The Harney Peak Lookout Tower at the highest point in the Black Hills is getting a facelift. This tower was built in 1938 as a lookout region to spot Wildfires. This restoration seeks to preserve the lookout tower for years to come.
Each day a team of historical restoration specialists and volunteers make a seven mile hike to the top of Harney Peak and back. Officials say the goal is to preserve the historic lookout tower, so it can be admired for years to come. Jackson Poppen is a restoration specialist working on the project. He says the goal isn’t to change the look of the tower.
"What we’re doing is preservation maintenance. We’re bring this back to how it looked in the 1930’s which is exactly how it looks now. We’re not going to moving stones around or anything like that but we are reinstalling the windows that would have been here and we’re installing the doors. So when this is completely done it will look just like it always has, with just a little spit and polish put on it basically, Poppen says.
Poppen says he has a team of about five to six volunteers who are helping out. Poppen says there is no electricity and the wilderness area designation at the site means power tools are forbidden. He says the building will look traditional but in some instances modern materials may be used.
"If there’s a wall that’s not stable, we’ll fix it with modern materials if necessary and then put sort fabric back over it. So, you know it isn’t glaring to the public that we’ve changed things," Poppen says.
Poppen says the project is expected to take around five to six years to complete. He says the project is volunteer driven and as long as the volunteers continue, so will the restoration of the Harney Peak Lookout Tower.
