HARNEY PEAK
Pennington County - Harney National Forest > Black Hills National Forest - 2S-5E-21
March 23, 1911: Continued from a story on Custer Peak: "Another such signal station will be placed (on) Harney Peak where a man will be on watch and telephone connections will be made with Custer via Sylvan Lake." (Deadwood Pioneer-Times)
March 31, 1911: "Lookout stations will be established on Custer Peak and Harney Peak in the southern Hills, the two stations to be connected up by telephone with the northern and southern headquarters respectively so that speedy warning of new fires can be given as the two peaks are among the highest points in the northern and southern hills and are the best points of vantage for the rangers.---Deadwood Dispatch." (The Black Hills Union and Western Stock review)
August 24, 1911: "Some time ago a lookout station was established on the top of Custer Peak, to keep a watch on fires in the Black Hills reserve. This station is connected by telephone with headquarters at Deadwood, and any fire which starts is quickly reported. A similar station has been provided for the Harney reserve in the southern Hills, the lookout being from Harney peak. These stations are supplied with watchmen who know the country, and they quickly locate any fire which may start, and fire fighting forces are hurried to the location which they report." (Pierre Weekly Free Press)
September 23, 1912: "Forest Ranger Poe has a crew at work constructing a telephone line from Hill City to the Lookout station on top of Harney Peak. They finished digging the holes for the poles Wednesday. When completed this line will give Ranger Poe direct communication with headquarters of the Harney National Forest at Custer. The telephone is of inestimable value.-- Hill City News." (Lead Daily Call)
December 11, 1915: "The Harney Forest maintains two lookout stations, one on Harney Peak and one on Bear Mountain, where a Forest guard is constantly in attendance during the dangerous fire season. From these lookout stations it is possible to see over practically the entire forest and locate definitely any fire which may be started. Notwithstanding, these two efficient lookout stations it has happened upon several occasions that the Forest officers at Custer would be advised, by telephone from some citizen in regard to a forest fire before the information was received from the lookout stations. Seldom has a fire occurred on the Harney Forest within recent years that the Forest Supervisor did not receive at least a half a dozen telephone calls from various individuals giving information in regard to the fire. Each and every telephone call is very much appreciated for it shows conclusively that the sentiment is overwhelmingly against the destruction of National Forest resources by fire." (Lead Daily Call)
April 10, 1916: "The occurrence of three forest fires on the Harney forest in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, during the latter part of March, necessitated the placing of a guard for patrol duty at the Harney Peak lookout observatory." (Lead Daily Call)
August 22, 1916: "A suggestion of the number of visitors who have toured the Black Hills this season may be gained from the fact that 600 have registered at the government lookout station on the summit of Harney's Peak during the summer. As only a very small proportion of the visitors to the Hills make the ascent to the highest point in the Hills it is evident that many thousand visitors have been touring the Hills this season." (Lead Daily Call)
April 8, 1919: "A rescue party is working out from Custer today to reach the forest service lookout and his bride who are marooned on the pinnacle of Harney Peak. The snowed-in couple are Lieutenant Emmons of New York, and his bride of a few weeks. On his recent discharge from the army, Lieutenant Emmons, whose health was failing decided to locate in the mountain regions of the west and secured work with the forest service. He was assigned to the position of lookout on Harney Peak and last week he and his wife reached Custer.
Last Saturday, before the storm set in, they moved to the lookout's cabin at the top of Harney Peak and were established there when the storm broke Sunday. They are well supplied with food, but their fuel supple is doubtful and for that reason the rescue party is attempting to reach them, it is believed they have about three day's supply of wood at the cabin, but it would be extremely difficult to replenish it, under existing conditions. There is no timber near the cabin, and to get down from the peak, it is necessary to descend a ladder. At the foot of the ladder there is fifteen or twenty feet of snow and it would be practically impossible for a man in a weakened condition in which Emmons is, to descend the ladder, make his way through the deep snow drifts, cut wood and pack it on his back up the ladder to the cabin.
