LITTLE'S MOUNTAIN
Washington County - Maine Forest Service
July 25, 1983: "The restoration of Little's Mountain tower by Maine Forest Service this summer marked the second time in 20 years that the structure was refurbished to serve as a fire-lookout station in eastern Washington County.
Forest rangers built new wooden stairs to reach the tower house and planned to replace glass windows in the lookout with plexiglass panels this month. Even before repairs were completed, a lookout was stationed in the tower to watch over the forests, where an extreme fire hazard had existed for several weeks earlier this summer.
Little's Mountain tower was used every summer until 1972, when veteran watchman Guy Cook of Dennysville retired. Then, the duty of fire spotting was taken over by pilots, who were assigned to make surveillance flights over the country several times a day.
The lookout tower, located in Cobscook State Park, was abandoned and allowed to fall to pieces during the next 11 years. Only when the softwood forests began dying because of wide spread spruce-budworm infestation did the Forest Service take a second look at the tower on Little's Mountain.
In August 1963, when Little's Mountain was a key location in the county's network of forest-fire lookouts, rangers made significant changes to the tower. The main problem was that the 32-foot tower did not provide a clear view above the surrounding trees.
Faced with an alternative of extending the tower above the trees or building a new tower at an estimated cost of $10,000, the Forest Service extended the old tower 28 feet by building a new structure right over the old one.
A work crew that included Fire Wardens George Hill and Edward Grant. Forest Patrolman Clyde Madison and Cook took down a radio tower located on the Edmonds branch of the Moosehorn Game and Wildlife Preserve and reassembled the structure over the old wooden tower on Little's Mountain. The new tower, which took about 10 weeks to erect, gave the watchman one of the best vantage points in eastern Washington County.
The 1963 tower improvement project cost about $500.
Cook, who was interviewed before his retirement in 1972, said he could see for 30 miles in all direction on clear days. He reported fires on Grand Manan and Deer Islands in New Brunswick during his 20-year career as tower watchman at Little's Mountain. The worst fires in the area, he said, occurred near Lubec in 1960, and at Centerville in 1965.
At one time there were 25 fire towers scattered around Washington County. After Cook retired and the Little's Mountain tower was de-activated in 1972, only Cooper Mountain tower was kept in service." (Bangor Daily News)
Forest rangers built new wooden stairs to reach the tower house and planned to replace glass windows in the lookout with plexiglass panels this month. Even before repairs were completed, a lookout was stationed in the tower to watch over the forests, where an extreme fire hazard had existed for several weeks earlier this summer.
Little's Mountain tower was used every summer until 1972, when veteran watchman Guy Cook of Dennysville retired. Then, the duty of fire spotting was taken over by pilots, who were assigned to make surveillance flights over the country several times a day.
The lookout tower, located in Cobscook State Park, was abandoned and allowed to fall to pieces during the next 11 years. Only when the softwood forests began dying because of wide spread spruce-budworm infestation did the Forest Service take a second look at the tower on Little's Mountain.
In August 1963, when Little's Mountain was a key location in the county's network of forest-fire lookouts, rangers made significant changes to the tower. The main problem was that the 32-foot tower did not provide a clear view above the surrounding trees.
Faced with an alternative of extending the tower above the trees or building a new tower at an estimated cost of $10,000, the Forest Service extended the old tower 28 feet by building a new structure right over the old one.
A work crew that included Fire Wardens George Hill and Edward Grant. Forest Patrolman Clyde Madison and Cook took down a radio tower located on the Edmonds branch of the Moosehorn Game and Wildlife Preserve and reassembled the structure over the old wooden tower on Little's Mountain. The new tower, which took about 10 weeks to erect, gave the watchman one of the best vantage points in eastern Washington County.
The 1963 tower improvement project cost about $500.
Cook, who was interviewed before his retirement in 1972, said he could see for 30 miles in all direction on clear days. He reported fires on Grand Manan and Deer Islands in New Brunswick during his 20-year career as tower watchman at Little's Mountain. The worst fires in the area, he said, occurred near Lubec in 1960, and at Centerville in 1965.
At one time there were 25 fire towers scattered around Washington County. After Cook retired and the Little's Mountain tower was de-activated in 1972, only Cooper Mountain tower was kept in service." (Bangor Daily News)