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Fire lookout · Beltrami County, Minnesota

Bemidji

Bemidji's 1935 fire tower was moved to Camp Wilderness in 2007 and rebuilt at 80 ft; the Bemidji site is listed as gone, and a 1960 survey note gives 110 ft.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at Camp Wilderness

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Moved in 2007 from Bemidji to Camp Wilderness, Hubbard County, where it stands as an 80-foot tower; FFLA lists the Bemidji site as gone.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Moved
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab, per the NHLR; a 1960 survey description calls it a four-legged steel structure with a metal observation roomThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1935
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Beltrami County, Minnesota
Coordinates
47.47012, −94.82204
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mn-bemidji

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.5 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. 1935 Builtbuilt by the Minnesota DNRSources: nhlr.org, upload.wikimedia.org
  2. 1938 Eventfederal survey station established at the tower; the 1960 description gives no build year for the towerSource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1938 and 2006
  4. 2006 Abandonedtransferred to MN DOT for an antenna site; became surplus again in 2006Source: nhlr.org
  5. 2007 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate Registered November 2, 2007; US 710, MN 9Source: nhlr.org
  6. 2007 Rebuiltreconstructed as an 80-foot tower next to the mess hallSources: nhlr.org, centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  7. 2007 MovedBoy Scouts moved it from Bemidji to Camp Wilderness in Hubbard CountySources: nhlr.org, centraluslookouts.weebly.com, upload.wikimedia.org
  8. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to Camp Wilderness.Source: FFLA
  9. Date unknown Staffedserved as a lookout for 60 years; no years givenSource: nhlr.org
  10. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The National Historic Lookout Register says the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources built a 100-foot Aermotor fire tower near Bemidji in 1935.1 A county report gives the same year and height.2 A 1960 federal survey description of the site, though, says the survey station was set up in 1938, gives the overall height as 110 feet, and places the tower on land of the Minnesota Department of Conservation.3

The register says the tower served as a lookout for 60 years.1 Afterward it went to the state transportation department as an antenna site, and it became surplus again in 2006.1

In 2007 the Boy Scouts moved the tower to Camp Wilderness in Hubbard County and rebuilt it as an 80-foot tower beside the mess hall.1,3,2 The county report calls the new site a private camp, while the register names the Boy Scouts' Northern Lights Council as administrator.2,1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association marks the Bemidji site as gone.4

The tower now stands at Camp Wilderness, which the association lists as standing.4 The Northern Lights Council's page has an online tour that covers the plaques on the stairs, landings and crow's nest.5 That page lists no public climbing hours, so ask the camp before you go.

Apart from the Forest Fire Lookout Association's listing of the site as gone, no source describes what remains at the original Bemidji site today.4

  1. Bemidji Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mn/bemidji-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Beltrami County Minnesota Fire Lookout Towers report (corrected), Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Beltrami_County_Towers_Report_-_corrected.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Bemidji, Forest Lookouts (centraluslookouts.weebly.com), https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/bemidji.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Minnesota Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mn/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Camp Wilderness Fire Tower, Northern Lights Council, Boy Scouts of America, https://scoutingnlc.org/camp-wilderness-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- central US (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, agency, links centraluslookouts.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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.