The Republican

THAYERVILLE STRUCTURE REPLACED BY NEW TOWER
Is Eighty Feet High; Finishing Touches Being Added

The old 47-foot Thayerville forest fire tower, which was dismantled last summer, has been replaced by a new 80-foot steel lookout structure which greatly improves the vision from this Garrett county observation point.

Standing on the south end of Meadow Mountain, high above the blue waters of Deep Creek Lake, this addition to the Maryland system of lookout towers enables prompt detection of forest fires originating on both sides of the continental divide, for Meadow Mountain and the scattered hills and ridges stretching southward through Altamont to the slopes of Backbone Mountain form the dividing line between the waters that flow eastward to the Atlantic Ocean and those that flow westward and southward to the Gulf of Mexico.

This Allegheny plateau region, with its fertile rolling valleys and rugged mountain slopes possesses some of Maryland's most extensive areas. Forest fires set by incendiarists are a real threat to the economic future of this important forested country.

The Thayerville Tower stands on the Thayer State Game Refuge at an elevation of 3,000 feet and overlooks a wonderful expanse of forest and mountains. Looking across the waters of Deep Creek Lake which are 600 feet below the towerman's lofty perch, the southeastern horizon is formed by the wooded crest of Backbone Mountain, while to the east the abrupt gap, through which the Savage River flows to the Potomac, marks the northern end of Backbone Mountain and separates it from the precipitous slopes of Savage Mountain on whose crest the neighboring High Rock tower stands out boldly on the skyline. In the foreground to the northeast, stretching across the ridges and steep hollows extending from Meadow Mountain to the banks of Savage River, may be seen the area acquired within recent years by the State, known as the Savage River State Forest. To the north, west and southwest the forested slopes of rugged mountain tops stand out above rolling valleys. Across Cherry Creek and Castleman River Valleys the long towering ridge known as Negro Mountain leads the eye northward towards the Pennsylvania line, and beyond its southern end other prominent knobs and ridges such as Marsh Hill and Roman Nose spread their wooded slopes before the towerman's watchful gaze. Ten miles to the southwest at the end of Hoop Pole Ridge, located on the broad Allegheny plateau, are seen the spires and glistening buildings of Oakland and Mountain Lake Park, while looking further south the plateau with its rolling pasturelands and scattered woodlots extends in an uninterrupted expanse as far as the eye will carry. Thus the panorama of plateau and rugged forest slopes is one of great charm and placid rural tranquility, which certainly should be preserved from the disfigurement and economic loss incident to forest fires.

The new tower has been provided through the Federal Emergency Conservation Funds of the Roosevelt Administration and the tower was built by the civilian conservation forces from the Swallow Falls State Camp. The work was directed by District Forest Warden Cecil Ramsey of Oakland, who is now putting the finishing touches on the interior of the tower observatory room. Earle B. Thayer has acted as towerman on several days this fall and this tower will assume its expanded function in the forest protection organization with the opening of the spring fire season.

The tower is connected by State-owned telephone line with the Bittinger, Elder Hill, High Rock and Snaggy Mountain towers, as well as the forest guards and the headquarters of the Savage River State Forest at New Germany. This tower should prove to be the focal point of much of the protection activity in Garrett county, serving as a key point surrounded on all sides by neighboring towers.

The Department of Forestry is looking for greatly improved fire detection and faster attack of fires through this improved facility.