Sources and Tools

Maps with tower sites by county

Posted sign at actual fire towers – the Colorful map (my page)

Historical fire tower and fire distract maps – the Black and White Map (my page)

US Forest Service website

This Lookout Towers page is the place to start. This page has a long list of towers both standing and removed. This is an excellent primary source, although there are details on here that I don’t understand yet.

Forest Service website has pages about specific Indiana towers:

• Buzzard Roost
• Dutch Ridge
• Georgia / Bryantsville
• Hickory Ridge
• Houston
• Marchand
• Spears
• West Fork

US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Maps: For example, look at the Lost River Unit MVUM and you can see the Bryantsville tower location is on/near a forest road. Not particularly useful.

Outdoor Indiana

Outdoor Indiana is a mostly monthly magazine published by the state, starting in 1934 and still being published today in 2024. This is an incredible source for the history of towers in the state forests and state parks. I have used this extensively on my History page.

Indiana University Digital Library page for Outdoor Indiana

The May-June 2013 issue of Outdoor Indiana has a long story about the towers. (I have a PDF copy but I don’t know where you can get this online.)

Tower organizations and experts

Forest Fire Lookout Association: http://www.firelookout.org. Teena Ligman has been the Indiana chapter chair for many years — many of the pictures and facts that I have collected have come through her years of research.

National Historic Lookout Register: http://www.nhlr.org/ – This site has 9 Indiana towers.

Ron Kemnow’s list online: https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/indiana.html. This is a great list, particularly because he has pulled quotes from local newspapers about the construction of the towers. This list is very well-researched, and to me it seems to match the Forest Service list closely. There are a couple items I don’t understand or can’t confirm, and not every page has a map, but I turn to this list often.

Topographical maps

The topo maps came from this website: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/. Topo maps from different years and sizes are available, which is critical because many towers only appear on one or two editions. “US Topo” maps more recent than 2000 have been useless because they don’t show any towers, even obvious public ones.

I mostly rely on the 1:24000 maps, and those are mostly what’s seen on this site. These are the most detailed maps. The 1:24000 maps are also known as 7.5-minute. If I don’t say otherwise, this is what I’m referring to.

There are also 1:62500, 1:100000, and 1:250000 maps covering Indiana. The Vincennes and Indianapolis 1:250000 topos are pretty interesting with a lot of towers marked.

Another topo map resource online is https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/topoexplorer/index.html.

Learn more about topos from the USGS.

Fire finders / alidades

The fire finder, or alidade, was an important tool for lookouts. There are a few remaining ones that you can see in Indiana.

There is an existing fire finder at the nature center at Morgan-Monroe State Forest. Based on its map, it must be the fire finder from Skyline. There is at least one other tower, the Houston tower, visible on its map.

Brown County State Park has a fire finder at their nature center, they told me on the phone, but I haven’t seen it yet.

O’Bannon Woods State Park has a fire finder at their nature center, according to a September 2024 post on Facebook. I haven’t seen it yet. The photo they posted looked to me like it was the alidade from the Wyandotte tower in what was then known as Harrison State Forest.

(Not all fire finders are Osborne fire finders, and I’m not 100% clear on the concept, so apologies if I get that detail wrong anywhere on this site.)

State park and Trail maps

National Geographic Hoosier National Forest maps (my own dedicated page)

Indiana Geological and Water Survey has published 5 maps featuring hiking trails. These maps are great maps, except they are inconsistent and incomplete about the tower sites. They helped me find the Salem tower. Some towers appear on these maps:

• TM01 Deam Wilderness: Hickory Ridge tower mapped and labeled
• TM02 Clark & Jackson-Washington: Washington tower labeled, Henryville tower mapped but unlabeled
• TM03 Starve Hollow: Skyline tower mapped and labeled
• TM04 Brown County: Weed Patch tower mapped but unlabeled
• TM05 Morgan-Monroe: Mason Ridge tower is missing from this map

IDNR State Park and State Forest pamphlets: Standing towers are typically described and mapped on IDNR State Park and State Forest pamphlets available online or at park facilities.

• Brown County State Park: tower site icon; legend says “Fire/Lookout Tower”
• Ferdinand State Forest: tower site icon on trails 1 and 5; legend says “Fire Tower”
• Harrison-Crawford State Forest: shows the O’Bannon Woods “Fire Tower”
• Lincoln State Park: tower site icon on trail 1; legend says “Fire Tower”
• McCormick’s Creek State Park: tower site icon on trail 4; legend says “Fire Tower”
• Monroe Lake: shows “scenic sites” for Hickory Ridge and Dutch Ridge Lookout (!) on 2011 and 2019 editions
• Morgan-Monroe State Forest: various trail maps show the Lookout Tower
• O’Bannon Woods State Park: tower site icon; legend says “Fire Tower”
• Ouabache State Park map: tower site icon near trail 4; legend says “Fire Tower”
• Tippecanoe River State Park: tower site icon on trail 1; legend says “Fire Tower”
• Versailles State Park: map shows “Old Fire Tower Road” with a loop at the southern end that corresponds to the old tower site.

