NEW YORK LOOKOUTS
MOUNT MORRIS
Franklin County
July 1909: A lookout was established on this point at a cost of $924.84. (Sixteenth Annual Report of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission - 1910)
1918: A 22-foot steel tower was purchased. (8th Annual Report of the Conservation Commission)
1919: The construction of the tower was completed.
1924: "In accordance with the Commission's policy of keeping up the cabins at the observation stations, a new cabin has been erected at Mount Morris." (Conservation Commission Fourteenth Annual Report)
June 21, 1944: "A 'lost' alarm sounded on the Tupper Lake fire alarm system tonight brought out a score of volunteers to search for six year old Joseph Fromaget atop heavily wooded Mt. Morris.
The boy was reported missing by his father, Fire Warden Adelard Fromaget of Tupper Lake, who said he left the lad at a cabin about half way up the 3,163 foot mountain about 9 a.m., Tuesday when the youngster became tired. Fromaget reported he told the boy to stay at the cabin while he climbed the rest of the way to a lookout tower to complete his tour of duty.
The fire warden reported he remained at the tower until after a heavy rain, starting for home about 2:30 p.m. When he reached the cabin, Fromaget said, he was unable to find his son and returned to Tupper Lake to give the alarm." (Plattsburg Press-Republican)
May 2, 1957: "Destruction of telephone and radio equipment by vandals at the summit of 3,163-feet-high Mount Morris, was reported last week by Francis Pilon of Tupper Lake, forest ranger for the State Conservation Department.
Two-way radio equipment was packed to the summit ten days ago, and the radio antenna was strung up. On April 22 when Wallace Scanlon, fire observer, reached the tower atop the mountain he found the telephone wires snapped from the tower and the radio antenna not only broken, but chopped into tiny pieces. Scanlon managed to patch the telephone line temporarily and report the vandalism. Replacements must be packed on foot to the summit." (Adirondack Record-Elizabethtown Post)
May 2, 1957: "Destruction of telephone and radio equipment by vandals at the summit of 3,163-feet-high Mount Morris, was reported last week by Francis Pilon of Tupper Lake, forest ranger for the State Conservation Department.
Two-way radio equipment was packed to the summit ten days ago, and the radio antenna was strung up. On April 22 when Wallace Scanlon, fire observer, reached the tower atop the mountain he found the telephone wires snapped from the tower and the radio antenna not only broken, but chopped into tiny pieces. Scanlon managed to patch the telephone line temporarily and report the vandalism. Replacements must be packed on foot to the summit." (Adirondack Record-Elizabethtown Post)
January 15, 1976: "The Town of Altamont Board voted unanimously to submit a bid on the abandoned fire tower on Mount Morris.
The tower, which is state property, has been declared surplus and the state has announced it will accept bids on it.
The town sent an offer of $1 to William Kirchbaum, regional forester at Ray Brook. The tower is on land leased from Litchfield Park, and if the town bid is excepted, the property would become part of the Big Tupper Lake Ski Center." (The Post-Standard)