WEST VIRGINIA LOOKOUTS
LICK KNOB
Fayette/Raleigh County
West Virginia Division of Forestry
West Virginia Division of Forestry
1916: "This station is located in Clear Fork District, Raleigh County, almost on the boundary line between that county and Fayette, three miles from Kingston, and is the supervision of J.E. Woodson. The station may be reached on foot from Kingston. The elevation is 3,150 feet and commands an excellent view of the territory in that section. This station was contracted for in the spring of 1916, and was only completed this summer. However, Luther Proffit of Kingston was placed on duty as temporary watchman and patrolman in various directions several times each day. He receives his mail at Kingston, in care of the Solvay Collieries Company, who will phone the message to him within a few minutes.
One and one-half miles of telephone line have been built connecting with the private line of the Solvay Collieries Company at one of their mines. They agreed to relay messages to the local lines until such time as arrangements can be made to connect direct with these lines." (4th Biennial Report of the Forest, Game and Fish Warden)
One and one-half miles of telephone line have been built connecting with the private line of the Solvay Collieries Company at one of their mines. They agreed to relay messages to the local lines until such time as arrangements can be made to connect direct with these lines." (4th Biennial Report of the Forest, Game and Fish Warden)
June 1921: "On May 10, 1921. the Lookout Station on Lick Knob, was completed and it is now in operation. This work has been accomplished largely through the active and earnest cooperation of public spirited citizens of the State with the forest officers, in their efforts to further forest protection. E.N. Wriston is in charge of the Lookout Station under direction of C.W. Harding, Forest Fire Warden." (American Forestry)
April 9, 1926: "A reward of $500 has been offered by the state game and fish commission for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who destroyed the Lick Knob forest fire tower at Kingston, Fayette county. This action was taken by the commission at its meeting last week but was not announced until today.
During the winter when the forest fire hazard is slight the Lick Knob tower is not occupied. That it had been chopped down was not learned until recently when E.N. Wristen, district fire warden, visited the scene and found a mass of wreckage marking the site of the old tower. Since then an investigation has been under way but without result.
Construction of a 60-foot steel tower may be authorized by the commission at its next meeting, it was said today at the office of the commission." (Charleston Daily Mail)
October 10, 1926: "The Lick Knob tower near Kingston, also in Fayette County is connected with the Oak Hill central office." (Telephone service) (Charleston Gazette)
November 28, 1943: "An incident beautiful in what it symbolized occurred Thanksgiving day at the Lick Knob forest fire lookout tower near Kingston.
That afternoon about 3 o'clock an airplane soared over the tower, which extends upward to 3,150 feet above the sea, and the observer there, Ira Sowder, saw a package come tumbling toward the tower. Of course, since this is the heart of America, it wasn't a bomb he saw falling. It was a package of roofing, intended to shelter human heads instead of destroy them.
Herbert L. Sessler, manager of Scott Field, and Claud Sowder, of Glen Rogers, son of the observer, were aboard the plane, and they took the roofing by air because getting it in by trail from Kingston or Pax would have been a great ordeal.
Observer Sowder, impressed by the incident, set down some of his thoughts about it, and we are indebted to him for the privilege of reproducing:
'Thanksgiving day. About 20 visitors. Herb Sessler delivered me a roll of roofing by plane. My son, Claud Sowder, rode with him and 'laid the egg'. It looked like a bomb dropped out. I was glad to get it from above. It would have been hard to have carried it in from Kingston or Pax. We are going to get him to bring us some paint right away. We really thank Mr. Sessler for this cooperation. I wanted Mr. Trump and Mr. Wriston to take the trip with the freight, but they were tied up on account of fires. They had several fires on Thanksgiving day.
'The plane really looked good from my tower, which is 3,150 feet above sea level, 710 feet above Beckley, and I can see fires over four counties.' " (Raleigh Register)
November 28, 1943: "The observer and his son, who operates the Dixon Motor company, at Glen Rogers, built a windmill at the Lick Knob tower which furnishes power to generate electricity for lights and a radio receiving set. Both father and son are adept at mechanics; in fact during the periods when he is not on duty as an observer the father often works with the son in the garage at Glen Rogers." (Raleigh Register)
June 24, 1985: "Life in a fire tower isn't recommended for the fainthearted or the gregarious.
But it seems to agree with Lawrence Harris, who's been manning the 50-foot tower atop his 3,250-foot ridge for the past 12 years. The ridge is in the heart of the coal country of southern West Virginia." (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)