Fire lookout · Clinch County, Georgia
Fargo Fire Tower
1928 steel tower built by the Speir Pine Lumber Company, later transferred to the Georgia Forestry Commission; NHLR says it remains in active service at a state ranger station in Clinch County.
- Standing
- Restricted access
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Restricted access
Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Sits at a state ranger station; the sources call it a local attraction but give no visiting rules
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- Located at a state ranger station; the sources do not say whether the tower may be climbed
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower100-foot International Stacey steel tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cabThe design: Other steel maker
- Built of
- SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1928
- Height
- 100 ft (30.5 m)
- Elevation
- 113 ft (34 m)
- Agency
- Georgia Forestry Commission
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Clinch County, Georgia
- Coordinates
- 30.68610, −82.56080
- Registers
- NHLR US 320 · GA 3
- BLL US 65211
- GFC US 826
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ga-fargo
View from the cab
What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.
Downloads about 3.1 MB of terrain data the first time.
Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.
History
Then and now
- 1928 BuiltBuilt by the Speir Pine Lumber Company to protect pinelands west of the Okefenokee; Forest Lookouts says a private lumbering company erected itSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1928 and 1999
- 1999 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 1, 1999; nominator listed as unknownSource: nhlr.org
- 2007 EventBugaboo fire threatened the town of Fargo in April and May 2007; the sources do not say how the tower was involvedSources: en.wikipedia.org, vanishinggeorgia.com
- TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.
Old maps of this spot
USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Fargo Fire Tower was built in 1928 by the Speir Pine Lumber Company to protect the pinelands west of the Okefenokee Swamp.1,2 The Register puts the tower at 100 feet, an International Stacey steel design, with a cab seven feet square.1
The tower later passed to the Georgia Forestry Commission, and the Register says it remains in active service at a state ranger station in Clinch County.1 The Register's description carries no date, so it does not show how the tower is staffed today. The sources I read do not name any fire it watched.
The town of Fargo was threatened by the Bugaboo fire in April and May 2007.3 A Vanishing Georgia post calls the Fargo tower very relevant in the same passage, but the text I could read does not say how it connects to that fire.4
The Register says a large electric star on the side of the cab is lit every Easter, and that the site is used for sunrise services.1 The Register also counts the tower as a local tourist attraction.1 The sources give no visiting rules and do not say whether the tower can be climbed. Before going to the site, check with the Georgia Forestry Commission, which the Register lists as administrator.1 Do not climb the tower.
- Fargo Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ga/fargo-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Georgia, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/georgia.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Fargo, Georgia, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo,_Georgia (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Forestry Station & Fire Tower, Fargo, Vanishing Georgia, https://vanishinggeorgia.com/2015/02/16/forestry-station-fire-tower-fargo/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, status, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- tnlandforms.us fire lookout towers (Tom Dunigan) -- GA, NC, TN (opens another site) Gave us: type, register numbers, links tnlandforms.us (Tom Dunigan) · No licence stated; facts only (coordinates, county, elevation, NGS/GFC/BLL register cross-references, status where given). · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, visiting details, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story
More about this lookout elsewhere
- NHLR register entry US 320 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Georgia (Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com)) (opens another site)
- Fargo, Georgia (Wikipedia) (opens another site)
- Forestry Station & Fire Tower, Fargo (Vanishing Georgia (Brian Brown)) (opens another site)
- fargo (tnlandforms.us (Tom Dunigan)) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.