This Stone Fire Lookout was Part of a Large Estate that Later Became a State Park

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History

In the early twentieth century, Mount Prospect became the summer home of John Wingate Weeks (1860-1926), a Lancaster-born conservationist and politician. While serving as a US State Representative for New Hampshire, Weeks was able to secure the passage of the Weeks Act, which authorized the federal government to purchase land for national forests in the eastern United States. The Weeks Act made the establishment of the White Mountains National Forest in central New Hampshire possible. Additionally, the Act provided money for state and federal cooperation in fire detection, thus helping with the creation of the state fire detection division.

Weeks returned to Lancaster in 1910 and built a summer estate on Mount Prospect. The land he purchased already had a small summit hotel, which he replaced. Weeks' 420-acre estate consisted of a large house (summit lodge), a four-stall garage, pump house, cottage, and a 37-foot-tall observation/water tower (Mount Prospect Fire Tower). The estate's construction finished in 1912, and included an auto road, open landscape, paths, and tennis courts. Originally, the tower functioned as an observatory and as a water tower. The stairway to the top spiraled around an internal water tank. The top of the tower had a crenellated parapet which enclosed a deck with a faceted roof. Weeks had envisioned the tower as a gift to the residents of Lancaster who may visit his estate.

Weeks would go on to serve as US Senator and as Secretary of War under President Harding and Coolidge. Weeks passed away in 1926 and left his summer estate to his children, Sinclair Weeks and Katherine Weeks Davidge. In 1941, they donated 431 acres to the State of New Hampshire. The deed required that the estate be converted into a public park for the "practice and demonstration of forestry" and for the use of the public. They permitted the stone tower to be altered as such necessary for its use in forest fire protection and as an observatory.

After acquisition, the state made several modifications to the estate. The Mount Prospect Tower was increased 15 feet in height and made suitable for fire detection. A glass-enclosed observation room with a stone arcade surmounted the original tower. After construction was completed, this station replaced those on Mount Cabot and Mount Agassiz.

Fire Towers in New Hampshire

On March 29^th, 1893, the state formed the New Hampshire Forestry Commission (NHFC). The NHFC's primary objective was "to investigate the extent and character of the original and secondary forests of the state … the damage done to them from time to time by forest fires; and any other important facts relating to forest interests …" The Commission focused its efforts on creating a robust network of fire wardens across the state and cooperating with existing private lookout stations. In the early 1900s, a series of major fires burned approximately ten percent of the White Mountains Region forests, attributed to prolonged droughts, railroads, and abusive land use activities. After this uptick in fires and subsequent damages to forests, the state began a focused effort on fire prevention and protection of remaining forests.

Fire lookouts (aka fire towers) had been used in western United States and in Maine and New York prior to the twentieth century but were not yet widely in use in the Northeast around 1900. The first fire towers in New Hampshire were built in response to the increased fire risk from the intensive logging of the White Mountains. Clear-cutting operations left a thick layer of slash (tree limbs removed from logs), which when dried became an ideal source of fuel for wildfires. During an unusually dry spring in 1903, massive fires burned large sections of forest in the White Mountains and threatened several towns. One of the blazes threatened a resort hotel owned by the Mount Pleasant Hotel Company, which constructed the first fire lookout in the region in 1904. The State of New Hampshire began funding fire tower construction in 1909, and others were built by private organizations, including the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF) and the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association (NHTOA). The New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association (NHTOA) was established in 1910 to provide fire detection and protection of privately held timberland. Membership fees were based on the acreage of timber tracts members owned and funded the establishment of lookouts over these tracts of forest. These early lookouts were wood construction on mountain summits, such as Mount Pleasant, Mount Rosebrook and Croydon Peak, to provide 360-degree views of the surrounding forests. The same year NHTOA was established, timberland owners and the NHTOA contributed $4,100 toward the immediate building of lookout towers across the state. As a result, ten lookout towers were established, most of which were constructed in the summer of 1910. There locations were chosen based on their proximity to valuable timberland and places of manufacturing that were more prone to fires.

