MAINE
1967-68: "The Dill Ridge tower has been moved to Almanac Mountain. The Watchman's camp at Dill Ridge and the old storehouse and land at Lee have been sold." (37th Biennial Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1913: This site established as a lookout station.
1917: A 48-foot steel tower partly erected and to be completed in 1918. (1917 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1918: The construction of the tower completed.
1920: Inventory shows a 24-foot steel tower.
1917: "Ralph Wing, Dead River, Chief Warden, Kennebec Watershed: A steel tower 50 feet high has been erected on Flagstaff Mountain to take place of the wooden one which will make a great improvement for that section of the country." (Forest Protection and Conservation in Maine)
1920: Inventory shows a 48-foot steel tower.
1913: This site established as a lookout, two fires reported from this station.
1913: "Matagamon Mt. station built; a good camp at the foot of the mountain and a new telephone line to Trout Brook Farm." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1915: A 12-foot steel tower erected. (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1913: This site established as a lookout station.
1920: A 48-foot steel tower was erected on the west peak, the station was formerly on the east peak. (Forest Commissioner's Annual Report, 1920)
HEDGEHOG MOUNTAIN (Twp 11)
1914: "On Hedgehog Mountain, Township 11, R. 4, a temporary lookout tower of wood has been constructed, connecting the tower by three miles of wire with the New England Telephone Co., on the West Chapman road, and giving thereby the man on the mountain telephone connection with Ashland, Mapleton and Presque Isle." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
c.1940: Tower erected. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1944: "In the fall of 1944 a new 65' wooden-modern steel ring connector tower was erected on High Cut Hill in Garland, Penobscot County." (Twenty-Fifth Biennial Report of the Forest Commissioner - 1943-44)
c.1960: Tower torn down. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
HINCKLEY'S BLUFF
Somerset County
1914: A lookout station established.
HORSESHOE MOUNTAIN
Aroostook County - Maine Forestry District
HOWE BROOK
Aroostook County - Maine Forestry District
1913: This site established as a lookout station.
1914: "The line from Joe Mary Mountain to the head of Pemaduncook Lake has been repaired and fixed, which was almost the same as running a new line. One mile of new wire has been added to this line." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1915: "A cabin for the watchman was built on Jo Mary Mountain. Three miles of new wire was put in in repairing the telephone line." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1916: "We built a camp on the summit of Jo Mary Mountain and put telephone in same. As the telephone line to this station did not work well on account of running close to another line from Norcross to Perkins Siding we set this back into the woods and have had a good working line since." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
JOHNSTON HILL
Lincoln County
1913: This site established as a lookout station.
1915: "Five miles of wire with insulators, iron rods for uprights, hammers and drills have been bought for the construction of the telephone line to the top of Katahdin." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1943: "A new three mile metallic pole line was constructed in 1943 from the S.D. Warren storehouse in Brighton to the top of Kelley Mt." (Twenty-Fifth Biennial Report of the Forest Commissioner - 1943-44)
1914: "Have kept a man for lookout purposes on Lawler Hill at which place we already have the material with which to erect a steel tower in the spring of 1915." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1915: A 48-foot steel tower constructed. (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
May 25, 1935: "60 foot tower" (The Lewiston Daily Sun)
1915: "During wet weather built lookout and camp on Mattagamon Mt., locating the same on the highest peak. The old station was not on the highest point. This was accomplished without any extra expense to the State. New cabin about a quarter mile from the tower, located near good spring water and wagon road. The old cabin is now used to store tools, etc. The new Mattagamon station overlooked the territory of the Black Brook which had been burned." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1917: A 16-foot steel tower completed. (1917 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
MATTAMISCONTIS MOUNTAIN #51
Penobscot County - Maine Forestry District
1914: "Lookout station established on Mattamiscontis Mountain, and erected a log camp placing it upon a rock foundation and using such material as would warrant its permanent use, and connecting it with the outside world by telephone, via, Cedar Lake, Ingalls, West Seboeis and Brownville Telephone Company, a distance of eight miles. This mountain is located near the Range line between the eighth and ninth Ranges, N.W.P. and Townships two and three in those ranges, and overlooks a very large area which heretofore has been unprotected. This station is not completed; there is a forty-eight foot steel tower designed for this station and which has been taken to the place of erection together with the portable house." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1917: A 48-foot steel tower constructed. (1917 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1920: Inventory shows a 48-foot steel tower.