Knobstone Trail maps by IDNR

Google

Google Earth Pro (not just Google Earth) is a fantastic tool for accessing satellite views from different years.

Google Street View is also helpful. My brother and I have used it to research Cincinnati and West Fork in particular.

I have put my list of towers into a Google Maps map which can be found at: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1LEQZBM9XCKZ2VOKw_ywctMQHXMEl5yg&usp=sharing  

National Geodetic Survey

My page with a list of NGS marks for Indiana towers

NGS Datasheets

NGS Map – You can find many tower sites just by searching or scrolling on the map. You can then click on them to open up the datasheets for tower and nearby marks.

State library collections

Indiana State Library has digital collections. One collection I like is the Indiana County Maps Atlases and Plat Books. Specifically I recommend the 1936 county ‘cultural’ maps (not the road maps). These show many Fire Towers in at least Clark, Crawford, Floyd, Martin, and Pike Counties. Credit for these is: Map Collection, Indiana Division, Indiana State Library.

Here’s a search term for ‘fire tower’ on Indiana Memory Hosted Digital Collections.

The Division of Conservation annual reports have details about early fire tower activities. These reports can be found in the compiled “Year Books” of the state. Try this link to see all the year books from 1925 to 1950. Searching for ‘fire tower’ in each year book:

• 1925: nothing
• 1926: only one mention of a fire tower. There is this quote on page 352 of the year book: “A telephone line is now being constructed to Grandview Tower, which will be used as a fire tower until a steel one can be erected.” This section of the report is about the original Clark County State Forest.
• 1927: a number of search results for ‘fire tower’. Results include for Indiana Dunes State Park (“fifty foot steel tower on Mt. Jackson”); Brown County game reserve (“eighty-foot steel tower … erected on Weed Patch hill”); Clark County forest (“fire tower of 1,010 above sea level” and “two fire towers on the state forest”).
• 1928: a number of search results for ‘fire tower’. Results include: “construction of a new steel fire tower”; new tower for Clark County Forest (“The old wooden fire tower became unsafe and was replaced by a new seventy-two foot steel tower with an enclosed cabin.” and “ground elevation of 1,028 feet.”); Brown County tower
• 1929: “purchased a steel fire tower for the Morgan-Monroe County State Forest”; Weed Patch tower mentioned; Clark County Forest tower mentioned.
• 1930: Morgan-Monroe State Forest: “Assisted in leveling up foundation of a fire tower” and “An 80-foot steel fire tower has been purchased and will be erected before the spring fire season.”. Clark County fire tower mentioned.
• 1931: Morgan-Monroe tower has been erected and connected with a telephone line. Lilly tower erected privately. Willow Valley erected; “100 foot steel tower” on what will become Martin County State Forest. Pole tower erected near Brownstown; Jackson County forest needed for a tower; temporary wooden fire tower erected. Clifty Falls “observation tower”.
• 1932: “State Forests were increased from three to five”. New forests are Martin County and Harrison County, and “a fire tower was constructed on each”. New towers in Floyd Count and Orange County (Paoli). Jackson County: “steel tower eighty feet high was erected on the Jackson County State Forest to replace the temporary wood tower erected in 1930”. Harrison County: “A temporary pole tower fifty-five feet high was erected on the Harrison County State Forest”. Lilly tower mentioned: “Lilly is allowing the state to use an 80 ft. tower which he has constructed on his Hamblin Forest”. Page 343 has a list of 10 towers: Clark, Dunes, Brown, Morgan-Monroe, J K Lilly, Jackson, Martin, Harrison, Floyd, and Orange County.
• 1933: Orange County tower site bought for $500. “Through the US Forest Service six new forest fire towers have been allotted to Indiana.” Also: “proposed… be located at Harrison County State Forest, Jasper-Pulaski County State Game Preserve, one in Pike County, one in Jefferson County, one in Greene County, and one in Lawrence County.” But also “six additional forest fire towers… to be supplied from federal funds… tower sites in Jefferson, Pike, Lawrence, Greene, Perry, and Harrison counties have been selected.” “Fire maps were compiled for eight of the fire towers located on tracts other than the major state forest areas.”
• 1934: At Jasper-Pulaski “one look-out tower constructed”. There were four land purchases for forest fire tower sites in Greene, Jefferson, Lawrence, and Pike counties. “After a conference … decided to invite the US Forest Service to acquire national forests in this state.”; three units mentioned. “During the year six new towers have been located. … These towers are steel and are eighty feet in height. They are placed in the following locations: Harrison County State Forest, near Wyandotte; Jasper-Pulaski Counties Game Preserve, near Medaryville; one near Stendal, Pike County; one near Heltonville, Lawrence County; one near Lancaster, Jefferson County; one at Cincinnati in Greene County.” Martin County State Forest: “1 lookout tower constructed.” Jasper-Pulaski: “1 80-foot steel fire tower built”.
