The State of Indiana first began to build lookout towers in 1930. At the time Indiana had only one fire tower. This tower was at Clark State Forest, which bore a sign proclaiming “Stay off. Unsafe to climb.” One of the first challenges was determining where the high points were to build the towers. In the mid 1930’s, Indiana was one of few states that had not been completely mapped topographically. Without elevation maps, the job of locating towers on the most efficient high points was a hit or miss proposition. After 20 fire towers were erected, a complete visibility survey, with the use of special precision instruments, found that three towers had to be dismantled and moved, the remainder needed to be extended twenty feet in height, and eleven additional towers were needed.
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By 1952 there were 33 towers in the state. Almost all were in the southern portion of the state. A map and listing of their location follows:
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