On March 1^st, 1911, the U.S. Congress passed the Weeks Act, allowing for the use of federal funds to purchase forest land for conservation purposes. The legislature was championed by and named in honor of Representative and later Senator John Wingate Weeks (1860-1926) of Massachusetts, who aptly presented public forest lands as beneficial rather than detrimental for the private timber industry. Through the Weeks Act, 6 million acres of land in the eastern United States was acquired with $9 million in federal funds. By June 1912, over 70,000 acres were acquired to form the White Mountain Region (later known as the White Mountain National Forest). By 1915, the forest consisted of over 100,000 acres of land. The USFS formally established the White Mountain National Forest on May 16^th, 1918, once it reached an adequate size to be managed as a national forest, including the construction of fire towers. The Weeks Act, passed a year after 85 people were killed during wildfires that burned more than 3 million acres of land in Idaho, included a provision that allowed federal agencies to cooperate with the states in controlling forest fires. Through a $200,000 federal allocation, New Hampshire was the first state to benefit in funding for fire protection from the act. The USFS subsequently worked with the State of New Hampshire and the NHTOA to develop a system of fire lookouts with overlapping coverage in the White Mountains, leading to the construction of dozens of lookouts and hundreds of miles of telephone lines to provide communication by the mid-twentieth century.

By 1912, New Hampshire had 12 state-owned and managed lookout stations and an additional six operated by the NHTOA. The NHFC continued to construct and operate mountain-top fire towers and employ watchmen and patrolmen. During dry weather, temporary fire lookout stations were established at various elevated locations. In 1913, the number of fire towers in the state grew to 26, including those established that year at Belknap Mountain, Blue Job, Kearsarge South, and Pawtuckaway, all four of which remain active fire tower locations. By 1914, all permanent fire towers and station were equipped with panoramic maps for identification of fire locations. After the NHFC assumed responsibilities for the NHTOA lookouts in 1917, the number of lookouts managed by the state increased to 29.

Watchmen were a critical component to the state's fire towers system. Early on, watchmen were often timber company woodsmen who took on fire watchman duties during the fire season. They were typically responsible for the construction and maintenance of the fire tower developments and construction of their own cabins and outbuildings at the tower sites. Watchmen were equipped with field glasses, maps, compasses, and rangefinders. A telephone line connected the fire tower and the local fire warden for quick communication in the event of a fire. The watchmen were also tasked with educating the public about forest fire prevention, and access to the towers was almost immediately sought out by outdoor recreators in the state.

Initially, fire lookouts were built exclusively of wood, consisting of either braced structures or platforms built in trees. The first steel tower was constructed on the summit of South Pawtuckaway Mountain (in present-day Pawtuckaway State Park) in 1914, followed by steel towers topped by enclosed cabins (also referred to as cabs) constructed on the summits of Blue Job and Belknap mountains the following year. Steel towers cost slightly more than wood towers to construct but were more resistant to the elements and deterioration than wood towers and provided better shelter for the watchman. The steel was usually painted black, and the cabins were painted dark green, to better blend into the setting. The NHFC's 1924 report stated the necessity for enclosed cabs and considered it standard design for towers built moving forward. At that time, New Hampshire had 12 steel enclosed towers, two wood enclosed towers, eight wood open towers, three cabins on bare summits, and one cabin below the summit. Over the next two decades, wood towers were replaced with steel-framed towers. Various fabricators were contracted to design and supply these steel towers. Example manufacturers include the New Hampshire Structural Steel Company; the Aeromotor Corporation of Oklahoma, which supplied the Kearsarge (south) fire tower; and International Derrick of Ohio, which supplied towers during the late 1930s. In 1939, the state purchased five towers from International Derrick: Warner Hill, Pack Monadnock, Craney Hill, Smarts Mountain, and Sam's Hill. Improvements to telephone lines and lightning protection were often completed when towers were replaced.

During the 1930s, the state invested in outdoor recreational facilities and saw an increase in hiker visitation to the fire towers. At this time, original ladders that remained were replaced with internal staircases that were easier for watchmen and visitors to ascend and descend when accessing the cabs. A New Deal Program, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) operated between 1933 and 1942 to provide work for young men and support the development on state and federal lands. Within New Hampshire, over 20,000 men served in the CCC among the 28 camps across the state, mostly within the White Mountain National Forest and state parks and forests. The CCC planted trees; built fire breaks, served as firefighters when needed; and constructed and maintained roads, bridges, and dams. The CCC also constructed much of the state's parks and forests infrastructure and visitor amenities. In support of the state's fire tower system, CCC crews built and improved access roads and trails, laid new telephone lines, and built watchman cabins and outbuildings at various tower locations.

Following the Hurricane of 1938 that impacted the Northeast region, the need for widespread fire detection and prevention in New Hampshire was significant. The storm caused tremendous damage across the region, destroying approximately 2 billion trees, littering New England forests with deadwood and debris. CCC crews assisted the region's recovery from the storm, including with infrastructure repair and timberland cleanup. The state dispatched numerous crews to remove and operate temporary sawmills to remove the downed timber from the forests. This cleanup effort lasted for over two years and stocked paper mills in the region for nearly a decade. To support fire prevention efforts in New Hampshire following the hurricane, 11 new fire towers were built in 1939 and 1940 on state and federal lands.

