HOW WOULD YOU DO IT? 



373 



brace and bit. Telephone wire was 

 used for guys. 



"The crew was made up of tempo- 

 rary employees and two rangers, under 

 the direction of one of the forest 

 rangers. At the start there were eight 

 men, including one cook, one teamster, 

 and the man in charge. By the time the 

 tower was half built the crew was cut 

 down to four men. 



"The first task was 

 to cut and peel the tim- 

 bers and skid them to 

 the spot where the 

 tower was to be 

 erected. Much care was 

 necessary in selecting 

 the main poles, some of 

 which were skidded out 

 of dense thickets. Al- 

 together, over 2,600 lin. 

 ft. of poles was used. 

 The dimensions of the 

 tower are as follows : 

 base, 30 ft. square ; 

 platform top, G ft. 

 square ; height, 115 ft. 



"The main corner 

 poles averaged 16 in. in 

 diameter at the butts 

 and 4 in. at the tops. 

 They are spliced at 

 heights of 45 ft. and 

 100 ft. Each splice is 

 l)olted and then bound 

 with bands of tele- 

 phone wire (see Fig. 

 3). 'I'he timbers are 

 fastened together with 

 ' j-in. lagscrews. The 

 floor is constructed of 

 2x6-in. lumber and the 

 rail is of 2x4-in. and 

 lx4-in. lumber. With 

 these exceptions, no 

 sawed lumber was used 

 in the tower. 



"In raising the poles 

 a tree nearly 100 ft. in 

 height was used as a derrick mast ; 

 but since the top of this tree was not 

 stout enough above a height of 75 to 80 

 ft. to carry much weight, some diffi- 

 culty was experienced in placing the 

 55-ft. poles upon the tops of the 45-ft. 

 ones below\ 



"A\'ith an abundance of rigging, a 



derrick boom could have been rigged, 

 which would have simplified the work 

 to a great extent ; but it must be remem- 

 bered that we had only three pulley 

 blocks, and they had to be used in 

 hoisting each pole or brace. We were 

 so short of rope that when we raised 

 the second length of the main poles, it 

 was necessary to hoist until the blocks 

 came together, lash the pole so that it 



Figure 2. Lookout Tower Showing Method 

 OF Framing. 



could not fall, and then stretch the 

 tackle for another pull. 



"The men of the crew had no pre- 

 vious experience in building towers and 

 were bv no means ex])ert climbers at first, 

 but they improved rapidly, so that before 

 the tower was completed, several of 

 them were excellent men for high work. 