However, there is a possibility of them holding out for a week or more for even if the rescue party failed to reach them at once, they could cut up the furniture and use parts of the cabin, in case their fuel supply ran out." (Lead Daily Call)
April 18, 1919: "Lieutenant E.H. Emmons and his bride of a few weeks are still marooned in the forest service lookout's cabin on the pinacle of Harney peak. They have been there since Saturday, April 5th and thus far have suffered no inconvenience, in fact they are rather enjoying the experience, which will furnish an incident in their honeymoon that will be remembered, without effort, throughout their lives. They are in telephone communication with the outside world.
When Lieut. Emmons of New York, who has just been discharged from the army in poor health and asked for a government position that would put him into a mountain climate, went with his bride on April 5th to take up his residence on Harney Peak, he was provided with a month's food supply, but after the heavy snow storm set in on the following day and a rescue party from Custer was unable to reach the peak on account of 15 to 20 feet of snow drifts, it was feared the Emmons would suffer from lack of fuel supply; there was only about three days wood supply at the cabin. To reach timber it was necessary to descend a 20 foot ladder from the peak and at the foot of the ladder was some 20 feet of snow. However, it appears that Emmons has been able to reach the timber; he has shoveled away the snow and although it is no small job to pack wood on his back up the ladder, he has kept plenty on hand." (Lead Daily Call)
May 1919: A 12x12 log cabin was constructed for living quarters just below the summit. ( "IMAGES OF AMERICA BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST - Harney Peak and the Historic Lookout Towers" by Jan Cerney and Roberta Sago - Arcadia Publishing 2011)
June 19, 1919: "The new trail to Harney Peak is now open the entire length so that tourists travel this one way in making the trip from Sylvan Lake. The construction has not been finished but a crew is at work and the trail will be completed during the present month." (News-Journal)
1920: The first enclosed lookout structure was constructed. The top of the rock had to be dynamited to make a level placed to build. The cabin measured 12x12, with three windows on each side. ( "IMAGES OF AMERICA BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST - Harney Peak and the Historic Lookout Towers" by Jan Cerney and Roberta Sago - Arcadia Publishing 2011)
November 17, 1920: "Earl H. Emmons, who during the past summer and fall had been stationed as look-out on Harney Peak, was in the city this afternoon. Mr. Emmons and his wife are now in Deadwood where they will remain for several weeks while the former gathers data for a book which he proposes to publish on the Black Hills. The season on the peak is over and he will have time to give to his work." (Lead Daily Call)
November 6, 1921: "Mr. Emmons was lookout at Harney Peak during the summer for the Forest service." (Deadwood Pioneer-Times)
November 16, 1922: "Mr. and Mrs. Paul J. Beard, who have for the past season been in charge of the lookout station at the top of Harney Peak, went to Deadwood on Monday's Burlington. They then departed over the Northwestern for Omaha. After a few weeks stay at Omaha, Mr. Beard expects to attend the school of forestry at Ames, Iowa. It is understood that Mr. and Mrs. Beard will return here next spring and once more take charge of the station." (Deadwood Pioneer-Times)
May 28, 1923: "We are all delighted to welcome back our esteemed friends of the Harney Lookout, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Beard, who arrived here from Ames, Iowa, last Sunday morning. Owing to the extremely wet condition of the Hills at this times, we judge Mr. and Mrs. Beard will not hurry on to the job, but from now on we shall sort of think of them as our Guardian Angels every night when we say 'Now I lay me down to sleep.'-- Custer Chronicle." (Lead Daily Call)
June 7, 1923: "Mrs. Paul Beard, fire lookout at Harney Peak, South Dakota, is one of the few women in field work in the entire United States forestry service. She keeps house there from early spring until late fall. During the winter she attends college at Ames, Iowa.
