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[0:00]
for decades neighbors who live here on
mccomb street in plattsburgh knew about
[0:03]
george barber's project the 40-foot fire
tower that sat on its side here in his
[0:09]
backyard
george who was a land surveyor had
[0:12]
dreams of reassembling the tower on a
hill just north of plattsburgh where
[0:16]
visitors would be able to see across
lake champlain to the mountains in
[0:20]
vermont and north across the border to
see the skyline of montreal
[0:25]
george barber sadly though passed away
three years ago before that had ever
[0:30]
happened
so the family was quite pleasantly
[0:33]
surprised when they were invited to the
village of speculator in the adirondacks
[0:37]
this past week to see their father's
tower standing tall once again at a new
[0:42]
home with a new purpose
[0:47]
the mayor jeannette barrett has spent
the past couple of weeks capturing it
[0:51]
all on her phone as the historic mccomas
fire tower that had sat in george
[0:56]
barbour's backyard for more than 40
years was being reassembled piece by
[1:02]
piece just across route 30 from lake
pleasant in the village of speculator
[1:06]
when i became mayor one of my goals was
to help improve the economy we are a
[1:11]
tourist-based economy and we got in
touch with laurie rankin from the new
[1:16]
york state uh forest fire lookout
association she put me in touch with
[1:20]
mike valegi and he says i've got a tower
full of adirondack history and the rest
[1:26]
is history and
there it is the mccomas tower first
[1:30]
steel tower set in the adirondacks in
1916 and now here
[1:36]
and so with the help of a hundred
thousand dollar grant through new york's
[1:39]
department of environmental conservation
10 000 from the adirondack foundation
[1:43]
and a fun drive to raise another 50 000
the village bought the tower laid the
[1:49]
foundation and hired the former dec
ranger who remembered seeing the tower
[1:54]
in george barbour's backyard
mike valegi tracked it down to some
[1:59]
woods in redford and went to work
reassembling it here near the ball field
[2:03]
in speculator
and george was so passionate about this
[2:09]
i became obsessed with this tower what
happened to it and so we
[2:14]
picked it up and we restored it and uh
lori rankin put us in touch with the
[2:18]
mayor of speculator and
uh three years later here it is we're
[2:23]
lucky that this one is local and we're
able to keep it local that was very
[2:27]
important because of the history of this
tower it could have
[2:30]
you know it could have wound up in a
private estate somewhere and it's just
[2:34]
in part of george barber's legacy he
wanted everybody to enjoy this so and
[2:39]
open to the public so it's kind of
flattering to uh in a way to be able to
[2:44]
uh you know honor his legacy
i think the the most gratifying thing is
[2:50]
for me is honoring george barber
that that is
[2:56]
that's probably the most important thing
to me
[2:58]
and gratifying to lori rankin who heads
up the forest fire lookout association
[3:04]
in new york state
so this must do your heart good to see
[3:07]
you
this fire tower going up this is
[3:10]
fabulous
not only are we preserving the history
[3:13]
of the mccomas fire tower but it's going
back into an adirondack community so on
[3:19]
on all counts i think it's fabulous
you love it because
[3:25]
people will be able to come see this and
learn about the history of the fire
[3:28]
absolutely yes and the mission of the
forest fire lookout association is to
[3:33]
preserve not just the structures
themselves but also to preserve the
[3:37]
history and this tower has significant
history
[3:42]
the mccomas fire tower was the first of
ten steel towers that went up in 1916 at
[3:48]
the underwood club in north hudson the
towers and fire watchers worked to
[3:52]
protect the adirondacks for more than
half a century until they were
[3:56]
decommissioned in the 1970s
it was very important to the adirondack
[4:02]
communities that that they had somebody
up there protecting them and watching
[4:06]
them by 1970 with a telephone you could
pick up and make a call and say hey i
[4:11]
have a problem
it wasn't as necessary anymore so they
[4:16]
were decommissioned
so they were decommissioned but i know
[4:19]
through the years
many folks have felt that
[4:23]
they should remain in the adirondacks
that they are landmarks that should stay
[4:26]
where they were yes so from the period
of the early 70s when decommissioning
[4:32]
happened until the late 90s there did
begin to be a lot of local small
[4:37]
grassroots organizations
that said what can we do to save this
[4:42]
fire tower we see a restoration as not
only saving a historical item but we
[4:48]
also see it as a great opportunity to
provide education to the hiking public
[4:54]
people happy to have this yes
they are very happy to have it here how
[4:59]
has it gone reassembling this it's been
amazing uh it's been just such a fun
[5:04]
process you know because it's been in
pieces for 44 years were you lucky were
[5:08]
most all the pieces still together
everything that tower is all original
[5:12]
you know there's just a couple tiny
pieces that had to be refabricated but
[5:17]
the rest of it is is is fully
[5:23]
oh this is original
so wonderful and this past week george
[5:27]
barbour's family his kids made a trip to
speculator to see their father's tower
[5:33]
standing tall
well thanks to him and your family for
[5:37]
preserving it so that we can have it
here it's just so wonderful it is
[5:40]
exciting
[Music]
[5:44]
that was something special to him and he
always wanted to put it up and the idea
[5:48]
of a fire tower in our backyard in
plattsburgh was kind of cool
[5:52]
but seeing it here it's it's in a proper
setting this is where it belongs so
[5:57]
we're really excited about that he would
be so pleased
[6:00]
so pleased with this so many more people
will enjoy it here and that's what dad
[6:05]
wanted he wanted it to be accessible to
everybody yes and he realized how rare
[6:09]
fire tarots are and many of them were
just being scrapped and he felt this
[6:13]
needs to be something that the public
has access to so this couldn't be a
[6:17]
better spot for it it's just the most
perfect thing that could happen with
[6:22]
this fire tower
it's
[6:25]
it's a gift
to be able to see it up here
[6:28]
it's like george barbour's dream come
true it's our hope that this will be a
[6:32]
draw year round
for speculator for lake pleasant for
[6:36]
hamilton county
[6:40]
there will be a ribbon cutting for the
new historic fire tower next month
[6:44]
the mccomas tower is in the community
park near the entrance to the sagandaga
[6:48]
pathways trail the village of speculator
is getting help getting the word out
[6:52]
about the new fire tower with the help
of the folks at roost in lake placid we
[6:57]
try to ensure that local communities
have access to
[7:01]
grant materials funding letters of
support that type of thing to make
[7:05]
projects like this happen the
adirondacks has a ton of history
[7:09]
fire towers are just the tip of the
iceberg but the more that we can share
[7:11]
information about things like that and
about the history and the lore of the
[7:15]
adirondacks
it just encourages more people to come