NEW YORK LOOKOUTS
ST. REGIS MOUNTAIN
Franklin County
April 1910: A lookout was established on this point at a cost of $294.77. (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)
September 23, 1921: "A strong west wind not only increased greatly the danger of the fire getting beyond control, but also broke down telephone wires to observation towers on nearby mountains, leaving the situation in other parts of the district in doubt. Telephone service between Ampersand mountain and Saint Regis mountain was disrupted." (The Buffalo Express)
September 23, 1921: "A strong west wind not only increased greatly the danger of the fire getting beyond control, but also broke down telephone wires to observation towers on nearby mountains, leaving the situation in other parts of the district in doubt. Telephone service between Ampersand mountain and Saint Regis mountain was disrupted." (The Buffalo Express)
July 9, 1926: "He is 3,200 feet up in the air. His tower, which is upon the loftiest crag of the St. Regis Mountain chain, commands a clear view of White Pine Camp, the summer home of President Coolidge.
That tower of steel is a mere dot upon the skyline from the camp. It is doubtful if the President or any member of his party has noticed it. The newspaper correspondents, sitting upon the veranda of their hotel, have obviously failed to recognize its significance.
Upon the top platform of that tower a man paces during every minute of daylight. His powerful glasses reveal the country for a radius of 50 miles. He is constantly peering into the distance.
This a man, who has been quite unnoticed, is one of the guards who surround President Coolidge. He seeks not the assassin; not the trespasser; but the arch-destroyer of life and property in the Adirondacks forest fires.
Yet the importance of this man's work is equal to the Marines, the State Troopers, and the Secret Service men who surround the President.
The name of this guard of the President is Albert Otis. He is a fire observer of the Conservation Commission of the State of New York. The telephone at his side connects with the offices of James Hopkins, District Forest Ranger, in Saranac Lake." (The Post Standard)
1939: A new cabin was constructed for the observer's living quarters by the Civilian Conservation Corps. (Twenty-Ninth Annual Report of the Conservation Department)
1990: The 35-foot tall steel Aermotor tower was closed.