COLUMN: Carillon Flashback August 8, 1954 – Rangers watch over forest from highest hill in the Southeast

Seated just below the roof of a new 80-foot tower, which soars above Bedford Hill in the Sandilands Forest Reserve, forest rangers will get an even better view of a much larger area of the forest around the Marchand area.

Forest Ranger Dick Hill has been supervising the erection of a new tower over the past few weeks. The new tower will be 20 feet higher than the old one and the new location is at an elevation of over 1,200 feet above sea level. This will give it a lot of extra value in keeping watch over the Sandilands forest.

The point on the Bedford Ridge at which the new tower is being erected is the highest point in all of Southeastern Manitoba. While surveying for the tower from a bench mark at Bedford, Dick Hill and his crew found the area so steep they had to work in 10-foot steps to calculate the elevation.

At present, the location may be very difficult to spot, even though the tower is visible from the road. Hill promises that a new road will soon be built so that everyone can get a good look at it.

The old 60-foot Marchand tower will be moved to Sprague, where the elevation is 1,066 feet above sea level.

The new tower is being assembled on the spot, from the bottom up. Pieces come drilled and fitted from the factory and are raised into place using a pulley, rope and bucket system. Workmen perched on the completed grid of the tower, bolt the new pieces in place.

The most difficult part of the whole erection is putting the roof onto the little building that perches on top of the tower to serve as a lookout post for the forest ranger.

This tower, along with several others in the Sandilands Forest Reserve, play a huge role in providing early warning of forest fires like the ones that devastated areas of the forest, two years ago.

May 2, 1952 all able-bodied men were called from Middlebro at 4 a.m. to fight a fire that was out of control northeast of Sprague along the Reed River. Seven hours later, the fire was a mile north of Middlebro, where 44 men with Cats and bulldozers were able to keep the fire from going south to the town.

At the same time, a new fire was reported at Woodridge, and there 25 men with tractors and plows responded to a call to battle the flames.

Farther north, a fire of “serious proportions” reached the Trans-Canada Highway, where 35 men and two bulldozers were trying to keep the fire in check.

All roads leading into the Sandilands Forest Reserve were blocked and travel was permitted only by special permission.

All saw mills and lumber camps were closed, and in the RM of La Broquerie, a temporary fire ranger was appointed with the power to conscript men for firefighting, should the need arise.

High up in forestry towers, rangers keep an all-day vigil for fire outbreaks. By a simple method, two tower men, far removed from each other, can “spot” the exact location of an outbreak. Once reported to headquarters, contact is maintained by two-way radio while firefighting help is dispatched.