FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Aitkin County, Minnesota

Glen

Aitkin County tower 36, a 100-ft stairway tower built by the CCC in 1938 and listed as gone; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as gone; no source gives a removal date

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

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

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower100-ft stairway tower made by McClintock-Marshall Co.The design: McClintic-Marshall
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1938
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Minnesota Forest Service (owner listed as Mn MFS)
Land
Unknown
Location
Aitkin County, Minnesota
Coordinates
46.46321, −93.51296
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-mn-glen

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.7 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. 1938 BuiltErected by the CCC as tower 36, a 100-foot stairway tower made by McClintock-Marshall Co.Sources: upload.wikimedia.org, upload.wikimedia.org
  2. No record between 1938 and 1960
  3. 1960 Condition assessmentSurvey notes describe a four-legged steel structure with a metal observation room and an overall height of 110 feetSource: upload.wikimedia.org
  4. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. 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.

Glen was a fire lookout in Aitkin County, Minnesota.1 The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) erected it in 1938.1 The county survey describes a 100-foot stairway tower made by the McClintock-Marshall Company, and lists it as tower 36.1,2 A statewide list gives the same 1938 date and stairway design.2

The survey lists the owner as "Mn MFS," which stands for the Minnesota Forest Service, now the Forestry Division of the state Department of Natural Resources.1,3

DNR records mention a Long Lake tower at the same spot.1 The survey says that name may have been another name for Glen, or an earlier tower.1 The hamlet of Glen and Long Lake were both nearby.1

A 1960 survey recorded a steel tower on four legs, topped by a metal observation room, with an overall height of 110 feet.1 That is ten feet more than the 100 feet the survey gives for the tower as built in 1938, and no source we read explains the difference.1

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as gone.4

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains at the site, or whether the site is open to visitors.

  1. Aitkin County Minnesota Fire Lookout Towers, Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Aitkin_County_Minnesota_Fire_Lookout_Towers.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Minnesota Fire Lookout Towers, A-Z List, Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/A-Z_List-Towers.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Koochiching County Minnesota Fire Lookout Towers, Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Koochiching_County_Towers.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Minnesota Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mn/ (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. 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.