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Fire lookout · Keweenaw County, Michigan

Feldtmann Lookout

Also known as Feldtmann Ridge, New Feldtmann Fire Tower

Built after the 1936 Greenstone Ridge Fire, rebuilt as a steel tower in 1964 on Isle Royale's Feldtmann Ridge; visitors may climb partway up.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. Inside Isle Royale National Park; the Park Service says visitors can climb partway up (page last updated February 2022).

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Reached by the Feldtmann Ridge Trail, between Feldtmann Lake Campground and Siskiwit Campground; climbing is partway only.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerPre-fabricated steel tower with a live-in steel cabThe design: CL-100
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1936
Height
41 ft (12.6 m)
Elevation
1,144 ft (349 m)
Agency
National Park Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Keweenaw County, Michigan
Coordinates
47.86073, −89.09315
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mi-feldtmann

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 4.2 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

  1. 1936 BuiltWikipedia ties the two wooden towers to the 1936 Greenstone Ridge Fire (built in response); the Park Service history page dates the first towers to 1939 (conflicts with 1936)Source: en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1939 BuiltPark Service history page: CCC built the first fire towers at Isle Royale in 1939 (conflicts with 1936)Source: home.nps.gov
  3. No record between 1939 and 1963
  4. 1963 RemovedOld Feldtmann Fire Tower torn down, per WikipediaSource: en.wikipedia.org
  5. 1964 Replaced by a new structureNew tower assembled June 1964 by a Houghton, Michigan, contractor; Wikipedia infobox gives 1964 as built yearSources: en.wikipedia.org, npshistory.com, home.nps.gov
  6. 1965 EventWikipedia: tower completed in 1965Source: en.wikipedia.org
  7. 1968 AbandonedWikipedia says abandoned by 1968; the nomination says use diminished after 1968 and eventually endedSources: en.wikipedia.org, npshistory.com
  8. 1980 EventPark Service: by 1980 none of the towers was occupied by fire lookouts; used as shelters until the mid-1980sSource: home.nps.gov
  9. No record between 1980 and 2016
  10. 2016 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered November 27, 2016 as US 1158, MI 5Source: nhlr.org
  11. 2021 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to NRHP January 5, 2021 as part of the Isle Royale National Park Fire Towers multiple property submissionSources: en.wikipedia.org, home.nps.gov
  12. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The New Feldtmann Fire Tower stands on Feldtmann Ridge in Isle Royale National Park.1 Its story starts with the Greenstone Ridge Fire of 1936, which burned through part of the island soon after it became a national park.1 The National Park Service used New Deal funds and Civilian Conservation Corps workers to build two wooden towers, one on Mount Ojibway and one on Turkey Ridge.1,2 The Turkey Ridge tower became known as the Old Feldtmann Fire Tower.2 Sources disagree on the date: Wikipedia ties the towers to the 1936 fire, while the Park Service's history page says the first towers went up in 1939.1,3

By the 1950s the wooden towers were badly deteriorating.1 Plans to replace them were in place by 1961, when the proposal called for a 40-foot metal tower. By 1963 the plan had changed.1,2 Wikipedia says the Old Feldtmann tower was torn down in 1963.1 The new tower was assembled in June 1964 by a contractor from Houghton, Michigan, about half a mile from the old site.2,3 Wikipedia's infobox gives 1964 as the build year and says the tower was completed in 1965.1 The Park Service's history page says the replacements were constructed in 1964.3

The finished tower stands 41 feet 3 inches tall from its concrete piers, according to the nomination, and carries a live-in steel cab.2 Wikipedia gives the same height.1 The register's 40-foot figure appears to match the 1961 plan rather than the tower as built.4,2

Fire use of the towers faded after 1968, when the Park Service adopted its own fire management plan.2 The nomination says the towers were used as backcountry ranger stations or temporary housing for trail crews until the 1980s, and the Park Service says that by 1980 none was occupied by fire lookouts.2,3 Wikipedia says the tower was abandoned by 1968, which is earlier than the other sources suggest.1,2

The register recorded the tower on November 27, 2016, as US 1158, MI 5.4 It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2021 along with the park's other fire towers.1,3

Today the Park Service says the tower is no longer used as a fire tower.3 Its visitor page calls it a former fire tower and says visitors can climb partway up for a 360-degree view of the island's west end.5 Wikipedia says that was true as of 2020, and the nomination describes the tower as in generally good condition.1,2 The visitor page was last updated in February 2022, so check current park conditions before going up.5

  1. New Feldtmann Fire Tower, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Feldtmann_Fire_Tower (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. New Feldtmann Fire Tower, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service, https://npshistory.com/publications/isro/nr-feldtmann-fire-tower.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Isle Royale Fire Towers, Isle Royale National Park, National Park Service, https://home.nps.gov/isro/learn/isle-royale-fire-towers.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Feldtmann Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mi/feldtmann-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Feldtmann Tower, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/places/feldtmann-tower.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Feldtmann Lookout
Photo: Instagram user cptfernholz, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Feldtmann Lookout
Photo: Katie Keller, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, status, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: height, register numbers, photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: register numbers, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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

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