MISSOURI LOOKOUTS

MINEOLA

Montgomery County
Missouri Conservation Commission
48N-6W-26

1941:   Ten acres were acquired by the Conservation Commission for the purpose of erecting  a fire tower.  (Missouri Conservation Commission Annual Report)

November 7, 1941:   "The Missouri Conservation Commission has announced the purchase of a ten-acre tract of land near Mineola, where it plans to erect a 68-foot steel lookout tower to be used in the detection of forest fires."   (Warrenton Banner)

​1939-1941:   Material for a 68-foot steel tower ordered.   ​(Missouri Conservation Commission Annual Report 1939-41)

February 12, 1942:   "A woods fire recently burned over about four acres southeast of Danville before it was suppressed by Arthur Meyer, district forester, stationed at Warrenton, Walter Henderson, assistant forester, and D.W. Frazier, wildlife conservation agent.  The fire occurred about four miles southeast of the Mineola hill site, where the Conservation Commission is constructing a forest fire tower."   (Warrenton Banner)

1942:   A 68-foot steel tower erected.   (Report of the Missouri Conservation Commission)

1945-1946:   The 'Official Manual of the State of Missouri'  indicates that the towersite is owned by the Missouri Conservation Commission and is 10.2 acres in size.

January 30, 1959:   "A new 1/4 ton jeep was received at the district headquarters recently.  This vehicle is being assigned to Towerman Harry Sowers at Mineola.  It replaces the 1952 jeep formerly assigned to Sowers."   (The Marthasville Record)

​July 28, 1960:   " 'I knew it was wrong, but I went ahead and did it anyway,' said a 17-year-old boy sentenced to a 90 day jail term for destroying state property at the Conservation Commission's Mineola Fire Tower site in Montgomery county.
      The youth and a younger companion went on a rampage there, turning over picnic tables, breaking benches, tearing down signs and strewing trash can refuse on the tower site grounds.  By the time the vandalism binge was over, the boys had racked up about $250 worth of damage, reported Paul Brooks, conservation agent in Montgomery county.
     The vandals left fingerprints on the smooth surface of a parking sign which Brooks sent to the Highway Patrol Laboratory.  Then a lucky break occurred; someone reported the names of two boys seen near the fire tower the morning of the outrage.
      Confronted with a statement  and matching fingerprints on the sign , one youth confessed, implicating his companion.  The younger boy was turned over to juvenile authorities for later action, Brooks said."   (Franklin County Tribune)