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Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
In these publicationsIsle Royale National Park
From the top of a fire tower, a lookout could scan the whole horizon for smoke. Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior has three of them — Feldtmann, Ojibway and Ishpeming — and they were the first of their kind used in the eastern national parks. None has held a lookout since 1980, but two still do a job today.
The original Ojibway tower, built to plans adopted from Yellowstone National Park, possibly with wood cut from Isle Royale's own forests. Credit: National Park Service, National Visual Inventory Cards 50-152.
A tower history
| 1936 | A major fire burns on Isle Royale |
| 1939 | The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) builds the island's first fire towers: two tall timber-framed structures, at Turkey Ridge and Mount Ojibway |
| Mid-1950s | The timber towers have fallen into disrepair |
| 1961 | Isle Royale's first modern tower — steel-framed, with living quarters — goes up at Ishpeming Point |
| 1964 | The timber towers are demolished and replaced with towers laid out like Ishpeming. Ojibway is rebuilt on its original site, where it still stands; the Turkey Ridge tower is re-established about half a mile southwest on the Feldtmann Ridge Trail and becomes Feldtmann Tower |
| By 1980 | With new technology such as satellite imagery, no tower is staffed by a lookout |
| Mid-1980s | The towers serve as temporary shelters for rangers and trail crews |
| 2021 | All three are added to the National Register of Historic Places for their significance to National Park Service fire management |
Today
Ojibway and Ishpeming towers now serve park communications, for example as a radio repeater. Feldtmann Tower is no longer used. From Ojibway Tower, hikers can still take in the panoramic view of rocky ridges, lakes and forest that the lookouts once watched.
Sources
Based on "Isle Royale Fire Towers," Isle Royale National Park, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
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About this page
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
In these publicationsIsle Royale National Park