McLAIN MOUNTAIN
Washington County - Maine Forestry District
MITCHELL MOUNTAIN #61
Aroostook County - Maine Forestry District
1918: A 36 foot tall wood enclosed tower and cab constructed. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1919: "In regard to the lookout stations, I have pone in my district, completed this season, 1919, and the observation from the lookout covers a very large territory; its location is on Mitchell Mountain in the town of Haynesville, Aroostook County, Maine.:" (Forest Protection and Conservation in Maine, 1919)
January 20, 1920: (1919) "One lookout station was completed on my district the past season, and the observation from the lookout covers a large area. Its location is on Mitchell Mountain in the town of Haynesville, Aroostook county." (Daily Kennebec Journal) (Fire Warden Report)
1920: Inventory indicates a 30-foot wood tower.
1927: A 36 foot steel tower with cab erected. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
MITTENS MOUNTAIN
Washington County
MULCALSEA MOUNTAIN #40
Somerset County - Maine Forestry District
1913: This site established as a lookout station.
MUSQUASH MOUNTAIN #38
Washington County - Maine Forestry District
1913: This site established as a lookout station.
1914: "This season the tall trees which obstructed the view on Musquash Mountain were cut down, a regular observation house built, the tower painted and new maps and tables furnished for same." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1920: Inventory shows a 36-foot wood tower.
1914: Established with a 60 foot steel tower. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1914: "During the past season a lookout station was established on Nulhedus Mountain, where a sixty foot steel tower was erected; this mountain is near the North line of Township 4, Range 17. The telephone for this station is in the house on top of tower." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1920: Inventory shows a 60-foot steel tower.
1913: This site first established as a lookout station.
May 25, 1935: "48 foot tower" (The Lewiston Daily Sun)
1933: "A 47-foot steel tower with stairs was erected on No. 5 Mountain and put in use in the spring of 1933. This tower supplants the old Sally Mountain tower. It has an extensive view of the entire Moose River valley from Long Lake to the International border." (Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner of the State of Maine)
May 25, 1935: "47 foot tower" (The Lewiston Daily Sun)
1914: Established with a wood tower. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1914: "A lookout station was established on No. 9 Mountain, Township 9, Range 3, and two lines of telephone built from there. One leading to Howe Brook about 14 miles, and the other leading to Harvey's Siding about 16 miles." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1915: The tower replaced by a log crib tower with a cab. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1915: "On No. 9 or Bald Mountain new wooden lookout erected and new camp built also trees cleared from summit." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1918: Materials were purchased for a tower to be erected in 1919. (1918 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1919: A 36 foot steel tower with cab erected. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
August 9, 1919: "Steel towers added this season: No. Nine mountain, D range 2, Aroostook county, 12 feet high." (Daily Kennebec Journal)
1920: Inventory shows a 36-foot steel tower.
1959: In the Fall the tower was abandoned, the duties taken up the following year at Speckled Mountain.
1911-12: Established with a wood tower. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1918: A 48 foot steel tower erected. (1918 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1920: Inventory shows a 48-foot steel tower.
1959: Listed as an auxiliary lookout.
Auxiliary Lookout
1918: Materials purchased for the erection of the tower in 1919. (1918 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1919: A 36 foot steel tower erected. (Forest Protection and Conservation in Maine)
August 9, 1919: "Steel towers added this season: Passadumkeag mountain, at Grand Falls, Penobscot county, 36 feet high." (Daily Kennebec Journal)
1919: "For improvements we have erected a new steel tower, 39 feet high, erected on Passadumkeag Mountain on Grand Falls Plantation with new cabin three-quarters of a mile from tower, furnished with spring bed and mattress and everything necessary for the comfort of the watchman." (Forest Protection and Conservation in Maine, 1919)
1920: Inventory shows a 36-foot steel tower.
1916: The lookout established.
1920: Inventory indicates no improvements.
May 25, 1935: "60 foot tower" (The Lewiston Daily Sun)
December 14, 1939: "An interesting point for visitors in Vanceboro is the 65-foot lookout tower on Pirate Hill near Lambert Lake. Visitors reach the tower by a 20-minute walk on a good trail starting north of the school building. The elevation is 985 feet, and there is an unbroken view of much of Spednic Lake. The nearest mid-lake points are only two miles or so distant and the village of Vanceboro and Mt. Katahdin are visible on clear days. A short distance from the tower are the stones of the old fireplace of the first school attended by the early settlers." (Daily Kennebec Journal)
PLEASANT POND MOUNTAIN
Somerset County - Maine Forestry District
1909: Listed as a lookout station in the 1910 Report of the Forest Commissioner.
