PHARAOH MOUNTAIN
New York - Essex County
October 7, 1909: "At a conference today of the State fire superintendents with Commissioner Whipple of the State forest, fish and game department, it was decided to supplement the six fire observation stations established in the Adirondacks and three in the Catskills by constructing such a lookout at Pharoah Mountain, near Schroon Lake." (Buffalo Courier)
April 1910: A lookout was established on this point at a cost of $269.42. (Sixteenth Annual Report of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission)
1918: A 35-foot steel tower was purchased and erected. (8th Annual Report of the Conservation Commission)
June 22, 1989: "An Adirondack Park Agency plan calls for all man made structures to be removed from any designated Wilderness Area this year. The lookout tower on Pharaoh Mountain in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area would be affected.
Town of Schroon Supervisor John Kelly said two state legislators had introduced bills in both houses to keep access roads open and to save the fire tower. But it was not enough, he said." (Plattsburg Press-Republican)
March 17, 1992: "The plan also calls for the removal of the observer's cabin and inactive steel fire tower erected in 1917 on Pharaoh Mountain. But first, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation must be consulted to address historic questions.
Unknown vandals cut two legs of the tower in the fall of 1990. DEC repaired the damage, and local-rights activists in the Adirondack Solidarity Alliance also say they took a helicopter to the top of Pharaoh Mountain in November 1990 to attach steel cables to keep it in place. They wanted the structure designated historic and kept in place, and to make the fire tower a symbol of the resistance of the Adirondack people." (Press-Republican)
September 19, 1992: "Department of Environmental Conservation crews removed the remains of the Pharaoh Mountain Fire Tower this week, and a reward to catch the vandals responsible for its toppling reached the $2,000 mark.
DEC personnel collected the debris from the 35-foot-tall steel tower and bundled it up for airlift by helicopter, according to Tom Wahl, region 5 forestry manager.
The observer's cabin and outbuildings were also disassembled and removed, Wahl said. The cabin had been vandalized several times and a shed and outhouse were falling apart, he added. All of the structures were taken out for the safety of hikers, Wahl said." (Press-Republican)
DEC personnel collected the debris from the 35-foot-tall steel tower and bundled it up for airlift by helicopter, according to Tom Wahl, region 5 forestry manager.
The observer's cabin and outbuildings were also disassembled and removed, Wahl said. The cabin had been vandalized several times and a shed and outhouse were falling apart, he added. All of the structures were taken out for the safety of hikers, Wahl said." (Press-Republican)
DESIGNATION - PHARAOH MT LOOKOUT TOWER
PID - OD1736
STATE/COUNTY- NY/ESSEX
COUNTRY - US
USGS QUAD - PHARAOH MOUNTAIN (1973)
STATION DESCRIPTION
DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1943 (PLB)
THE TOWER IS LOCATED ABOUT 5.25 MILES EAST BY SOUTHEAST OF THE
TOWN OF SCHROON LAKE, ON THE SUMMIT OF PHARAOH MT. IT IS A
FOUR LEGGED STEEL STRUCTURE ABOUT 40 FEET HIGH. THE POINT OBSERVED
WAS THE CENTER OF THE BASE.