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Fire lookout · Allegany County, New York

Alma Hill Fire Tower

80-foot Aermotor LS40 tower erected 1950 in Allegany County, NY; closed 1971, sold at auction 1973; now on private land and closed to the public.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. On private land. The NHLR and the NYSFFLA Southern Tier list both say it is closed to the public.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Closed to the public on private land; not a place to visit or climb.
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 1965)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot Aermotor LS40 steel towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1950
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,546 ft (776 m)
Agency
Private owner
Land
Unknown
Location
Allegany County, New York
Coordinates
42.04976, −78.01363 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-alma-hill

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1950 BuiltErected by the state Conservation Department as an 80-foot Aermotor LS40 tower; the observer's cabin date is disputedSources: nhlr.org, nysffla.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1964 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey station description: the tower top had no observation cabin; the Eastern lookouts site says a cabin was added after 1964Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1971 ClosedOfficially closed at the end of the 1971 season as aerial detection took overSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1973 EventOffered at public auction; the high bidder was the owner of the land where the tower stoodSources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1973 and 2022
  6. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered May 22, 2022 as US 1595, NY 47; nominated by Laurie RankinSource: nhlr.org
  7. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Alma Hill sits in Allegany County in New York's Southern Tier, about three miles northeast of the village of Alma.1,2 The state Conservation Department erected an 80-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower on the hill in 1950.1,2,3 The register gives the site's elevation as 2,546 feet, while the Eastern lookouts site gives 2,548 feet.1,3

The sources disagree about the observer's cabin. The Southern Tier list and the Eastern lookouts site both say a 1941-model observer's cabin went up alongside the tower.2,3 The Eastern site also quotes a 1964 survey station description, which says the top had no observation cabin, and it adds that a cabin was added after that date.3 We could not settle the cabin's date from the sources we read.

Staffing is thin on the record. The Eastern site says the Conservation Reports to the Legislature, which ended in 1965, list the tower as never staffed. It adds that many towers built around 1950 were staffed only now and then, during high fire danger.3

Formal closure came at the end of the 1971 season, once aerial detection had taken over the job.1,3 In 1973 it was offered at public auction, and the high bidder was the owner of the land it stood on.1,3

Today the tower stands on private land and is closed to the public.1,2 A visit described on the Eastern site, during 2002, found it in great shape.3 The register recorded the tower on May 22, 2022, as US 1595, NY 47, nominated by Laurie Rankin.1 Because it sits on private land and is closed, it is not a place to visit or climb.

  1. Alma Hill Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/alma-hill-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Southern Tier Fire Towers, New York State Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association (nysffla.org), http://www.nysffla.org/towers8.htm (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Alma Hill, Forest Lookouts (easternuslookouts.weebly.com), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/alma-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

October 2017 photo
October 2017 photo (2017)Photo: Laurie Rankin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 560 m.

    • FFLA: 42.04976, −78.01363
    • NHLR: 42.05476, −78.01414

    They share a register number.

    The map uses the position from FFLA.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, county, elevation, 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
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: location, type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: what it is built of, design, links easternuslookouts.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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, staffing, 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

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