| Old Ontario Towers |
| The original Parry Sound Tower above which is the only one to have had stairs added in place of the ladder.It is gone now and has been replaced by another 90 ft tourist tower. Hockey great Bobby Orr lived right beside this hill as a child and he most likely would have climbed it. Can you confirm this Bobby? |
| Pinery Provincial Park Tower near Grand Bend, Ont. A strange place for a tower- so close to Lake Huron in farm territory. I am told it still stands as a communications tower in the Pinery Forest. Photo courtesy of Henry Isenberg of the FFLA. |
| Left: the Willisville Tower on Burke's Mountain near Espanola that was dismantled not too long ago in the late 1980's. This is the very tower used in an episode of the old CBC tv show "Adventures in Rainbow Country." There is a funny story of how John Burke, the towerman here in 1937, saw a herd of elephants walking up the trail. U can imagine the laughs he got when he called back to headquarters by phone when he explained the event. "Ya John, have another shot of whiskey!" Anyways, the truth is that a circus transport had broken open and the elephants simply wandered into the bush. (Top-selling crooner, Bing Crosby, and World Heavyweight Boxing Champ, Joe Louis, both visited this tower. They signed the towerman's guestbook as well) |
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| To the left is the impressive view of the Kuragami Lake Tower right on the edge of a dangerous granite cliff. To the right is the Draper Tower and bunkhouse SE of Gravenhurst, Muskoka. It was an 80 footer, and was used in the 1st season of "The Forest Rangers" for stock footage- (Chub's stunt double climbed the tower right to the top). Mr. Walter Allen ran the tower from 1952-1960 (when it was decommissioned), and it was dismantled in 1969. I always had strong suspicion that the bunkhouse went through renovations after this photo was taken, as the Forest Rangers episode "The Beaver" would suggest. According to Walter's wife this indeed happened, as her family grew to three children and they needed the extra space. (Her youngest (a boy) was caught trying to climb the tower when he was only 3 yrs old). Courtesy Ontario Archives (RG1-448.) |
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| The Ferndale Tower used on the "RED GREEN SHOW" run by Ranger Gord is located at Port Carling on the grounds of the old Ferndale Resort. It was built in the 1960s for tourists at the resort and was not actually a Ministry run tower. Ranger Gord still watches for fire there all year long and sadly hasn't been paid for over 15 yrs. To see a photo of Gord (and Red Green) with a write-up on how he spends his lonely time click here. |
| Click this link here for the list of all towers still standing in the province to this day. To proceed to the next page of tower photos click on the "Next" button as there are many more great photos ahead for your viewing pleasure. |
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| Silver Peak Tower at Killarney Park- In the height of the Ontario fire tower system of the 1950s this was one of only two wooden towers used in the entire system of 320. The footings still remain. |
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