Saddleback Mountain Lookout

In 1913, a telephone line and equipment for lookout station was ordered.

In 1914, a thirty-six foot steel tower was erected with cab on top, and a log camp was built for the use of the watchman. (It looks as if the log camp was way down at Eddy Pond)

In 1917, the lookouts were newlyweds, Miss Ethel M. Wade and Kenneth Lee. They spent their honeymoon on the top of Saddleback Mountain. The bridegroom was in charge of the lookout station for the Maine forestry district. They lived in a log cabin and both were fond of outdoor life and good shots. There is a lake at the top of the mountain and they took a canoe to the summit. The bridegroom was formerly a registered guide and was thoroughly versed in woodcraft. He was a writer on nature subjects and a poet of considerable ability. In accepting the new position, he relinquished a position of importance on a daily newspaper.

In 1920, the inventory showed a 36-foot steel tower.

In 1926, the observer was Arthur Long, state forestry department watchman. He had an exciting time during the 1926 summer. Long had just climbed down from the lookout tower when it was demolished by a lightning bolt. The next day an earthquake came, Long said the earth shivered as if a big wave was passing under it and the logs in his cabin fairly cracked before the tremors rumbled off along the mountain range. The watchman said it was the most eventful season of his long experience in the Maine woods. A new lookout tower was quickly built this year.

In 1954, the building supplies for a new lookout were delivered in one day. A tractor and roustabouts toted lumber to the summit. The Maine Forestry Departments pioneer two-plane airlift brought cement, gravel, sand, water, shingles and hardware, dropped on the site of a prospective forest wardens camp by flying-machine. The planes piloted by Earl Crabb and Charles Cole made two round trips an hour each. The department hopes to complete in two weeks the Saddleback living quarters of Warden James Parker, who mans the peaks lookout tower. Building the camp close to the tower will enable better fire and radio watches than were possible when the wardens camp was located two miles below the shaft.

In the 1970s, it was shortened and converted to a radio tower.

In the 1990s, it was removed.