The first structure on Poke-O-Moonshine was a wooden tower erected by the Conservation Commission in 1912. In 1917 the wood tower replaced with a 35′ Aermotor tower.

In 1919, the third generation of a device known as the Osborne Fire Finder had been developed by the US Forest Service. By means of this instrument, a panoramic map of the territory visible from a mountain station could be prepared.

This made it possible for an inexperienced observer to locate fires more accurately than by using ordinary topographic maps. The Osborne was first tried out at Poke-O-Moonshine Mt. during that same year and a map was made. It was considered so successful that in the years to follow the Osborne was carried up to each mountain station and a map made. This project took several years to complete.

Panoramic maps were ultimately provided to all towers to aid the observer in locating fires. This was a circular map with a panoramic sketch of the surrounding vista around the outside edge as can be seen in the photo below.

The inner portion was a topographic map with the tower location in the center. A sighting device called an “alidade” pivoted on a pin in the center of the map. Along the outer edge of the topographic map portion are azimuths that could be easily read by the observer once the alidade was sited on a possible fire.

The outermost edge of the map is the panorama or a sketch of what the observer could actually see from the mountain station. While these were very helpful to the observer in locating a possible fire, there was a downside to the concept.

The diameter of the circular map was only 12 inches. This allowed the observer to do a reasonably good job of locating a fire within six miles of the station, but locating fires further distant was still difficult.

Vast areas of the Adirondacks and Catskills didn’t appear on any stations maps requiring they use the previous methods of location. Triangulation, as a method of locating fires, didn’t come in to its own until the 1940’s.

Years later, use of a 30 inch diameter map was instituted that effectively did away with this problem but created another. The panoramic sketches that were so helpful to the new observer had to go.

This tower ceased operation at the end of the 1988 season. The tower was officially closed in early 1989 when the Department of Environmental Conservation determined that towers were no longer effective and decided to phase them out of service.

In 1994, a group known as the Friends of Poke-O-Moonshine was formed to save and restore the tower.

Poke-O-Moonshine appears on both the National Historic Lookout Register and the National Register of Historic Places, being placed on the latter on Sept 28, 2001.

Poke-O-Moonshine is one of the mountains included in the Fire Tower Challenge sponsored by the Glens Falls-Saratoga Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK). “To complete the Challenge and receive the official full-color patch, hikers must climb and document, by date, ascents of at least 23 fire tower summits: 18 of 23 Adirondack Park summits and all 5 Catskill Park summits.”