1919: "The tower on Pleasant Pond Mountain newly painted." (Forest Protection and Conservation in Maine, 1919)
1917: A 24-foot steel tower erected. (1917 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1920: Inventory shows a 36-foot steel tower.
POGEY MOUNTAIN #59
Piscataquis County - Maine Forestry District
1915: "Therefore erected a station on Pogey Mt. on T. 4, R. 9, which overlooks more territory and is more satisfactory." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1916: "John E. Mitchell, Upper East Branch Waters--I have built one and one-half miles of telephone line from the Lincoln Pulp Wood Company's line to lookout station on Pogey Mountain." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
POCOMOONSHINE MOUNTAIN #30
Washington County - Maine Forestry District
1917: A 58-foot wood tower constructed. (1917 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1920: Inventory shows a 58-foot wood tower.
1934: "During the season of 1934 two new steel 60-foot towers with inside stairs were erected with the aid of the C.C.C.; one on Pocomoonshine Mountain in Princeton. Each tower is 15 feet higher than the old wooden ones, which greatly increases the area to be covered by the watchman." (Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner of the State of Maine)
RAGGED MOUNTAIN #14
Penobscot County - Maine Forestry District
1910: "New lookout station was constructed on Ragged Mountain, completely equipped with instruments, cooking outfit, etc." (1910 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1916: "The cabin on Ragged Mountain was burned during the early spring, cause unknown, but presume it was fishermen or hunters, leaving a fire in the small stove. A new cabin, 12 x 14 was built. The telephone line to Ragged Mt. was also put in first class shape." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1917: A 36-foot steel tower was partly erected and to be finished in 1918. (1917 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1918: The tower completed.
1920: Inventory shows a 48-foot steel tower.
RIDLEY HILL
York County
July 9, 1949: "The Sanford Department notified by the Ridley Hill lookout tower that a fire was sighted on the east side of the town found an Errol Street resident burning rubbish without a permit. Chief Allen said no permits are being issued during this dry period and all waste must be taken to the town incinerator.
The lookout tower reported another fire on the back road to North Berwick but firemen were unable to locate any haze." (Portland Press Herald)
1908: Established with a wood tower. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1915: "The telephone line from tower on Sally Mountain, which formerly ran on a trail different than that used by the watchmen, to the main line on C.P.R. poles was changed by watchmen during the wet weather to cedar poles set on main trail from camp to main line. Insulated line run from tower to camp." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
November 1, 1916: George Nichols, chief fire warden for Somerset county reports to the State Forestry Commissioner:
"Sally Mountain Tower has been lined with matched boards and painted on the outside, and a new flag purchased. The trail was kept in good condition and the telephone lines have been kept in good repair." (Daily Kennebec Journal)
May 25, 1935: "50 foot tower" (The Lewiston Daily Sun)
1914: The steel and portable house for the Sourdnahunk Mountain lookout to be erected in 1915 was stored at Norcross. (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1914: A wood structure built from logs. Operated by the New Hampshire Timber Owners Association.
1914: "There has been a telephone line constructed from main carriage road in Grafton Notch to summit of Speckle Mountain, which station has been established this summer; tent and camping outfit supplied for the station." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1916: "Silas F. Peaslee, Androscoggin watershed, Oxford County--We started in with the view of building a camp at the summit of Speckle Mt., and a wooden skeleton trestle 24 feet high and instructed the lookout man, during wet periods, to peel the necessary amount of small trees and carry up 2 1-2 M. shingles to shingle the roof of the camp: after which, I proposed to send up a man to build the camp and trestle with the lookout man's assistance. The lookout man peeled a few trees and only carried up one thousand shingles and did not get any further ahead." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1917: "S.F. Peaslee, Upton, Chief Warden, Androscoggin Watershed: The building of a small home camp for the watchman at Speckle Mountain lookout station on the trail about one-half mile down the summit, at a brook crossing and the building of a telephone box for the same. The building of a wooden tower about 15 feet high on Speckle Mountain. The watchman on Speckle Mountain quit work at the end of August on account of having got a strain or wrench in his system while working on the tower, and no one was sent there for the remainder of the season as the weather continued wet." (Forest Protection and Conservation in Maine)
1917: A 15-foot wood tower completed. (1917 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
August 1919: A steel tower of approximately 40 foot with an 8 x 8 wood cab was constructed. The delivery of materials required manpower to pack to the summit.
