I'll be relying on a lot of information from Lin Risner in this article because he is my credible source on forest-related matters. When I called Lin and told him my topic, he asked if I wanted enough to write a book. Lin has many years of experience with fire surveillance.

Fire towers in Texas go back to the early 1900s, and the first ones were probably trees with limbs trimmed off and some boards nailed to the top. Texas began phasing out fire towers around 1975. Most were built on tracts of land with a 99-year lease. Some have been dismantled.

Even the most modern of fire towers were not luxurious high-rise apartments. They had insulation against lightning storms, but no electricity, kitchens, bathrooms, or elevators. There were two methods of rising to the top, both were steps. One type was ladder steps and the other was zigzag type of stair-steps.

When the 100-foot fire towers were active, the personnel had instruments to locate the smoke from two different towers by directional lines of sight and radio communication with other towers. Then they would unclimb the towers and go fight fire.

Their function has now been replaced by small planes. The Texas Forestry Department contracts with plane owners to look for fires on windy days, during extreme dry periods, and at such times that fires are more probable. The planes do not fly high, but can cover a large geographic area.

The country was dotted with fire towers in timbered regions. During WWII on the West Coast, the fire towers were used for aerial surveillance for enemy attacks.

In the Catskill Mountains, mountain climbers have worked out a program to keep the fire towers on top of the mountains in good repair, so they can climb them and get a 360 degree spectacular view of the mountain scenery.

I've ridden longhorns and pumping oil wells. I've also climbed the Washington Monument, but my fear of heights prevented me from climbing a fire tower.

(The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Ben Z. Grant, a former member of the Texas legislature, lives in Marshall, Texas. Scott Sosebee is Executive Director of the Association and can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu ; www.easttexashistorical.org.)