Saturday, March 17, 2018

Wild Imagination or

Observation Tower On Mt. Pleasant 
Welcome to the daydream


When I posted this idea in facebook groups, lots of people liked it but some were on the war path, so I addressed those arguments.
Intended for those who have lived here or visited Mt P in Lancaster Ohio. If you are not, Mt Pleasant is a high point in our public park in which thousands of people come to take in the view every year. HERE

Needs fixing my first draft n tired but will work on it later

For anyone with creative minds.
If you have ever stood on Mt. Pleasant and gazed over our home turf in Lancaster Ohio, I invite you to share a daydream


When I am doing exercises in the basement, I have the music blasting and daydream with great ideas .. well.

I thought of multiple configurations for the webcam tower, but here I will keep to a single idea.

There are no actual plans to build the tower. More than the tower it's self I want to plant the imagination in the minds of others who love to create, draw or solve problems like in a game.

On this page I will lay out one concept and invite others to draw up their own modifications and/or share their ideas how they would accomplish different phases of the project.

The photo below has the main elements of the tower. My great art needs some help I guess.




This year in schools in Fairfield County, I suppose students will write, paint and draw on a ton of paper that will be thrown away. That is ok, it is done in the process of education.


In schools, there will be many drawings with the same subjects and students can and do create all kinds of images.

Some of them could create their renditions of the imaginary observation tower.

The learning process involves problem solving. Drafting and math could be applied in this phase.
Some students may enter engineering when they go to college.

As students will use many structures in drafting, classes could form groups for a competition on creating the best design for the obtower... with precise measurements.
I am guessing students still have projects to work on and turn in.

Students in math and engineering could figure the weights, stress points.. the mechanics of a selected version of the tower.

I am not sure what classes might dabble in finding parts that would go into a structure or having elements fabricated.
This class would go through the  hypothetical procurement of parts and labor to have the project built.

Which schools might use the imaginary project in their classes?
To me every school in Fairfield County could be involved.

This daydream includes Lancaster and all the townships.

In the obtower game, the goal is just approach it like you were actually going to do it. There are so many aspects to the construction, different groups would concentrate on a specific phase.
(Kind of like playing spider when driving past the school)

Not like the Lighting Mt. Pleasant caper, this is only a game I invite people from our turf to use their imagination and promote.

In 1949 Harry Truman proposed the idea of a national medical insurance. The idea stuck with people thinking about it.
In 1965 President Johnson signed it into law.


I am pretty old and see those I grew up with vanishing. Might not happen while I am kicking but it is a fun daydream I can share.

Let's play we are going to build an observation tower on Mt. Pleasant.


Version #1

Before it could be built there would have to be permission from the park board or voters to get a spot to build on.

Before you could get permission to build the project, they would have to know what you wanted to build.

Here we go
This is the path to the top of Mt. P. There is a photo of Mr. Rising and his wife driving down it in a Studebaker.

Walking up the trail.



So planners, how would you transport large steel beams up the trail and to the top of Mt P ? Of course, this phase would have to be done when it was not muddy.

When you get to the top at the tree line there is a path



,The path is here. With lots of rain or after it snows it is muddy.
There would be a sidewalk back and cables on each side to keep people from running around on the plants.



No trees would need be cut down. There is in the clearing where Kookie is laying.

The base of the tower (wild guess 40x40) would not take up any animal homes but after the bottom deck was built higher, that area may be a place animals would find shelter under.
That area would not take much of the animal food supply, there is plenty all around it.



Standing in the opening, looking up, a tower could easily be built with out interfering with wild life or trees.



I thought bottom sections of an electric line tower would be great. 
Power companies do get involved in and contribute money to community projects. This would take someone with clout to explore that possibility.

There are multiple configurations of power towers. To figure how large the base would be, you would have to know which tower you could acquire and you would have to know how large the top deck was.

The top deck would have the webcam, solar power shield and astronomy telescope.
This telescope could be used by each of the schools in the county to come out on field trips.

How big would the top platform need be for the maximum number of people allowed on the top.
Using a pyramid design for stability, the tower would be wider as it got to the ground. Knowing how large the top deck was and distance to the ground, would project the outside dimensions of the base.. the foundation for the legs.


After building the whole tower on paper and figuring the weight, plans for the foundation could be made.

