Fire lookout · St. Louis County, Minnesota
Kabetogama Lookout
80-foot steel stairway tower in St. Louis County, Minnesota, erected by the CCC in 1934 and listed as standing; no access or staffing sources found.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
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
- Type
- Cab on a tower80-foot steel stairway tower, also called ArbutusThe design: McClintic-Marshall
- Built of
- Wood
- Built
- 1934
- Height
- 80 ft (24.4 m)
- Elevation
- 1,395 ft (425 m)
- Agency
- Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- St. Louis County, Minnesota
- Coordinates
- 48.35494, −93.00962
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-mn-kabetogama
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 4.1 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
- 1934 BuiltErected by the CCC in September 1934 at a cost of $168.30 (Register). Central lookouts give the same year and an 80-foot steel tower.Sources: nhlr.org, centraluslookouts.weebly.com
- 1934 EventA four-post timber tower on the site was torn down in 1934 (Register).Source: nhlr.org
- No record between 1934 and 2021
- 2021 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 8, 2021.Source: nhlr.org
- 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Kabetogama lookout stands in St. Louis County, Minnesota.1 The National Historic Lookout Register also calls it Arbutus, and describes an 80-foot stairway tower.1 The Register says the Civilian Conservation Corps erected it in September 1934 at a cost of $168.30.1 The Central US Lookouts site gives the same year and height and calls it a steel tower.2
The Register says a four-post timber tower stood on the site until it was torn down in 1934.1 The Register also credits the tower's make to the McClintic Marshall Corporation of Pennsylvania.1
The Register added the lookout on January 8, 2021, and its page carries a photograph dated February 2020.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's list shows the tower as standing.3 The Register names the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as its administrator.1
The sources read say nothing about who staffs the tower, what fires it has watched, or whether the public may climb it. Visitors should check with the DNR before going and treat the tower as closed to climbing until they confirm it is open.
- Kabetogama Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/mn/kabetogama-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Kabetogama, Forest Lookouts (centraluslookouts.weebly.com), https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/kabetogama.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Minnesota Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/mn/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- central US (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site) Gave us: 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
- Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) (opens another site) Gave us: photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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
- NHLR register entry US 1480 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA Minnesota lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Kabetogama (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site)
- Wikidata item Q97011575 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.