MISSOURI LOOKOUTS

WARRENTON

Warren County
Missouri Conservation Commission
47N-2W-31

February 19, 1941:   "The State Conservation Commission said today a new 479,360-acre forest protection district has been established in St. Charles, Warren and Montgomery counties with headquarters at Warrenton.
      Landowners have agreed to cooperate with the commission in watching for and fighting forest fires.  A district forester will be stationed at Warrenton and a fire tower built.  Other equipment and men will be furnished by the commission to fight fires in the district."  (Saint Charles Daily Cosmos Monitor)

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

1939-1941:   Site only.   ​(Missouri Conservation Commission Annual Report 1939-41)

April 2, 1942:   "In between fire periods a temporary wooden lookout tower is being constructed on the Warrenton towersite 2 mi. southwest of town.  Upon completion of this tower close co-ordination between its lookout and the lookout stationed at the Mineola tower will allow quick detection of fires over most of the Daniel Boone District.  These lookouts make prompt attack possible so that fires are suppressed with the least labor and smallest burned area."   (Warrenton Banner)

1942:   Ten acres were acquired for a towersite.   A 30-foot wooden 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 acres in size.

August 30, 1951:   An all-steel lookout tower is being erected at the Warrenton Towersite on Pinckney Ridge to replace the old wooden tower.  The old tower is a temporary structure built during the war.  Before the fall fire season starts, about October 15, the new tower should be completed and the old one dismantled.  It will be 68 feet to the floor of the cab on the new tower.
      A picnic table and fireplace have been built in the northwest corner of the area for public use.  Visitors are welcome at all towersites.  Coming from all of the 48 states and at least 12 foreign countries approximately 20,000 people visited the 5 lookouts on the Daniel Boone Fire Protection District last year.  An Ohio visitor writes in the margin of the Mineola Tower's register, 'This is the nicest park I have been in since leaving Ohio.' "   (Warrenton Banner)

January 30, 1959:   "Herbert Hurt, of Warrenton, Missouri, recently accepted a position as Forest Towerman for the Missouri Conservation Commission.  He will be assigned to the Warrenton fire tower, replacing Norman Smith who resigned.  Hurt is familiar with the timberland protected from this tower since he was assigned there for three years previously."   (The Marthasville Record)

FY1975-76:  "New overhead doors were installed on the garage at the Warrenton tower site."   (Missouri Department of Conservation Annual Report)
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May 24, 1979:   "While it could be a new, mobile method of forest fire lookout, it isn't.  The Conservation Department has given a surplus fire tower of Warrenton to Ft. Leonard Wood for use in gunnery observation.  The Missouri Air National Guard moved the mammoth tower from Warrenton to Ft. Wood in early May.  'We have better forest fire control now.' says Jerry Presley, state forester for the Department.  'People cooperate very well at reporting fires and we use planes more to spot fires, so some of our towers have become surplus.'   Almost surely this is the first time a fire tower ever went for a helicopter ride."   (The Current Local)