One group might research the makeup of the surface of the top of Mt. P. In addition they would need to research how to build a foundation for the legs.
(Over 50 years ago our class gave us assignments and Mr. Jones took me to the airport where I got an altimeter for my project)
In this project I'll bet a concrete company would welcome a group of students and share methods to build.

I would bet a local concrete company would furnish the material and there would be concrete finishing companies that would do the work for the community project

At a later time, a floor below the tree line could be added for "gatherings in the trees". This would be something to think about, but when building the legs, lugs would be welded so at some later time, a platform could be bolted in.

The bottom deck, possible future expansion would be below the tree line, The deck over it, would like a shelter house for groups to gather.

In the center of the tower would be the pole that the solar panel and webcam were mounted on.. very top

The top deck is where the astronomy telescope would sit.

Some kind of arm would be needed on the top deck to attach a winch to lift things. Carrying things up the step is not a good idea. You couldn't get a crane there.

This floor would have a pressure censor and motion detector to keep vandals off from it.
Because it has solar battery, lights and other cameras could come on to record any would be vandals.



The next deck down would be open to the public. Early morning hikers could come up and watch the sun rise.

When people came to do a sunrise service, they could actually see the sun rise from the top of Mt. P. 
I have seen sunrise services on Mt in Post, but they never saw the sunset because of the trees :)

You could not see the tower from the ground unless you moved a distance from the base, but you could see the top of the tower if you were standing on Mt. P.

In the winter with the leaves off, you could see the frame through the trees,  but people who like to climb to high places and gaze below... well, I figure lots of them would walk over to the tower and climb up on the deck where they could see over the whole county.




You could not see the tower at ground level if you were close to Mt. P. but from a distance it would look something like the pic below (I took this one from Forest Rose)



The top deck is where the solar panel and live webcam would be mounted on the center pole.

The deck would have a high power astronomy telescope. Astronomy clubs and school classes could come up after dark and view the stars and planets.


A local astronomy club and the high school has an astronomy class.
A project for them would be to select the equipment for the platform. Decide how to power it and link it to the internet.

Naysayers always exists. When mentioning an astronomy telescope, those deep into astronomy will cry, vibration, light pollution .. Well Galileo, Hubble or such won't be the kind to climb the steps. Logan has a more advanced visitor area.
There are thousands of back yard amateur astronomers and they produce great images in broad daylight.
An astronomy telescope here would impress amateurs and maybe inspire some to take classes in astronomy.

Grade school, junior high visits have the potential of students taking astronomy classes at the high school :)
Telescopes are only one element of astronomy. Tracking working with images with Photoshop .. there is so much more to the study.

The John Glenn site is a 60 mile round trip from Lancaster. I would guess lots more people here would visit Mt P than would go south of Logan.
With or with out a telescope, locals and visitors would come to stand on the platform to view the night sky.

County high school astronomy 'club' thinking county science teachers meet at LHS for students interested in astronomy. Something cool about coming together in a group that shares your interest.

There are so many amateur astronomy groups with individuals spending thousands. I am a member of a couple of em, here is one Back Yard Astronomy One image HERE




In the last eclipse, how many of your social media pals, posted their pics :)

Build it and people will come to gaze at the sky.

TWO DIFFERENT CAMERAS
* Amature astronomy telescope w camera
* Fairfield County beacon, the camera that would share the view of the county as if you were standing on Mt. P. 



This imaginary project has a live webcam to share the view through the internet and an astronomy telescope, that would share the sky through the internet,



THE SOLAR ECLIPSE IS COMING
It will be a big deal. In Lancaster we were not close to the path of the eclipse in 2017.
People here could have stood in their own yards or any where to view or photograph the event.. but as people will do, they like to gather with others to share the experience.

I went to the fairgrounds .. a little bit for the eclipse but mostly to photograph the people watching the eclipse :)  


Were they that much closer to the sun standing on Mt P.. NO but it is a magic spot that has drawn people here for over a century.

The next eclipse is coming in 2024 . It will be much closer. When the event is near, people will travel for hundreds of miles, camp out and have eclipse parties.. such great excitement.

(I thought the fairground board should consider how to make a big event of it. If they plan ahead of time I'll bet the fairgrounds would be packed).

