New Broadcasting Towers Start Up On Tiger Mountain

ISSAQUAH

The switch has been thrown, beginning broadcast signals from new communication towers atop Tiger Mountain.

The new towers made news when they were announced in April, in part because they were designed to minimize their unsightliness in the popular hiking area.

The transmitter site is about one mile southeast of West Tiger Three summit, a destination for thousands of hikers who use the High Point Trailhead each year.

The towers are on school trust lands managed by the state Department of Natural Resources and will generate revenue for Washington State University.

Under a 25-year lease with American Tower Systems, the 350-foot towers will bring in more than $300,000 the first year and up to $600,000 by 2005.

The towers should improve television and cellular-phone reception. Side benefits from their construction included trail and road improvements.