Mt. Beacon Fire Observation Tower, Beacon New York

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The Mt. Beacon Fire Observation Tower, located on the summit of South Beacon Mountain in southern Dutchess County, New York, is associated with fire-prevention measures established by New York State to protect state-owned forest lands beginning in the early 20^th Century. It is a pre-fabricated tower design by the Aermotor Corporation, a leading manufacturer of fire observation towers and other tower structures. It was erected here in 1931, and supported fire observation activities in this area of the Hudson Highlands from 1932 until the early 1970s, when the role of fire observation was assumed by aircraft.

The first tower erected in New York State for the expressed purpose of forest fire observation was built in the Catskill Mountain region of western Ulster County on the summit of Balsam Lake Mountain. This first-generation fire tower, constructed not by the State of New York but by the Balsam Lake Club in 1887, was the predecessor of the standardized steel towers that came into broad application in the Catskill and Adirondack Mountain regions beginning in the second decade of the 20^th Century. The Balsam Lake Mountain tower, destroyed by lightning in 1901 and replaced in 1905 by a tower of lashed timber construction, represented the first phase of fire observation towers in New York State.

Observation towers in New York State developed in three distinct phases. During the first phase (1870-1907), the first impermanent wood towers erected on mountain summits in New York State were used for one or more purposes, including visual observation of forest fires during drought conditions. Between 1907 and 1915, the state established an initial system of fire observation stations employing, for the most part, site-built towers to provide visibility above the tree line. These were manned during the summer months and connected by telephone to settlements in the valleys below. Encouraged by the initial success of the fire observation network, and in response to increased visitorship in the preserves brought about by the automobile, the state replaced the earlier towers and added new ones using taller, standardized steel structures during the third phase (1916-1971). These provided greater comfort for the fire observers and accommodated recreational use by the public.

The concern for forest fire prevention and the development of the fire observation tower system formed a natural outgrowth of the establishment of the New York State Forest Preserve, established by the Forest Commission Act of 1885, which offered itself as the first comprehensive environmental law enacted in the United States. This law emerged in response to a growing conservation constituency in the state that was galvanized by environmental issues, notably natural resource exhaustion, and exploitation; among the chief concerns were over-lumbering and the denuding of the forests in association with the tanning industry in the pre-Civil War period. The act established a method of mitigating forest fires, though the early concerns were primarily with fire fighting, and not prevention in the form of observation stations. In the first decade of the 20^th Century a series of devastating forest fires, the product of unusually dry conditions in the Northeast in this period, ravaged hundreds of thousands of acres of forest land in the Adirondack and Catskill forest preserves; the fires during the drought of 1908 were particularly damaging.

In 1909, largely in response to the devastation rendered by fire during the previous year, a new philosophy towards fire prevention was taken up at the state level in New York, and from it emerged the state's first network of fire observation stations. The amendments made to the Forest, Fish & Game law in 1909 shifted the burden of expense for forest fire prevention measures from local to state authorities, and created regional fire districts. In seeking to define this new programming responsibility, New York turned to Maine, a state which put into place a system of observation towers in 1905 that helped limit the scope of fires in 1908 that had proved so devastating in New York. The New York program, once up and running, proved itself immediately effective in controlling fires, as evidenced in the 1910 Forest, Fish & Game Commission annual report, which stated simply "The value of the observation stations has been fully demonstrated." The dividends paid by this first comprehensive observation system helped lay the foundation for the expansion of the fire-spotting system, and the advent of the use of pre-fabricated steel towers, in the following decades.

Mt. Beacon was first referenced as a fire observation post in the Annual Report to the Legislature, 1922, at which time the following was noted:

A brief entry in the 1924 legislative report again noted Mt. Beacon as a part-time and limited capability fire observation post; fire reports were made from this location in 1922, 1923 and 1924. Not until 1931 did Mt. Beacon resurface in the annual report, at which time it was noted that funds had been provided by Dutchess County and other sources for the construction of a steel fire tower to be completed in time for the 1932 fire observation season. This tower does not appear to have replaced an earlier construct, as was the case in other instances. The following ac account was published in the New-York Times in July 1931:

From its completion until the end of the 1972 observation season, at which time it was taken out of active service, the Mt. Beacon tower, located in the 14^th fire district, was operated by the New York State Bureau of Forest Fire Control. The tower was briefly put back into service before being decommissioned permanently c. 1975. Interest in restoring the tower for recreational use was first initiated in 2003, this interest coalescing in 2006 at which time actual restoration analysis and work was begun. While the observer's cabin, a gable-roofed dwelling, has failed to survive, plans are being considered to reconstruct it to serve a variety of interpretive functions.

