In the 1920s and 1930s, people manning lookout towers located on peaks of the Medicine Bow and Sierra Madre mountains would have to spend eight to 12 hours each day looking for forest fires from on top of such structures as this one on Bridger Peak. Living quarters were in the ground structure with access to the roof by ladders both inside and out. This 1930s photo by Bob Martin, editor and publisher of The Saratoga Sun, and others will be shown during an upcoming program at the Saratoga Library.
Accounts of fire lookout towers will be told during a Friends of the Library program scheduled at 7 p.m., Jan. 27 at the Saratoga Branch Library. The program is free and open to the public.
Saratoga historian Dick Perue will present a program on the history of the lookout towers and the folks who manned then. The 45-minute video is accentuated with dozens of photos and personal accounts. Perue will also share a printed pictorial history of the "Lookout Towers of the Snowy Range & Sierra Madres".
Perue is asking all former "lookouts" who manned the towers to attend the program and relate their experiences, and, if available, bring along photos and oral or written accounts, or to contact him to share their photos and stories which he can add to his collection concerning the subject.
Last year, the Saratoga Sun reported the renovation of the lookout towers on Kennaday Peak and at the Grand Encampment Museum.
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