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Fire lookout · Franklin County, New York

Ampersand Mountain

Franklin County observer post: 1921 Aermotor LS40 tower, closed 1970, removed 1977; the summit is a public hike with a memorial and no tower.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 1977; the summit has bare rock and a memorial, no tower.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Trail from a trailhead on NY 3 to the summit, on state land in the High Peaks Wilderness; very popular, and the parking area often overflows.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Short, steep hike from the NY 3 trailhead; there is no tower to climb.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS40 steel tower on four-leg truss constructionThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1921
Height
22 ft (6.7 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
New York State Conservation Commission, later the Department of Environmental Conservation
Land
Unknown
Location
Franklin County, New York
Coordinates
44.23476, −74.20208
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-ampersand-mountain

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 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

  1. 1911 First staffedObservation station established in August 1911; no tower at first, and the observer's first structure was a stone hutSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1921 BuiltA 22-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower was purchased and erectedSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, nysffla.org, en.wikipedia.org
  3. 1922 EventObserver Walter C. Rice gave up the post because of his healthSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1932 EventA new observer's cabin was built to the 1928 standard designSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1932 and 1959
  6. 1959 EventA bear attacked a state observer as he walked down from the tower; he was treated and went homeSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1970 ClosedClosed at the end of the 1970 season as aerial detection took overSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, nysffla.org, en.wikipedia.org
  8. 1977 RemovedRemoved in August 1977; Wikipedia gives JulySources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, en.wikipedia.org
  9. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

Ampersand Mountain, in Franklin County, got a state observation station in August 1911, but at first there was no tower.1 The first structure was a stone hut for the observer.1 A steel Aermotor LS40 tower went up in 1921, and the state's annual report recorded a new steel tower at the station that year.1,2 An Essex County newspaper that spring said the frame would be set in concrete on the granite summit.1

Sources disagree on the height, and most give 22 feet.1,3,4,2 A 1942 survey description of the station calls the four-legged steel tower about 50 feet high.1

Walter C. Rice was the observer on top for about eight years.1 A June 1922 newspaper reported that his health would no longer let him work at that altitude, so he gave up the post.1 Wikipedia says he manned the tower until 1923, so the two accounts do not quite match.2 In 1959 a bear attacked a state observer as he walked down from the tower. He was treated and went home.1

In September 1921 a strong west wind raised the risk of a fire getting out of control and broke telephone wires to the towers on nearby peaks.1 Telephone service between Ampersand and Saint Regis Mountain was disrupted.1

The state closed the tower at the end of the 1970 season, once aerial detection had taken over.1 Wikipedia says aircraft had become the more cost-effective way to spot fires.2 The structure was taken down in 1977 because it was no longer needed, and because it was a non-conforming use in the newly created High Peaks Wilderness Area.1 The sources differ on the month: one says August and the other says July.1,2

Today the summit is bare rock, and a memorial to Walter Channing Rice stands near the top.2,5 On the trail about 1.6 miles up, the old observer's cabin site has the remains of a metal bedframe. Little else of the cabin survives.6 The sources I read do not describe whether any of the tower's concrete footings remain.

The summit is on state land, and the trail is open to hikers.6 The trail starts at a trailhead on NY 3, and it is short but steep.6 The hike is very popular, and the parking area often overflows.6 The summit stands at the northwestern corner of the High Peaks Wilderness, and state land stewards are weighing ways to move and enlarge the trailhead.6

  1. Ampersand Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/ampersand-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Ampersand Mountain, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. New York chapter newsletter, February 2021, New York State Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.nysffla.org/News2021/Feb-2021-final.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Fire Towers of New York list by Bill Starr, 3-14-11, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/media/2974/new_york_fire_tower_list_by_bill_starr_3-14-11.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Hiking to the top of Ampersand Mountain in Saranac Lake, Au delà du paysage, https://audeladupaysage.com/en/2022/10/22/hiking-to-the-top-of-ampersand-mountain-in-saranac-lake/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  6. EXPLORE! Ampersand Mountain, Adirondack Wilderness Advocates, https://adirondackwilderness.org/wild-thoughts-articles/explore-ampersand-mountain (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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, 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
  3. Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter (nysffla.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the chapter newsletter it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR and FFLA records (the chapter publishes none). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. 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

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