Keith Argow
1958
Academy Lookout
U.S. Air Force Academy
Elevation: ~7600?
Status: Removed
Year Built: 1957?
Year Removed: 19??
Structure Type: Local design.
Staffed for only a few years, the Academy tower was partway up the backdrop mountain close to the Pike National Forest boundary. It was built after a wildfire escaped from the construction site of the Academy in about Sept. 1957. The fire burned down the draw from the Air Force Academy Chapel all the way to I-25, the route of the main access road. It killed many ponderosa pines which had been deemed essential to a parkway-like entrance to the Academy campus. The damage is still visible today in the lack of larger trees. (Information courtesy of Keith Argow)