The Dickeys Knob lookout tower was built in the early 1930s. The exact date is unknown. A USGS marker is located on top of the mountain not far from the location of the lookout tower. 1934 has been said to be the year of the construction because a 1934 penny was embedded in the wet cement of the marker. Later, vandals chiseled it out.
Seasonally, during Spring before the trees leafed out and Fall when lots of dry vegetation was on the ground were the times that guardians/fire watchers were employed to man the fire towers. They used a device that was rather modern for the time called an Osborn Fire Finder. This was used to determine the location of the fire so it could then be pinpointed on a map and reported. Reports were made to dispatchers using short wave radios or telephones that were maintained by the US Forest Service for this purpose. A report was needed from 3 total lookout towers to pinpoint coordinates on a map of a fire location. This all took place before fire crews were summoned.
To use an Osborn Fire Finder, you needed to look through the sights similar to sights on a rifle, line it up with the base of the fire and a peephole in the rear sight. Once the hair is properly aligned, you can then take the horizontal reading in degrees and minutes. After that, you obtain the vertical angle reading by using the measurement on the sliding metal piece on the rear sight and estimate the miles between the tower and the sight of the smoke using the metal tape on the device. Check the map which is calibrated to my tower’s location and affixed to the fire finder to pinpoint the area of a fire very closely.
This fire finder was designed by W. B. Osborne, a US Forest Service employee in 1915. Parts for this device have not been produced since 1975 making them very scarce. There are also no casting patterns or production drawings.
Guardians, or lookouts lead a very quiet and often lonely existence in the lookout towers. Sometimes people would climb the mountain to visit or bring supplies, food or water. During fire season, sleep was interrupted every hour on the hour during the night to scan the horizon for a glow of fire.
Sometimes Steam from moonshine stills back in the mountains could be seen from the lookout towers but the fire watchers knew better than to report this due to the isolated nature of their work and reasonable possibility of severe retaliation from the moonshiners.
The tower on Dickeys Knob was 50 feet tall and had an interior space of 12×12 enclosed at the top. There was a catwalk all the way around the top of the tower on the exterior. Generally, October 15-December 15 and February 15- June 15 is considered “fire season” by the US Forest Service in our area which is known as the Holston District of the Jefferson National Forest.
During the time of these operations, Charlie Harrington, a Sugar Grove native, and 4 other men in this district, would make the fire towers their homes where they would live, eat, sleep and keep lookout for forest fires. If someone seen smoke, they used the Osborne Fire Finder to get a coordinate/location then made contact with other towers in the area to have them do the same. With a total of 3 coordinates, the location would be pinpointed on a map and a fire would be reported to the ranger or assistant ranger on duty who would be on their way to the location with a fire crew.
The Osborne Fire Finder was similar to a large compass laid overtop a map of the area. Two other towers were needed to provide coordinates to map an exact location. At this time, the US Forest Service had their own telephones and lines that they maintained. Workers were required to have a phone at their home and were assigned a specific number of rings such as 2 longs and 1 short. These phones were wall mounted crank phones. There were very few phones in Sugar Grove at this time. The public phone system during this period was called Inter-Mountain Telephone Company.
The fire tower was equipped with a small wood stove for heat and cooking. There was also a 1 man bed, some cabinets for storage and cooking utensils. Among these were a few porcelain pots and pans which were widely used during this era. The tower had unobstructed glass windows all around for a full 360 degree view of the forest. The tower had no electricity or running water. Perishables could be hung underneath the tower on the north side to keep items cool. With the elevation, there would often be a nice breeze flowing and the north side provided shade from sun. There were no restroom facilities except for a small brown building at the base of the tower a little ways off to the side which was an outhouse.
The fire tower was a popular place to visit in the 1930s and 1940s. At that time, it was possible to drive a car up to the tower or walk up the mountain trail.
On the east side, there is a rock cliff with a drop some 30 feet straight down. After the tower was a torn down, a hiking trail was built from the nearby Raccoon campground. This trail goes past the cliff and then to the top of the mountain.
Charles Harrington kept a guest log that Donald Harrington, his son, made available in his book*. The tower had lots of visitors who signed the log book. Sometimes they were from other states. When visitors came to the tower, Mr. Harrington gave them a “Squirrel Card” that featured a picture of the lookout tower and bore the emblem of the US Forest Service. It read “This Certifies that ______On _____ 19___ —-NAME HERE—- Climbed the Dickeys Knob Lookout Tower Guarding the Jefferson National Forest Against Fire and is therefore recognized as a member of the Ancient Honorable Order of Squirrels.” The back had a pledge to prevent fires and use care in the forest.
The other fire towers were Quebec (Sometimes spelled “Quebeck), Feather Camp and Comers Rock.
Dickeys Knob was named after William R. Dickey (1823-1903). He was the holder of about 300 acres in Grayson County. The stream that flows down Iron Mountain into Sugar Grove is called Dickeys Creek after the same man. These waters used to be heavily populated with Red Eyes, Horney Heads, and Sucker fish.
The elevation of Dickeys Knob is approximately 3640 feet according to the USGS marker placed at the summit.
*If you would like to read the Dickeys Knob Fire Tower Guest Logs, you may do so at the Smyth County Public Library’s Heritage Room where you will find Donald Harrington’s book. It is located on the wall to the right of the entrance near the top center and is a spiral bound paperback.
Sources: Donald V. Harrington, 2001, “Who Was Pa Pa Harrington” United States Geological Survey United States Forest Service