What will it be like here in 2024 when the path will be very close. This video is a peek of what it was like in 2017





While we will be a tad off the direct path the buzz will become a roar all around us.

Mount Pleasant, I am guessing there will be standing room only :)

Because of the trees no one has watched a sunrise from Mt. P. but with the observation deck, early morning risers can watch and groups who want to have sunrise services on Mt. P. would be able to.




Capturing the sunset with my super telephoto.

I live on a hill in the country but I have to drive a couple miles to see the sunset.
 I'll bet most others can not see it because of trees or buildings in their way, but with the live webcam, anyone can watch the sunset or sunrise through the live webcam mounted on the tower.


The night I captured an airplane flying over the sun just before it set. 


I thought too, pod-casting could play school band music or special broadcast during events.

People would know when events were going on at the fairgrounds.





They could see events going on at home or if they are among those who have moved far away to different states or different parts of the world, they could visit the fair.

This a video one guy captured of the fair, but he had to stand holding the camera a long time. If the live webcam existed all the events at the fair would be visible... if the weather was not bad, that is.





After dark, people in their homes here or afar can stand on Mt P with others there looking over our city.

On the 4th of July local people could view the fairgrounds and watch the fireworks. They could also hear the music of the bands or sounds of the fair. (Microphones on the fairgrounds, video from the observation tower)

Communities in the US and around the world, spend millions to build observation towers. Mt Pleasant is already pretty high and would not need as much.. wild guess 80' to the top.
I created a Google Map HERE.
You can see Columbus skyline on a decent day. This page says
The cliffs offer magnificent views of Lancaster and the central Ohio landscape, from about 250 feet above the city's downtown elevation"


Here are a few locations with towers


Erie Bluffs Observation Tower






Holden Arboretum 




Fire Tower Adventure








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Where might the money come from...

What ever the number, it would look giant to the average bear but it would be change to a community or companies that might contribute.
*  First there would have to be a plan settled on (at least a draft)
*  Some kind of foundation.. I am guessing one of the big lawyer firms in town might contribute to help setting it up.
* South Central, insurance companies, Chamber of commerce, a local concrete company.. thinking of all the material that would go into it.. with the plan in hand.. great pics, project reps might have a meeting and invite potential contributors to take a look at the concept.

Because Mt P is already on high ground, the tower would not need to be super tall like others I have seen, but before starting, making sure the proposed height was acceptable
Well drones could not do the job, one could be used to get a birds eye view at different heights... a drone with a great camera on a cloud free day n night could be launched from the spot where the tower would be built. Taking video of sunsets, sunrise and a look at the county after dark
Those who might contribute would have to see a plan and a potential cost.

*  Would a cell phone tower company share the cost for a tower where they could install their units and configure for the observation tower.

I sent an email to earthcam. They have live webcams all over the world and the girl gave me this reply:
I am not sure how they profit but they have live webcams in national parks and all over the world.
Me.. just having connections to Kookie could not go into things but someone with clout could explore earthcam
The girl who sent me the email is Katherine .. Email

We have the college in our own yard and they could come up with a configuration. I am guessing being involved with such a project would be exciting and even educational :)

With a fund set up to do the project, the average bear that was excited by the idea could contribute.
I am not thinking city, but a county project. All the schools would benefit by the astronomy phase of the project.
Who goes to Mt P.. lots of local kids from the high schools n junior highs but through the years I have taken pics, they come from every township around.. other counties, other states 

* I am thinking news stations in Columbus might be interested in the view of the county and on clear days images of Columbus.

*  Radio station.. hmmm. The video feed could be mixed with any audio from any source.
I go out of the way to pass Mt P when I go to the store and often notice events going on at the fairgrounds. With a live webcam in place many people would know what is going on and maybe come out to the fairgrounds.

They built a structure that was nothing but a fancy staircase in NY, How would an observation tower on Mt P compare?



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Facebook a group for anyone who likes the idea. 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MtP.WebCam/ 


Photos I had taken at Rising Park in the last years HERE




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My one other interest is finding lost dogs. The group is here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1119744478128572/

When anyone sees a lose dog, if they can do it, they should capture them because they can move a great distance by the time a post is seen on social media. Keep a leash n treats in your car and if it is safe round up that doggy and hold em for the shelter to pickup.

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