August 9, 1919: "Mr. Violette went as far on his recent trip as Grafton, where he looked after the work of erection of a lookout tower on Speckles mountain. This is a 36-foot steel structure of latest design and will be on one of the highest mountains in Maine and one of the hardest to climb. It has no roadways and every bit of the material entering into the construction of the tower has to be carried on the backs of men, a trip of about 2 1/2 hours duration, as this material weighs about 2600 pounds, it will mean some backaches.
Henry D. Cooper of Augusta is the watchman at this station, already on duty. The station, besides covering for range of vision the southern part of Franklin county and the central part of Oxford county, takes in a large part of New Hampshire, with which Maine has a co-operative arrangement." (Daily Kennebec Journal)
1919: "The Maine Forestry District this season has also erected a steel tower about thirty-six feet high at Lookout Station No. 49 on Speckle Mountain in Grafton, Oxford County, Maine, the telephone line to which is owned by the Maine Forestry District and connects with the Grafton and Upton telephone line in Grafton Notch, a distance of about two miles." (Forest Protection and Conservation in Maine, 1919)
1920: Inventory shows a 36-foot steel tower.
1960: In the spring of 1960 a cooperative agreement was made between the White Mountain National Forest and the Maine Forestry District to use Speckled Mountain as a replacement for the Old Speck Mountain lookout. The watchman's salary was paid by the Maine Forestry District and the facilities were provided by the U.S. Forest Service. (33rd Biennial Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1916: A 15 foot wood crows nest tower established. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1920: The tower raised to 30 feet. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1936: A 50 foot steel tower with cab erected. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
SQUAW CAT MOUNTAIN
Piscataquis County
August 9, 1919: "Steel towers were added: Squaw Cat mountain, Big Squaw Township, Piscataquis county, 12 feet high." (Daily Kennebec Journal)
August 25, 1905: "In the Moosehead region the watchman on Squaw Mountain lookout station reports a big fire about 50 miles distant on the waters of the north branch of the Penobscot. There is another quite sizable blaze on Russel stream which appears now to be well under control. Still another fire is... .., not withstanding the large number of men who are fighting with all the most approved methods, is burning furiously. The man at the lookout station likewise reports another fire on the so-called 10,000 acre tract." (Daily Kennebec Journal)
September 4, 1905: "...Squaw mountain, which has yielded some of the best pine and spruce in its day, is located at the foot of Moosehead lake and that its top rises nearly four thousand feet above the sea level. ... You will remember that the top of old Squaw is a bare rock without vegetation. On that rock has been erected a small frame structure for the observer. He takes his observations from the top of the house. He is provided with the latest thing in field glasses, charts and range finders. This observatory is under the personal charge of Mr. Shaw who is chief warden for Piscataquis county but overlooks a large portion of Somerset county." (Daily Kennebec Journal)
1912: "On Squaw Mountain trails and telephone lines have been kept in good condition. For permanent improvements another season would suggest the building of a watchman's camp on Squaw Mountain about two and one-half miles from the summit where there is a good spring of water situated near the trail leading to the station." (1912 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1914: "At the Squaw Mt. Station a new cabin has been built near the trail, 10 minutes walk from the summit, commodious enough for the watchman's use in storing the season's supplies and tools, and a telephone line from Moosehead State Hatchery road to the watchman's cabin on the summit of the mountain repaired and reconstructed, and two new telephone boxes installed, one at the watchman's cabin on the summit of the mountain and the other in his home cabin along the trail, equipped with modern lightning protection." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1919: A 12-foot steel tower erected. (1919 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1920: Inventory shows a 12-foot steel tower.
October 11, 2011: The Maine Forest Service airlifted the lookout tower from the top of the mountain and delivered it to the Natural Resources Education Center south of Greenville on Route 15. The lookout will be reconstructed to meet safety standards and then opened to the public. (from a story in the Bangor Daily News)
STOCKHOLM MOUNTAIN
Aroostook County - Maine Forestry District
1920: A lookout constructed.
May 25, 1935: "47 foot tower" (The Lewiston Daily Sun)
STREAKED MOUNTAIN
Oxford County
November 3, 1950: "A new lookout tower on Streaked Mountain in Hebron and Paris will be put into operation next spring to replace the tower formerly maintained on Bear Mountain in Hartford, according to Fred E. Holt, supervisor in the State Forest Service. The 34-foot tower on the highest (NW) point of Streaked Mountain, and the warden's cabin on the road to the tower are the structures on the mountain.
