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Fire lookout · Carlton County, Minnesota

Cromwell (Skunk Island)

Also known as Cromwell Lookout Tower

Cromwell (Skunk Island) tower in Carlton County; a 1949 Aermotor build per Forest Lookouts; a 1952 survey gives about 80 ft, not 100; listed standing.

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
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor tower; four-legged steel structure with an enclosed observation platform at the topThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1949
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
1,394 ft (425 m)
Agency
Unknown
Land
Unknown
Location
Carlton County, Minnesota
Coordinates
46.70793, −92.83308
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mn-cromwell-skunk-island

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. 1949 BuiltA 100-foot Aermotor tower was erected (Forest Lookouts build line)Source: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1952 Condition assessmentCoast and Geodetic Survey station description gives the tower as approximately 80 feet highSource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Cromwell lookout, also called the Skunk Island tower, stands in Carlton County.1 A Forest Lookouts history page dates a 100-foot Aermotor tower there to 1949.1 A federal survey description written in 1952 by the Coast and Geodetic Survey gives a steel frame with four legs, about 80 feet tall, capped by an enclosed viewing deck. It places the tower about three and three-quarter miles northeast of Cromwell.1

The two heights disagree, and I could not settle which is right. The 1949 entry gives 100 feet, while the 1952 description says about 80 feet.1

I found no record of who staffed the tower, when it was staffed, or any notable fire it was used for.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing.2 Wikidata places it within the Fond du Lac State Forest and links a Wikimedia Commons photo of it.3

I found no current statement about public access or climbing. Check with the land manager before any visit, and do not climb the tower without permission.

  1. Cromwell (Skunk Island) - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (centraluslookouts.weebly.com), https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/cromwell-skunk-island.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Minnesota Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mn/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Cromwell Lookout Tower (Q107463942), Wikidata, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107463942 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cromwell (Skunk Island)
Photo: Tlkremer, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

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: what it is built of, design, height, 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. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: elevation, photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.