Marshall McClung
William “Bill” Nothstein was an early forest ranger on the Cheoah Ranger District. He was interviewed by Dr. Louis Silveri of the Southern Highlands Research Center in 1976.
In the interview, Nothstein talks a lot about the early days of the Forest Service in Graham County – especially the forest fire tower operators.
In the beginning, the fire towers were staffed by Civilian Conservation Corps members, who built most of them. After World War II started, the CCC ended and the towers were operated by temporary U.S. Forest Service personnel. They were paid $2.20 per day and when they went to the fire tower, they stayed until it rained.
If you think that they had it made, sitting in a chair and looking out at the mountains, think again.
Some of them had to ride a horse or walk for miles to get to the fire tower. During a drought, this could be weeks or months, depending on the weather. They were expected to take enough food with them to last for several weeks. Sometimes, their water supply was a ¼ mile or more from the fire tower.
Kerosene for the lamps had to be carried in and they had to chop wood for cooking food and for warmth.
Nothstein recounted a story of being in an unusual incident involving the Haoe Bald Fire Lookout. A local game warden contacted him early one morning to report a robbery. Two men had robbed Brownlow Blevins of $750 as he was sitting on his porch. The men meant to kill him, but the pistol misfired.
Nothstein and the warden tracked the men to the Haoe Bald Fire Tower and discovered that the door panel had been kicked in, allowing entry to the inside. It was summer, so the tower was not occupied. The men were gone, but had left wet socks and fresh coffee grounds.
They continued to track the men to where they had gone off the ridge and into Tennessee. The men were caught about a week later by Tennessee law enforcement officers. They had bought a car with Blevins’ money.
The Haoe Bald Fire Tower was located within the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, at an elevation of 5,249 feet. It was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. In the early 1950s, it was abandoned and began to fall into disrepair. When I first saw it in 1967, the roof had fallen in. The ruins were removed May 8, 1980.
Today, there is little to indicate that there was ever a fire tower there.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He is retired from the U.S. Forest Service and can be reached via email, mcclungs828@gmail.com.