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Fire lookout · Lewis County, New York

Bald Mountain

Lewis County tower: wood tower 1911, steel tower 1919, closed end of 1970. Later pulled down, dates disputed. No tower on the mountain today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. No tower stands on the mountain today; the sources disagree on when and by whom it was pulled over.

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. Wikipedia says the public can visit the site; the land stays privately owned.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
A forum visitor describes old logging roads and blackberry brambles on the mountain.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower47-foot steel Aermotor LS40 tower, erected 1919 over a 1911 wood towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1911
Height
47 ft (14.3 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
NYS Conservation Commission and Bureau of Forest Fire Control
Land
Unknown
Location
Lewis County, New York
Coordinates
44.02134, −75.19118
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-bald-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 3.8 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 BuiltWood fire lookout tower built in May 1911 by the Conservation CommissionSource: en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1911 First staffedFirst observer on the payroll roster, Robert J. Kelly, from May 1911Source: nhlr.org
  3. 1919 Replaced by a new structure47-foot steel tower bought in 1918 and erected in 1919, replacing the wood towerSources: en.wikipedia.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1933 FireFire near Wolf Pond, Herkimer County, spotted from the tower by Warden Bruce Ferris on August 10, 1933; 25 men at the fire area by 1 p.m.Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1933 and 1970
  6. 1970 ClosedClosed at the end of the 1970 fire season; Wikipedia links this to aerial fire detectionSources: en.wikipedia.org, nhlr.org
  7. 1970 Last staffedLast observer Alex J. St. Louis, through November 4, 1970Source: nhlr.org
  8. 1984 RemovedToppled by the State DEC and left, per the lookout history site; Wikipedia says the private owner pulled it over; a forum post says about 1975Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1989 EventState bought the development and recreation rights on the 18,000-acre tract; land and timber stayed privateSource: en.wikipedia.org
  10. 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.

Bald Mountain, 1,647 feet high, sits in the town of Croghan in Lewis County, north of Oswegatchie Camp.1 A different Bald Mountain tower stood near Old Forge, and the state's observer roster lists that one under the name Rondaxe Mountain.2 The same roster confirms that a Bald Mountain tower once stood in Lewis County.2

The Conservation Commission built a wood fire lookout tower on the mountain in May 1911.1 A 47-foot steel tower was bought in 1918, and its erection was finished in 1919, replacing the wooden one.3,1 Wikipedia identifies the steel model as an Aermotor LS40.1

Observers were on the state payroll from May 1911.2 Robert J. Kelly was the first listed. Henry Kuhl, Bruce Ferris and Edmund A. Peters followed, and Ferris served from 1929 to 1943.2 The last observer, Alex J. St. Louis, worked from 1967 until November 1970.2

One notable call came on August 10, 1933.3 Warden Bruce Ferris, who ran the tower, spotted a fire near Wolf Pond in Herkimer County, just across the Lewis County line.3 By 1 p.m. that day, 25 men were at the fire area.3

The state closed the tower at the end of the 1970 fire season.2,1 Wikipedia links the closure to aerial fire detection, which had improved.1 Ownership then passed to a private company.1 Wikipedia names it as Diamond International, while a forum post names Diamond Match Co.1,4

Sources disagree about how the tower came down. According to Wikipedia, the owner pulled the tower over after taking out its leg bolts, leaving it on the site over liability concerns.1 A forum post, quoting a source it does not name, says the landowner toppled the tower around 1975 and that it rests where it fell.4 A lookout history site gives 1984 and says the State DEC toppled the tower.3

Today no tower stands on the mountain.1,5 Wikipedia says visitors can go to the site, though with the tower gone there is no view.1 In 1989 the State bought the development and recreation rights on the 18,000-acre tract, while the land and timber stayed in private hands.1 A forum visitor found old logging roads and blackberry brambles on the mountain and could not recall seeing tower pieces on the ground at the summit.4 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the site as gone.5 Because the land is privately owned, check access before you go.1

  1. Bald Mountain (Lewis County, New York), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Mountain_(Lewis_County,_New_York) (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Roster of the NYS Forest Fire Observers from the payroll file of the Bureau of Forest Fire Control, 1911-1972, Bill Starr, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/media/2971/new_york_fire_tower_observer_roster_by_bill_starr_3-18-11.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Bald Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (eastern US lookout history site), https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/bald-mountain2.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Bald Mountain Firetower near Harrisville, Adirondack Forum, https://www.adkforum.com/forum/the-adirondack-forum/hiking-in-the-adirondacks/adirondack-firetowers/18122-bald-mountain-firetower-near-harrisville (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. New York Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ny/ (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: 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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

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