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Fire lookout · Oswego County, New York

Castor Hill

Oswego County, NY lookout built 1927; moved 1961 to Little John area; removal dated 1981 by Wikipedia but a 1982 paper still places it there; site today undescribed.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Listed as gone; Wikipedia says removed in 1981, a December 1982 newspaper still placed it on Little John Drive and reported a sale to the Mad River Club

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LS40 steel fire lookout towerThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1927
Height
79 ft (24.0 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
New York State Conservation Department
Land
Unknown
Location
Oswego County, New York
Coordinates
43.64931, −75.84263
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-castor-hill

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 3.5 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. 1927 BuiltConservation Department built an 80-foot Aermotor LS40 steel lookout on the mountainSource: en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1929 StaffedNelson Clifford presided over the tower and welcomed visitors (1929 article)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1936 StaffedMelvin Clemons acted as state fire observer (1936 article)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1939 EventMelvin Clemons died; the date comes from a 1976 obituary of his widowSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1948 FireGeorge Brennan, observer, located several fires in one week; many were brush fires at sites where people were cleaning upSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1960 StaffedFred Kastler resumed work as observerSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1961 MovedAfter a land dispute, the tower was dismantled and reassembled across the road in the Little John Game Management AreaSource: en.wikipedia.org
  8. 1967 StaffedGeorge Yerdon was fire observer (October 19, 1967 item)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1970 Last staffedLookout operations ended at the end of the 1970 fire lookout seasonSource: en.wikipedia.org
  10. 1971 EventAllen Yerdon retired after working as an observer at the towerSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1981 RemovedWikipedia gives 1981 as the removal date; a 1982 newspaper report conflictsSources: en.wikipedia.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  12. 1982 EventState recently offered the tower on Little John Drive for sale; Mad River Club won the bid, planned to reuse part of it near Lacona and to give the rest to a not-for-profit birdwatching platform (December 29, 1982 item)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  13. 1983 EventA letter to the editor (July 20, 1983 item) refers to the disappearance of the tower on Little John DriveSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  14. 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.

Castor Hill is a 1,483-foot mountain in the Tug Hill country, east of Greenboro in Oswego County.1 The state's Conservation Department built a steel fire lookout tower on the mountain in 1927.1 Wikipedia gives its height as 80 feet and its design as an Aermotor LS40.1 Local papers gave larger figures: a 1929 article called the tower ninety feet, and a 1936 article said 96.2 The sources do not agree on the height.

The tower had a telephone so the warden could report fires.2 Nelson Clifford presided over it in 1929 and made visitors welcome.2 Melvin Clemons was the observer in the 1930s, and a 1976 obituary for his widow says he died in 1939.2 In 1948 George Brennan reported several fires in one week, and the rangers found that many were brush fires at sites where people were cleaning up.2 Fred Kastler returned as observer in 1960.2 George Yerdon was the fire observer in 1967.2 Allen Yerdon retired from the tower in 1971 after working there as an observer.2

The landowner and the Conservation Department could not settle a dispute in the 1950s, so in 1961 the tower was taken apart and rebuilt across the road in the Little John Game Management Area.1 Because of aerial detection, the tower stopped operating at the end of the 1970 fire lookout season.1 Wikipedia says the tower was taken down in 1981.1 A December 1982 newspaper report seems to conflict with that date. It still placed the tower on Little John Drive, said the state had recently offered it for sale, and reported that the Mad River Club had won the bid.2 The club planned to reuse part of the tower on its grounds east of Lacona and give the rest to a nonprofit as a birdwatching platform.2 A 1983 letter to the editor refers to the tower's disappearance from Little John Drive.2

The state's list marks the tower as gone.3 A route-planning guide for the summit says the fire tower is no longer present, and that people now come for the quiet setting.4 We found no source describing what, if anything, remains on the summit or at the Little John site, and none saying whether the summit is open to visitors today.

The Little John Wildlife Management Area, where the tower was reassembled in 1961, is open for recreation all year and is free to enter.1,5 The state lists it at 7,918 acres across four towns in two counties.5

  1. Castor Hill, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_Hill (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Castor Hill, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/castor-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. New York Fire Towers, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ny/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Castor Hill, Komoot, https://www.komoot.com/highlight/7825084 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Little John Wildlife Management Area, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, https://dec.ny.gov/places/little-john-wildlife-management-area (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: 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, 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.