The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-03-18
ENGINEERING NEWS
DESCRIBES BIG
Lookout TOWER
Forest Service Men built
Structure for Fire Guards
in Sitgrave Forest Almost
Without Tools.

How Deputy Supervisor G.. II. Kls-
sam. of the forest service. who was In
this city yesterday. Quilt a watch
tower In the neart of "A primeyal for
est Is told In an article In Engineer
ing News. The lookout was construct.
ed for use in guarding against fire.
Ia the Sitgronve national forest. Ari-
IONA, which IL on the route taken by
tourists owe the Ocean-to-Ocean
highway. ON account OF the dinicui-
ties encountered the erection of the
tower was a notable feat. The article
In Engineering News follows.
Tn sitgraves national forest, Arr
zona. slopins gently toward the north
n covered with tall timber. on the
west end, affords no good natural
lookout points. In the absence Of
such points. IL becomes imperative TO
ouild towers which rise above the tree
tops and allow the lookout man 10
look owe the forest In all directions,
so that the first curl Of smoke from
e foresf fire may be detected and To-
lated, and IRE fighters sent at once 20
eXtinguish Il.
A triaugulation station was also
needed on the Chcvalon district. and
having In mind several points upon
which the timber was only 80 TO 40
feet in height, Il was planned TO build
where a 40 to 5O-foot tower would
be sufficient. Accordingly. such tools
and rigging as were at hand were
thought "a be adequate. and they
ton Of "A tower OF the size we ex.
pected to build.
II was found, however. that there
was only one point from which a sat
isfactory view over the forest In al
directions could be obtained. Unfor-
tunately, the timber was SO tall Their,
that II was evident that a tower mus
be ver 100 feet In height to be Of any
use.
The dangerous fire season was hear
At hand and we were IS miles from
any base OF supplies, 50 II was decided
TO build the tower with what tools
and rigging we had. We had only
400 feet OF "a inch rope in -four
pieces. the longest being 100 feet IN
length; two double blocks 9 inches
long and M slngle-sheave block OF
the same size.
our tools consisted of axes two-man
saws. hatchets. crow bars, two pairs OF
ilnemen's climbers and belts. and
brace and bit. Telephone wire wai
used for guys.
The crew was made az Of tC.npor-
AIRY employees aud two rangers under
the direction VI one o. the forest rang
erE. Al the start there we're eight
men, including one cook. one team
ster. and the man In charge. By tho
time the tower was half built the crew
was cut down 20 four men.
The first task was TO cut and pee
tire timbcrs and skid them 10 the spot
where The tower was 10 be erected
Much care Was necessary In selectini
the main poles. some % which were
skidded out 81 dense thickets. Alto
acthor 1900 lineai feet Of poles
was used. The dimensions OF the
tower arr as follow. base 80 feet
square. platform top, 8 feet square.
height. rs feet.
The main corner poles averaged n
Inches In diameter AZ the butts and I
inches Al the tops. They are splicec
a. heights OF as feet and lo0 feet
Each splice Il holted and then bound
With bands Of telephone wire, The
timbers are fastened together with
u Inch laFscrews. The ioor II con
struCted 81 exG-inch lumber and ths
rail II Of 2xt inch and ixt-inch ium
her. with these exceptions. no sawed
lumber was used IN the tower.
In raislng the poles "a tree nearly
ZOE feot in height was used a. a der
rick mast but since the top % thii
tree was not stout enough above a
height Of IS feet "a so feet 10 carr
much weight, some difficulty was ex.
perlenoed IN plneine tbs ss-fobt poles
upon the tops 81 the ts-foot ones DC.
low.
Win an abundance uf rlgging.
derrick boom could have been risged