• 1935: “There are twenty forest fire towers erected at the present time. The following ones were constructed during the year: Dubois County, McCormick’s Creek, Muscatatuck, Lincoln City. Muscatatuck State Park: “a steel fire tower has been erected.” Lincoln State Park: “a steel fire tower has been erected on a high hill on the south end of the park”.
• 1936: Brown County’s west-entrance-road lookout tower constructed (not a fire tower by my definition, but others may disagree.) Fire tower detection system outlined. “twenty steel fire towers”.
• 1937: Muscatatuck fire tower mentioned. “A network of fire towers has been established”. Towers mentioned in a list of fire wardens: Brown County, J. K. Lilly, Morgan-Monroe, Clark County, Borden, Jennings County, Jefferson County, Jackson County, Harrison County, Floyd County, Martin County, Greene County, Owen County, Pike County, Spencer County, Orange County, Jasper-Pulaski.
• 1938: Indiana Dunes tower mentioned. Towers mentioned in a list of fire wardens: Brown County, J. K. Lilly, Morgan-Monroe, Clark County, Borden, Jennings County, Jefferson County, Jackson County, Harrison County, Floyd County, Dubois County, Martin County, Greene County, Owen County, Pike County, Spencer County, Orange County, Jasper-Pulaski.
• 1939: “preliminary surveys … for five new fire tower sites.” Mentioned is that November 1938 had the worst forest fire season in the past ten years, with some 27,000 acres of forest and potential forest land destroyed. (That’s about 42 square miles.) Morgan-Monroe has an eighty-foot tower; Clark County 80-foot; Harrison County 100 feet; Jackson County 80 feet; Pike County 100 feet; Martin County 100 feet; Ferdinand State Forest has “an 80-foot observation tower”. No towers mentioned in paragraphs about Greene-Sullivan, Wells County, Scales Lake, and others. The Division of Forestry Exhibit at the 1938 state fair has an 80-foot steel fire tower. Wells County State Forest: CCC Camp S-93 erected an 80-foot fire tower.
• 1940: Wells County State Game Farm tower mentioned. A hundred foot fire tower constructed at Martin County Land Utilization Forest, what is now Crane. “At the Greene-Sullivan State Forest the WPA will construct a fire tower”. Fire tower was on display again at state fair.
• 1941: Jackson County tower mentioned. Greene-Sullivan gets a one hundred foot steel fire tower. Martin County area leased to federal government and given to US Navy. The 1941 report has a list of ‘Persons to notify in case of Fire’ with a long list of people and how to contact them by phone, and many towers are mentioned including: Lilly, Borden, Spears Tower, Ferdinand, Greene County, Harrison County, Jackson County, Jefferson County, Bryantsville Fire Tower, Jennings County, Lacy Fire Tower, Morgan-Monroe, Orange County, Pike County, Lincoln City.
• 1942: The CCC program is ending, and US involvement in WW2 starts. Harrison State Forest fire tower mentioned. A summary of all the towers is provided: “At present, this area [Indiana] is being protected by a system of 23 state-manned fire towers, 5 fire towers manned by the U. S. Forest Service, one manned by the National Park Service, and one tower manned by the U. S. Navy on the Naval Ammunition Depot at Burns City. Three of the towers manned by the state are the property of the U. S. Forest Service and one is the property of Indiana University.”
• 1943: The Division of Engineering mentioned “Plans and specifications were also prepared for moving a fire tower from one location to another.” (Without saying which one.) Clark State Forest fire tower continued to draw a large number of visitors. Greene-Sullivan tower mentioned. Floyd County Fire Tower gets a new telephone line. Martin State Forest: phone lines to “Lacey and Georgia Fire Towers” were improved. “The State continued to man the 19 State-owned towers, three owned by the U. S. Forest Services, and the Indiana University Tower whenever there was danger of fire.” Protection was extended into Ripley County… the tower on the new Versailles State Park.” “Each fire tower was equipped with a portable weather station”.
• 1944: “Two-way radios were installed in the Spears Fire Tower near English and in the Weed Patch Fire Tower on the Brown County State Park.”
• 1945: Jasper-Pulaski Game Farm: “A fire tower located upon the service area provides an excellent observation point covering the entire property.”
• 1946: “Reactivation of the fire tower at the Jasper-Pulaski Game Preserve”, whatever that means. Fire tower base maps are being prepared in the drafting room of the Division of Forestry in the Department of Conservation.
• 1947: Land transaction for Owen County State Forest, .51 acres, for $60.10, for a “Fire Tower Site” made between July 1946 and June 1947.
• 1948: There’s a section about the planning for the ‘Kankakee State Park and Forest’ (a concept that wasn’t around very long) and “A forest fire tower was purchased”. (Personal note: there has never been a tower here, not on the Indiana side of the state line anyway.) There were two ‘special purchases’ land transactions listed for July 1947 – June 1948 for Dubois County Fire Tower Site and Washington County Fire Tower Site.
• 1949: Owen State Forest: “A new fire tower was planned for this forest and footings were staked ready for construction.”
• 1950: no search results for ‘fire tower’

Other

Living New Deal site has information about many CCC sites and constructions, including lookouts.