Show your fire tower pics!

[Shawn]

Trigg Tower, Shawnee National Forest, Southern Illinois

 

[Jeff Ulrich]

Union Lookout Tower, Trail of Tears State Forest, near Jonesboro, Illinois (37.47872,-89.35788) taken 24 May2023.

 

[Shawn]

Knob Lick Fire Tower in Missouri

 

[Jeff Ulrich]

Knob Lick Fire Tower in Missouri

View attachment 588

Is this one close Sam Baker SP? I went to one in that area in the 70s. I probably have an old Polaroid or two somewhere.

 

[Shawn]

Is this one close Sam Baker SP? I went to one in that area in the 70s. I probably have an old Polaroid or two somewhere.

I believe so. I think it's off of 60.

 

[Jeff Ulrich]

I believe so. I think it's off of 60.

I found the picture of the tower in Missouri that I was at in the 70s. It's a very poor Polaroid photo that only shows the lower section without the ground or upper part. I think that's me on the landing, but it's just too blurry to even tell. I think the year might have been 1974 or 1975. There's another picture taken at the same time that doesn't show the tower, but shows me next to the car my dad had about that time.

I compared it to the tower in your picture and it clearly isn't the same one. I also compared it to pictures of the Mudlick Mountain fire tower at Sam A. Baker State Park, where I thought the tower was, and I don't think that's right either. I remember driving right up to it on fairly flat ground. The one at Sam Baker is now where you have to hike to it. We didn't do that or go up any steep roads.

I'm pretty sure that we did go to Sam Baker on that trip. I wish Dad was still around to ask exactly where the tower was. I'm thinking now that this tower was on the way from Cape Girardeau to the park. That would have taken us on MO34 through Marble Hill.

There was a fire tower, the Grassy tower, located a short way south of MO34 between the towns of Glenallen and Grassy. I can't find a picture to compare, but I did find that it was still there until 2004. I'm thinking that must have been where we were at. The terrain on the map was more what I remember.

If anyone that sees this has any information or especially a photo of the Grassy firetower, I would appreciate if you could post it here. I'd like to verify that was the spot I was at about 50 years ago.

Compared to Illinois, Missouri had a lot more firetowers. I read that there were as many as 260. Most of them are gone, but there are still several standing and a few that can still be climbed by the public. There is a nice Google map that shows the tower locations.


(edited to change picture orientation)