ROUND MOUNTAIN
Maine - Aroostook County - Maine Forestry District
1909: "On the Machias river the Ashland Company has a telephone line to Machias dam at the foot of Machias lake, in Township N0. 12, Range 12, from which point the state in 1909 built a line to Round Mountain fire station in Township No. 11, Range 8."
"The station on Round Mountain was built by the state in 1909." (1910 Forest Commissioner's Report)
"The station on Round Mountain was built by the state in 1909." (1910 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1914: "The temporary wooden lookout tower on Round Mountain, Township 11, Range 8 has been repaired, and the thirty miles of wire leading from this tower to Ashland has been repaired and kept in working order during the summer. The camp has a new cook stove, and is equipped with cooking outfit, dishes and blankets for two persons." (1914 Forest Commissioner's Report)
1915: "New lookout station built on Round Mountain, top of mountain cleared of trees and telephone line and trail put in first class condition." (1916 Forest Commissioner's Report)
December 4, 1917: "The annual report of Charles L. Weeks of Ashland, one of the chief fire wardens on the St. John waters which was filed at the office on the state forestry commissioner Monday says in part:
We hung a telephone line from Machias Dam to the line of the American Realty Company on the new road running from Ashland to Musquacook Lakes thus giving the watchman at Round Mountain Lookout station direct communication with camps on this line. We built a canvass house _x 7, with a six foot wall on the top of Round Mountain which makes a good shelter for the watchman in inclement weather and also keeps the telephone, maps, equipment, etc., in a dry condition. This house is made of very heavy canvas has been thoroughly painted and should last for years.
We have located a road to the top of Round Mountain, on which the new steel tower we are in hopes to get can be hauled nearly to the top of the mountain." (Daily Kennebec Journal)
1918: A 48-foot steel tower erected.
March 5, 1920: (1919) "One of the first things done last season was the hanging of a telephone wire from Round Mountain to McKeen Crossing on the Machias river, a distance of four miles, thus saving patrolling and repairing 16 miles of wire to the same point as has been done in the past. The result was most satisfactory as the telephone service was excellent all through the season" "I would recommend that a lookout station be established on the south point of Chandler Mountain on Township 10, Range seven, as the Middle Brook and Chandler Mountain lookouts obstruct a good deal of the view from Norway Bluff outlook, while the Aroostook Mountain and Chandler Mountain lookouts obstruct a good deal of the view from Round Mountain" (Daily Kennebec Journal) (Fire Wardens Report)
1920: Inventory shows a 48-foot steel tower.