Fire lookout · Koochiching County, Minnesota
Pine Island
Koochiching County, MN lookout erected in 1937 at the Pine Island station; moved in 2011 to Big Bog State Recreation Area, where it is open to climb in visitor center hours.
- Moved
- Open to the public
- Verified
The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at Big Bog
Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Moved in 2011 to Big Bog State Recreation Area, where it stands; no source describes what remains at the Pine Island site today
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Open to the public. At Big Bog the tower is open to climb during visitor center hours, Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; no source describes access at the Pine Island site
- Can you climb it?
- Yes
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- Stairs up the 100-foot tower in the south unit of Big Bog State Recreation Area during regular visitor center hours
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor stairway tower; lookout number 89 in the county reportThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1937
- Height
- 100 ft (30.5 m)
- Elevation
- Unknown
- Agency
- Minnesota DNR (Big Bog State Recreation Area, today)
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Koochiching County, Minnesota
- Coordinates
- 48.31107, −94.15593
- Registers
- Not on a lookout register
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-mn-pine-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.
The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.
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
- 1937 BuiltErected at the Pine Island station in Koochiching County as lookout #89 (county report); DNR webcam says originally at the Pine Island forestry stationSources: upload.wikimedia.org, dnr.state.mn.us
- No record between 1937 and 2011
- 2011 MovedMoved from Pine Island State Forest to Big Bog State Recreation AreaSources: upload.wikimedia.org, dnr.state.mn.us
- 2011 RestoredRenovated, re-constructed and opened to the public at Big BogSource: dnr.state.mn.us
- Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to Big Bog.Source: FFLA
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Pine Island lookout was erected in 1937 at the Pine Island forestry station in Koochiching County.1,2 The county report lists it as lookout number 89 and describes a 100-foot Aermotor stairway tower.1
The two DNR pages name different towers as the model for its design. The webcam page says it was made identical to an earlier tower on the same site.2 The virtual tour page instead names a tower that stood near campground site 1 at Big Bog, and says the two matched in year and style.3
The DNR says the tower came from Pine Island State Forest, and the county report says it was moved to Big Bog in 2011.3,1 The DNR page says it was renovated, reconstructed and opened to the public that same year.3
Today the tower stands in the south unit of Big Bog State Recreation Area, in Beltrami County, east of Upper Red Lake.4 The south unit also has the visitor center, which runs Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and visitors can climb the tower during those hours.4 A DNR webcam at the top shows Upper Red Lake live.2
No source we read describes what remains at the Pine Island site today.
- Beltrami County Minnesota Fire Lookout Towers, Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Beltrami_County_Towers_Report_-_corrected.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Big Bog State Recreation Area Webcam, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state-parks/big-bog-cam/index.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Big Bog State Recreation Area (virtual tour), Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/virtual_tour/big_bog/dialup.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
- Big Bog State Recreation Area, IFalls.guide, https://ifalls.news/big-bog-state-recreation-area/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
Sources
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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
- Beltrami County Minnesota Fire Lookout Towers (Wikimedia Commons) (opens another site)
- Big Bog State Recreation Area Webcam (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources) (opens another site)
- Big Bog State Recreation Area (virtual tour) (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources) (opens another site)
- Big Bog State Recreation Area (IFalls.guide) (opens another site)
- FFLA Minnesota lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.