The tiny glass house in which she lives, looking into four different states whenever she feels inclined, is lashed to the rock on which it stands by heavy steel cables. Her domicile can only be entered by climbing a 20-foot ladder. Here are a few of the high points of hill-top housekeeping: Food comes on burros' backs up the mountain side from a tourist camp three miles away; water is brought in bags from a distance of two miles; wood for the single stove has to be carried up the ladder in armfuls. Furniture ? Well, there's no baby grand piano--thank you. Most of the contents of the house are chairs and tables--all home-hewn by her disabled veteran husband, who shares with her the duties of watching for the slim white column of burning pine needles." (The Weekly Pioneer Times)
October 29, 1924: "The Forest service lookouts on Harney Peak and other points were taken off last Sunday. During the past season there have been thirty-five fires on the Harney Forest. 7,650 visitors registered on Harney Peak during the summer." (Lead Daily Call)
August 11, 1925: "The lookout on Harney peak gives out some interesting figures on the increase in the tourist travel throughout the southern Black Hills region.
In May and June 1924 there were 975 tourists visited Harney Peak and in April, May and June, 1925, there were 1,339. In July 1924, 2,408 tourists registered on Harney Peak, while in July 1925 there were 3,917." (Lead Daily Call)
August 16, 1926: "A total of 6,436 people, most of them tourists, have climbed the trail to Harney Peak, highest point between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic ocean, this summer up to August 1, according to report of the forest service lookout, J. Anderson. Of this number, 4,143 were counted during July." (Lead Daily Call)
October 22, 1930: "From Harney Peak to Rushmore mountain the distance is six aerial miles but by the horseback trail blazed by William Fay, United States forest ranger, stationed at the Harney Peak Lookout station, it is 12 miles whether the means of locomotion be the well known Dobbin, a mule, or one's own dependable legs." (Deadwood Pioneer-Times)
April 21, 1936: "The lookout station atop Harney Peak, which is not opened this early, was opened today because of the dry condition of the forest." (Deadwood Pioneer-Times)
December 31, 1937: "Construction of a new stone tower on the highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains, Harney peak in the Black Hills, has been announced by A.E. Snow, Custer, Harney national forest supervisor. The new lookout tower which will loom about 40 feet above the crest of the peak, will be constructed of native stone gathered from Harney peak and range." (Daily Republic)
April 30, 1938: "Another old landmark has gone into the discard, with the tearing down of the Harney Peak Lookout this week. Work has been underway for several months transporting material to the peak to build a new stone tower, under the supervision of officials on the Harney National Forest.
The new tower will be constructed of native stone to replace the old wooden one which was built twenty years ago on 'the highest peak east of the Rockies.'
E.A. Snow, Supervisor of the Harney Forest, said this project was the most difficult of any tackled by the forest service, due to difficulty in transporting material. All material has to be hauled to the peak by horse and sleds and on pack horses. The necessary material includes 1,400 sacks of cement, 60 yards of sand, hardware, doors, windows, flag stone, and 500 pieces of native moss covered stone the same as used in the construction of the new Sylvan Lake hotel. The flagstones and 1,200 pieces of the moss covered stone have been taken to the peak already.
The first floor will be about 20 by 25 feet long with a terrace roof from which visitors can look off into the distance across the Black Hills and into several states. Rising above the terrace will be a lookout tower which will be more than 40 feet high.
The first floor will house the ranger's living quarters, museum and possibly a lunch room according to Mr. Snow. Stairs will wind around the outside and inside of the tower with a door opening onto the terrace from the inside stairs. Work will be finished early this summer, according to present plans." (Lead Daily Call)
January 2, 1939: "Harney Peak, highest mountain east of the Rockies, grew 35 feet the past year--the height of a new stone fire lookout erected on top of the Black Hills' pride and joy.
CCC enrollees, working the Harney National Forest service, completed the lookouts' new tower and living quarters this season, but the terrace, wall and steps remain to be finished next summer.
Supervisor E.A. Snow described construction of the stone tower, on top of an 80-foot cliff, as a stupendous undertaking and one of the largest and most difficult projects ever undertaken by the CCC.
