Banner Mountain Tower 



On the cover of this issue of "The Tahoe" is shown 

 a picture of the loo'roxit tower constructed in June of this 

 year on the top of Banner Mountain, four miles southeast of 

 Uevnda City, Banner Mountain is 3900 feet high and the tower 

 is 47 feet high with a base 24 feet square and a platform on 

 top 12' square. Its top is far above the trees and the to- 

 pography of the surrounding country is such that there is af- 

 forded an unobstructed view for a radius of more than 50 miles, 

 embracing parts of ten counties in Central California, and more 

 than 1/3 of the Tahoe Forest. 



Forest Guard Howe has been stationed on the tower 

 during the past fire season and his I:nowledgo of the country 

 and careful vigilance hae enabled us to demonstrate its effi- 

 cacy in our fire protection vror 1 .:. Many a nl.^hts rest has been 

 disturbed by this vigilant watchman sighting the ?rray filmy 

 lines of saolce florting upward beyond some distant ridge. 



A large map of the country was prepared at the be- 

 ginning of the fire season by mounting topo.graphic sheets of 

 the U. S.S.S. on linen and inscribing thereon a compass dial. 

 This nap was properly oriented and immediately on discovering 

 c fire it was only necessary to tc.ke a bearing on its point of 

 ori ;in by placing a rule on the map and sighting along its 

 edge. In te'.ring these bearings an" ordinary rule divided into 

 inches end fractional inches ras used, so that it was not only 

 possible to ascertain the Direction and approximate location 

 of the fire, but also to estimate its distance in an air line, 

 lir. Howo si-^ited 15 fires in July, 27 in August and 21 in 

 September making a total of 63 fires sighted during the season. 



Lookout towers of this nature have been construct- 

 ed in other parts of the oovovtry and hcve proven quite an 

 asset in fire protection. So far as is known, however, this 

 is the first one constructec*. in California, and it hco already 

 proven such a success that others may be constructed on this 

 Forest in the f-iture. The money spent for the construction 

 of this tower is one of the best investments over male by the 

 Poroet Service s.nc its cost has been several times repaid, In 

 the first year of its existence, by the amount of timber 

 saved by prompt Information being given of all fires sighted . 



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