By Bob Frakes
As some of you may recall, my first book was on the “Forest Lookouts” in Missouri and the second on the Battle at Patterson & Fort Benton (Amazon or cheaper at Wordsmatterpublishing).
Now my 3rd and last was to be the Shawnee National Forest, then I switched to the Goshen Trail and back to the Shawnee.
My original plan to do a “history” of the Shawnee has been tweaked some to emphasize the “Forest Lookout” story there.
It is becoming more interesting by the week.
Now when I started my Missouri Lookout book, I had decades of papers and contacts to work off of. One of my best was James Halpern, FS Zone Archeologist in Ava.
He noted I needed to contact Heather Carey, Heritage Program Manager/Tribal Liaison at Anna Jonesboro, Illinois. I knew I had Ron Kemnow (ronkemnow.weebly.com) to also count on.
Now, many of the tower locations of the Shawnee are known, even if gone. There is a mystery attached to some and the so-called secondary lookouts are even more so.
I was aware of some. Ron had tracked down “Melcher Hill” some time ago complete with photo.
This was a “pole tower” which was used for dry season/secondary coverage made up of a pole with guide wires and platform.
The platform was at times all you had but as you can see at Melcher the platform included a “fire finder” complete with canvas cover.
I was aware of two others. The following is from an August 31, 1983, article in the Southern Illinoisan – “Earl Durham, a retired firefighter, recalls that in the late 30s & early 40s there were two 40 foot open observation posts called crow’s nests.
“One was near Unity, the other Horse Creek. They were used to supplement the main towers only when the fire danger was high and the visibility was exceptionally low.”
A topography map examination of those two areas will produce likely locations.
At this point Heather Carey recalled some areas from firefighting and paperwork. These included Benham Hill, Cave Hill, Lamb and Grassy Knob.
Then Ron found the following – November 4, 1937: “A 40 ft. secondary lookout tower erected by the U.S. Forest Service on Melcher Hill, south of the ‘Wye’ was completed this week.
“It is only a telephone pole with three guy wires and a small ladder on it for climbing. This is the first of four secondary towers which will be constructed in the Rosiclare Ranger’s district.
“Other towers will be on Benham Hill, Pope County; Cave Hill, Saline County; and one at Lamb, in Hardin County.
“The towers will be used to sight fires and will be manned during periods of hazardous fire conditions. The one at Melcher Hill will be manned by John Rotes and is equipped with telephone. The other three will be equipped with radio.” (Hardin County Independent).
So, a chapter on these lookout types began to shape up. I hope to visit the sites over the next few years. I may need to trade my truck in for a Jeep.
Thanks to Ron & Heather. Things are getting exciting for us tower folk. Done in four years, maybe?
(Questions or comments? Bob Frakes can be reached by email at frakes2@mvn.net or by phone at 618-244-1642.)