'There are no roads to the top of the 7275-foot mountain,' he related, 'and all materials had to be trucked to the foot of the peak and then relayed upward on two sleds pulled by horses.'
Tramways and a mine car were used to get supplies to the top of the cliff, while the men climbed rope ladders. So dangerous was the work that nets were spread below to catch any man who might have fallen from the scaffolding. There were no accidents.
Harney Peak's first lookout was built in 1911. A larger wooden lookout replaced the original structure in 1919.
Living in the lookout's modern and up-to-date quarters are Mr. and Mrs. Howard Culver, newlyweds. Culver has been stationed on the lookout three years." (Bakersfield Californian)
CCC enrollees, working the Harney National Forest service, completed the lookouts' new tower and living quarters this season, but the terrace, wall and steps remain to be finished next summer.
Supervisor E.A. Snow described construction of the stone tower, on top of an 80-foot cliff, as a stupendous undertaking and one of the largest and most difficult projects ever undertaken by the CCC.
'There are no roads to the top of the 7275-foot mountain,' he related, 'and all materials had to be trucked to the foot of the peak and then relayed upward on two sleds pulled by horses.'
Tramways and a mine car were used to get supplies to the top of the cliff, while the men climbed rope ladders. So dangerous was the work that nets were spread below to catch any man who might have fallen from the scaffolding. There were no accidents.
Harney Peak's first lookout was built in 1911. A larger wooden lookout replaced the original structure in 1919.
Living in the lookout's modern and up-to-date quarters are Mr. and Mrs. Howard Culver, newlyweds. Culver has been stationed on the lookout three years." (Bakersfield Californian)
August 6, 1954: "A princess dwells atop this 7,240-foot peak, the highest mountain between the Rockies and the Alps.
She is Kathy Clark, 18, a forestry student at the Iowa State Agricultural College. She is a working princess. She mans--all by herself--the highest of 16 fire lookouts in the million-and-a-half acre Black Hills National Forest.
I jeeped up to her solitary post with her boss, Supervisor Jack C. Kern, but on the way Kathy, a pretty, dark-haired girl, passed us coming down in another jeep. After 10 days and nights of fire watching, it was her day off.
'Can't stop,' she hollered. 'I have to play in a softball game, and I'm late.'
Kern grinned, and waved her on.
'Six of our 16 lookout posts now are manned either by girls or by husband and wife teams,' he said.
'The girls make very dependable fire watchers.
'Kathy is one of our very best. She never gets excited, even during a lightning storm, when we may have six or seven fires going at once.
'She likes the work. This is her third summer. She lives in a little kitchenette beneath the tower, and does her own cooking and laundry.
'Kathy stays up here 8 to 10 days at a time. No, she doesn't get lonely. The job isn't as monotonous as a lighthouse keeper's. The lookouts also act as ground observers for the Air Force. There is always something to do, and. of course, there are a lot of visitors in the summer.'
The vista from Mt Harney is one of the most beautiful in America. The eye can see parts of five states -- South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Nebraska.
'On a clear day we can detect a small fire as far as 70 miles away,' said Kern matter-of-factly.
People generally think of forest fires as spectacular conflagrations that happen only once or twice a year. But an evergreen forest in a dry summer is a gigantic torch that is lit and put out endlessly. Fire fighting to the U.S. Forestry Service isn't a sporadic effort, but a high tension, grueling day-to-day effort.
'We had a 10-acre fire today,' said Kern, a 20-year veteran at this work. 'It was our 167th fire of the year. We have an average of 190 to 200 fires a season in this forest alone.
'About a fourth are caused by careless people. The rest are started by lightning.' " (Daily Journal-Gazette - Mattoon, Illinois)
1967: The final season the lookout was staffed and the structure basically boarded up. ("IMAGES OF AMERICA BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST - Harney Peak and the Historic Lookout Towers" by Jan Cerney and Roberta Sago - Arcadia Publishing 2011)