There were no fire lookout towers in the Arizona of the early 1900s. Instead, early firefighters found tall ponderosa pines near mountain tops or other strategic viewpoints. They fitted the trees with handmade steel spikes — known as lags — that they used as footholds to climb the trees.

These fire-spotting pioneers rode horseback along forest trails to reach these “lagged” trees, then climbed to the tops and sat like birds for hours. If a spotter sighted smoke, he’d climb down and ride to the nearest town or telegraph office to notify volunteers.

Many of the lookout trees had map boards installed up top, to help the spotters pinpoint a fire’s exact location.

One of these helpful giants was the “Overgaard Tree," which would’ve been large even back when it was lagged in the 1920s on the

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