The Forest Service plans construct a telephone line down the southwest side of the 1,770-foot mountain. The 34-foot high tower is reached by a trail which leaves the South Paris-Buckfield road on the northeast side of the mountain.
Holt said the general range of coverage from the new tower is to hills surrounding Bethel, Rumford and New Sharon. Mt. Pisgah, 809 feet above sea level, in Winthrop is plainly visible from the site and the Camden hills are the first range of mountains seen beyond Pisgah tower.
The cab atop the 34-foot tower is eight and a half feet square with about seven feet of head room. The steel work was purchased from Army surplus and was scheduled for an air field observation tower. The cab is wood construction and was prefabricated by Wilbur Libby, district State warden at the West Paris storehouse.
All the tower construction was handled by Libby and his seasonal wardens.
Construction of Mt. Pisgah tower in Winthrop last year and location of the new tower on Streaked Mountain make it unnecessary to maintain the Bear Mountain in Hartford at this time, Holt explained. He said the tower will be kept in repair, however, and will be used during emergency periods on a day-to-day basis.
The Hebron Outing Club formerly had a camp on Streaked Mountain, but the new tower is now the sole building." (The Lewiston Daily Sun)
SWAN ISLAND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA
Sagadahoc County
2005: The former Frye Mountain tower reassembled on the WMA.
TAYLOR HILL
Washington County
1913: This site first established as a lookout station.
TROUT BROOK MOUNTAIN
Piscataquis County - Maine Forestry District
1909: Listed as a lookout station in the 1910 Report of the Forest Commissioner.
1912: "The lookout station on Trout Brook Mt. in Twp. 5 R. 9 Piscataquis Co. has been placed under excellent repair and ought to last for six or eight years. A telephone line has been put in from the lookout station to the Trout Brook line a distance of three miles. There is now a through connection with the Patten central office and greatly facilitates matters. A good trail has been swamped from the Trout Brook tote road to the lookout station." (1912 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1914: A lookout established with a 48 foot tower. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
May 25, 1935: "60 foot tower" (The Lewiston Daily Sun)
TUG MOUNTAIN #32
Washington County - Maine Forestry District
1914: "Chief Warden A.K. Ames, Machias-- During the season a watch tower has been constructed on Tug Mt., which covers the heart of the Machias river; about three miles of telephone line has been constructed from the Bacon place to this tower." (1914 Forest Commissioners Report)
1920: Inventory shows a 36-foot wood tower.
TUMBLEDOWN MOUNTAIN
Somerset County - Maine Forestry District
1910: Established with a wood tower. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1914: "Chief Warden L.P. Barney, Skinner--New line of telephone from Hollingsworth & Whitney Company's camps on Twp. 6, R. 7, to top of Tumbledown Mt." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1914: A 24 foot steel tower with a 8x8 cab constructed. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1915: The tower painted. (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1920: Inventory shows a 24-foot steel tower.
WASHINGTON BALD MOUNTAIN #60
Washington County - Maine Forestry District
1917: Construction of a 55-foot wood tower was started, to be completed in 1918. (1917 Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner)
1918: A 55 foot wood enclosed tower constructed. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1934: "During the season of 1934 two new steel 60-foot towers with inside stairs were erected with the aid of the C.C.C.; one on Washington Bald Mountain in Township 42, M.D. Each tower is 15 feet higher than the old wooden ones, which greatly increases the area to be covered by the watchman." (Annual Report of the Forest Commissioner of the State of Maine)
WHITE CAP MOUNTAIN #8
Piscataquis County - Maine Forestry District
1906: Log crib tower with cab on top. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
August 1907: "In 1906 a station was erected on Whitecap Mountain, overlooking 300,000 acres on the Kennebec and Penobscot watersheds." (Forest Leaves)
1910: "During the early part of the season of 1910 we repaired the telephone line from Roach River to the top of White Cap Mountain, where there is a lookout station." (1910 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1914: "A log tower was erected on White Cap Mountain with portable house on same. Height of tower about 20 feet. As this station overlooks a large area, I consider it an improvement of much value." (1914 Forest Commissioners Report)
1917: "J.L. Chapman, Milo, Chief Warden for the district including East and West Bowdoin College Grants; ...: Our lookout station upon White Cap Mountain, or rather the tower house, was partly carried away by the high winds last season. This required the repairing of the tower house early in the season." (Forest Protection and Conservation in Maine)
1920: The construction of a 24 foot steel tower started. (From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.)
1921: A steel tower completed on White Cap Mountain.
(1) From the photo inventory of the Maine Historical Society.