brush. The snake had seventeen rattles and a button, she said." (Frederick News-Post)