Nature
West Mountain, a 2,923-foot Adirondack peak northwest of Raquette Lake in Hamilton County, is best known for its place in New York’s fire lookout system. A 14-foot wooden signal tower built in 1899 for the United States Geological Survey was the first known summit structure. By 1909 the mountain was already used for fire observation, and observer William Wing Sanderson left a detailed diary of his service there. In 1920 a 47-foot Aermotor LS40 steel fire tower replaced the earlier tower, with materials hauled up by Billy Payne and his ox Tommy. Fire observation ended after the 1970 season, and parts of the dismantled tower were later reused at the Essex County Historical Museum.
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Long Lake, New York · United States