As noted, the Mt. Beacon Fire Observation Tower is a sixty-foot high Aermotor model steel observation tower, model LS-40, fabricated by the Aermotor Windmill Company of Chicago and later Oklahoma. This company, founded by La Verne Noyes, began producing windmills, pumps, and other such farm equipment in the later 19^th Century and in the 20^th Century became an important manufacturer of fire observation towers; the company continues to operate to this day. The Aermotor Company enjoyed a profitable relationship with various state and federal forestry and fire-prevention agencies, among them the New York State Bureau of Forest Fire Control and the United States Forest Service, producing thousands of towers for use nationwide. This model was among the foremost employed in the first half of the 20^th Century in New York and elsewhere; the hipped roof version, of which the Mt. Beacon tower is, was apparently most common from c. 1933 to 1953.

During the American Revolution this mountain, located at a strategic location overlooking the northern gate to the Hudson Highlands in close proximity to the Fishkill Supply Depot and opposite the Hudson River from Washington's Newburgh headquarters, offered itself as the ideal location for signal fires to alert Continental forces of British troop movements in the region. A stone obelisk on North Beacon Mountain, unveiled in 1900 and sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution, pays tribute to the man who manned these fires and their place in Revolutionary War history.

Site Description

The Mt. Beacon Fire Observation Tower is located on the summit of South Beacon Mountain, one of the two peaks that combine to form Mt. Beacon, in the Hudson Highland region of Dutchess County, New York. The steel tower is located at an elevation of approximately 1650' above sea level and offers a commanding prospect of the mountains that form this section of the Highlands, and the Hudson River to the north, south and west. The view range varies depending on weather conditions, with a maximum range of approximately 75 miles. To the northwest, between the tower site and the Hudson River, is located the City of Beacon and Fishkill Creek; to the immediate north, on North Beacon Mountain, the second of the twin peaks that form this landmass, are communications towers and likewise the upper terminus of the Mt. Beacon Incline Railway. Other prominent aspects of the view shed to the west are the City of Newburgh, on the west side of the river, and the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. To the west of South Beacon Mountain the grade drops off gradually at first, and then more steeply, before giving way to relatively flat terrain and State Route 9D; two small watercourses convey water from South Beacon Mountain down along its western side, those being Squirrel Hollow Brook, which merges with Gordons Brook before entering the Hudson River south of Dutchess Junction.

The Mt. Beacon Fire Observation Tower is a sixty-foot high Aermotor model steel observation tower, model LS-40, erected in 1931 and put in service the following year; the galvanized and bolted steel frame supports a seven-by-seven foot steel observation cabin, badly deteriorated, the shallow hipped roof that once enclosed it being largely gone. The structure is of the typical four-post, steel-frame type, and was fabricated by the Aermotor Windmill Company, originally of Chicago and later Oklahoma, which has been continuously manufacturing windmills, towers and related parts since 1888. The four legs of the derrick-like tower are anchored by steel plates into poured concrete footings. Wood stairs with multiple wood landings provided access to the observation cabin from the ground. The observer's cabin likewise has wood flooring; the glazing has long since succumbed to decay or vandalism.

Restoration activities are currently underway (now completed) to restore damaged elements and likewise address structural failings brought about by decades of neglect and decay. Recent efforts have led to the repair of the concrete footings and the replacement of deteriorated wood steps and landings; next on the restoration agenda is the replacement of damaged or failing bolts, sway braces, and the replacement of the cabin's roof. Other work will include sanding and painting and the installation of wire mesh as a security measure for visitors.

Mt. Beacon Fire Observation Tower, view roughly south (2009)

Mt. Beacon Fire Observation Tower, view roughly northwest (2009)