During World War II, the state, like the rest of the country, was unable to staff many of the fire lookouts with male state personnel. Fire detection relied heavily on surveillance by aircraft during the war, in addition to women staffing some of the state's national forest lookout towers through the USFS's Women Observers on the Forest (WOOF) program. Some of the state's towers were used by state or federal agencies for aircraft detection, requiring alterations to towers. After the war, the towers were staffed again by state watchmen, and most of these alterations were removed. In the 1960s, most towers were staffed six days a week from 8am to 5pm, which increased to seven days from 8am to 8pm during periods of hot, dry weather, when fire risk was highest. By the late twentieth century, most of the state fire towers were 40 to 60 years old. To keep the steel towers structurally sound and functional, the state added additional bracing elements, structural struts, and tension cables. If raising the tower height was necessary, the new cab was exclusively constructed of wood to avoid use of conductive metal in case of electrical storms. By 1980, the state operated 22 fire towers, in addition to three aerial detection routes.

More than 90 fire towers were constructed across New Hampshire on state, federal, and privately owned lands during the twentieth century as part of a statewide fire prevention system. Majority of these towers are not extant. However, remnants such as concrete footings, wood and steel structural pieces, or ruins of former structures, endure at many of the former tower locations. As of 2017, 13 towers remained standing, but inactive for fire prevention purposes. Some of the inactive towers remain accessible for outdoor recreation, while others are inaccessible. As of 2022, 16 towers remain active for fire prevention purposes, consisting of 15 owned by the state and one owned by the Town of Moultonborough (Red Hill) and operated in coordination of the state and Lakes Region Conservation Trust. Active towers are staffed on weekends and during times of high fire danger, April to October. Across two state regions, the New Hampshire Division of Forests & Lands operates the extant fire towers, oversees 9 ranger districts, and employs two Regional Forest Rangers and 7 District Rangers, who oversee wildland fire control and enforce laws pertaining to timber harvesting and forest protection. Fire watchmen operate autonomously at each lookout and coordinate with mobile fire patrols and over 2,000 appointed Forest Fire Wardens and Deputy Wardens during high-risk of fires and active fires.

Property Description

Mount Prospect Fire Tower is a 52-ft-tall, circular, stone tower surmounted by an octagonal, wood-frame observation room that was added when it became a state-operated fire tower. It was built in 1912 by John W. Weeks as an observation tower for his mountaintop estate. In 1941, the state of New Hampshire altered the tower for use by state park visitors and by the New Hampshire Forestry Division. The tower is the only active New Hampshire fire tower that was not originally built for that purpose. The tower's uncoursed, wet-laid, slightly tapered, field stone walls rise approximately 30 feet from the ground to the projecting base of the platform. The corbeled base supports a masonry arcade that rises an additional twelve feet. The arcaded platform has eight segmental arched openings with metal guard rails. In 1941, the platform's crenelated parapet wall was raised into the arcade. The lower walls of the tower have small, rectangular openings containing three-light windows at staggering heights. The tower's arched entry on the east elevation is filled with an arched, wood-paneled door with a nine-light upper panel. Protective metal grates have been added to the door's exterior. Portions of the tower has been repointed with various mortars. Vertical cracks, many of which have been patched, are visible on the interior and exterior. The enclosed, wood-frame observation room has an octagonal, hip roof covered with asphalt shingles and topped by a wood finial. The walls are clad in wood. Each wall elevation has a pair of six-over-six, wood sash windows.

From the interior, stairs ascend westerly and ascend to the arcaded platform in half-flight with landings. The stairs steel-framed and have welded metal handrails, landings, and treads. The tower's internal stairs consist of four flights with welded plate steel stringers and bolted wood treads. The stairs enter through a metal-framed bulkhead with chain-link infill in the center of the arcaded platform. The platform has a poured concrete floor and a beadboard ceiling. A single run of wood-framed stairs with wood treads and a metal handrail ascends into the observation room above. A reinforced wood-paneled access hatch provides access into the room. A tubular steel railing encircles the hatch. The cab's interior has a wood paneled ceiling and narrow board floor. The tower's masonry walls rise half-way up the walls and are surmounted by the observation room's expansive windows. The cab contains typical fire tower equipment and furnishings: an Osborne Fire Finder' in the center and a map hung on the wall, in addition to original cabinetry for storing the watchman's equipment. Open expansive views are afforded through the windows of the observation room of the surrounding forest of New Hampshire and Vermont.

Photographs of Mount Prospect Fire Tower