DETERMINING THE HEIGHT OF A LOOKOUT TOWER 



By Ward Shepard 



Forest Examiner, U. S. Forest Seriice 



How high a lookout tower should l;e is as difficult to answer as the 

 ancient question, How old is Ann? Like Ann's age, it may be decep- 

 tive and a blunder may lead t'o unpleasantness. A tower may be built 

 that is ineffective because too low or needlessly expensive because too 

 high. 



The following described method was used to find the height of a 

 proposed tower on Mt. Taylor on the Manzano National Forest. I 

 do not know whether the method is new, but have never seen it used 

 or described. 



Distance in Fee+ 

 c 50 (oo 150 aoo 250 300 350 





-^--o^^ ^~"~-^^~-^_ 



Fig. 1. 



The view northwest of Taylor Peak is cut off by a stand of Engel- 

 man spruce extending nearly to the top of the peak and reducing the 

 area of visibility by about one-third. As a consequence, the lookout- 

 man has been required to ride about two miles northwest to Mosca 

 Peak in order to see the country invisible from Mt. Taylor. 



The problem then was to determine how high a tower was needed 

 to look over this timber. Levels were run with an Abney hand level 

 from the summit of Taylor Peak down through the highest fringe of 



767 



