LANAGAN
Missouri Lookouts - McDonald County - Missouri Conservation Commission - 22N-33W-26
1945-1946: 20 acres acquired for a towersite. (Annual Report of the Missouri Department of Conservation)
October 8, 1947: "Gerald Brock of Anderson has been employed by the conservation commission as forest towerman. He will be stationed at the Lanagan lookout tower, and will have charge of the fire-fighting crew in the western part of McDonald county. He succeeds Andrew Minke, resigned." (Joplin Globe)
1947-1948: The 'Official Manual of the State of Missouri' indicates that the towersite is owned by the Missouri Conservation Commission and is 20 acres in size.
FY 1950-51: A 37 acre extension to the towersite was acquired. (Missouri Conservation Commission Annual Report)
November 17, 1960: "Rice Parish, 82-year old resident, climbed the Lanagan forestry fire tower recently and it was his own idea, reports Leon Lichterman, district forester of the Neosho district.
The elderly gentleman was accompanied by his son every step of the way but needed no help. 'Apparently, Parrish wanted to do something different from the ordinary rocking chair routine,' Lichteman commented.
The 120-foot steel tower is one of 89 lookout towers scattered through Missouri's woodlands which many thousands of visitors climb each year to view the scenery. 'But few visitors are in their eighties, and many a younger man has refused to go to the top,' the forester said." (The Wheaton Journal)