LOWER YODER
Pennsylvania - Cambria County
July 18, 1921: "According to the report of District Forester Walter D. Ludwig of Johnstown to the State Department of Forestry. Erection of the first tower in Lower Yoder township on the property of Attorney F.P. Martin of Johnstown will be rushed to completion as rapidly as possible. A telephone line will also be run to each tower so that the towerman can notify fire wardens promptly at the first indication of flames." (Indiana Evening Gazette)
August 1921: "Maj. R.Y. Stuart, Deputy Commissioner of Forestry, has announced that 25 sites have been definitely fixed for forest fore observation towers that will be erected by the Department of Forestry this summer. Orders for 50 towers have been placed with the manufacturers. One of the first 18 towers will be put up at Lower Yoder, Cambria county." (Forest Leaves, Vol. 18)
August 1921: "Maj. R.Y. Stuart, Deputy Commissioner of Forestry, has announced that 25 sites have been definitely fixed for forest fore observation towers that will be erected by the Department of Forestry this summer. Orders for 50 towers have been placed with the manufacturers. One of the first 18 towers will be put up at Lower Yoder, Cambria county." (Forest Leaves, Vol. 18)
August 5, 1921: "Lower Yoder Fire Observation tower, 60 feet high, situated on the highest point in the Johnstown section, at an elevation of over 2700 feet, and commanding a view of more than 20 miles has been completed.
The tower is the first of four to be built in the Gallitzin district. Other towers will be located near Chickaree and St. Lawrence in Cambria county and one near Highland Fling, Blair county. Work on Tower No. 2, near Chickaree, started today." (Lebanon Daily News)
October 21, 1921: "The first call of the season from the towers came into the Johnstown office from Towerman John Vasil, Jr., on the Lower Yoder tower shortly after noon last Saturday. Fire Boss Jonathan Llewellyn of the Moxham district was notified at once and while his investigation showed that this smoke did not come from a real forest fire, yet it indicated that such fires will be attacked within an hour after they are discovered and the area burned over kept down to the minimum." (The Indiana Gazette)
June 1, 1939: The tower at Lower Yoder has been raised in height from sixty-feet to eighty-six feet. (The Wellsboro Agitator)