See how Minnesota fire towers help preserve a 5,000-year-old bog
Two of the top three deadliest fires in U.S. history were in Minnesota. In response to the fires, the Minnesota forestry service was established in the early 1900s, creating the system of fire towers.
In northern Minnesota, not much can beat the pristine view – and the rush – of climbing a fire tower. Reaching 100 feet into the sky, there were once nearly 150 of these steel lookouts guarding the state's fire-prone forests.
Today, only a handful of climbable towers exist and they remain on the front lines of fire prevention through education and an innate human desire to perch above the treetops.
Most fire towers in the U.S. were built in the 1930s. Staffed by generations of women and men trained to locate the first wisps of smoke, they were relied upon for over two decades as a critical line of defense against forest fires. In the 1950s, lookouts were replaced
