FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · St. Lawrence County, New York

Catamount Mountain

St. Lawrence County tower: wood tower 1911, 35-foot steel tower 1917, closed 1970 or 1971, removed early 1980s; foundations remain on a trail open on private land.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower and cabin removed in the early 1980s; their foundations remain on the summit.

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 network on private land, open to the public; parking is near Catamount Lodge with a trail map in a box by the fence.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
2.5-mile out-and-back from the parking area south of the lodge, about 420 feet of climbing; there is no tower to climb.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower35-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower (1917), replacing a wooden log-framed pyramid tower (1911)The design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1911
Height
35 ft (10.7 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
New York State Conservation Department, precursor to the DEC
Land
Unknown
Location
St. Lawrence County, New York
Coordinates
44.42575, −74.75697
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-catamount-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 3.9 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 BuiltA wooden log-framed pyramid tower with no cab was built on the summitSources: nysffla.org, adirondackexplorer.org
  2. 1917 Replaced by a new structureThe wood tower was replaced with a 35-foot steel Aermotor LS40 towerSources: easternuslookouts.weebly.com, en.wikipedia.org, adirondackexplorer.org
  3. 1925 EventA new observer's cabin was built; the newsletter author could find no photos of itSource: nysffla.org
  4. No record between 1925 and 1942
  5. 1942 FireA fire near Mud Lake threatened wide destruction; a phone on a service truck linked the ranger to the observer in the tower; more than 200 fighters worked the blazeSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1946 EventNew York Telephone Company built a relay station with an 80-foot antenna on the summitSource: adirondackexplorer.org
  7. 1950 StaffedWilliam McDonald returned to the tower as a fire spotterSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1950 and 1966
  9. 1966 FireObserver Miles McCarthy spotted a blaze south of South Colton; the fire, of unknown origin, started when a hunting camp burnedSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1971 ClosedClosed at the end of the 1971 fire lookout season; a 2018 blog says 1970Sources: en.wikipedia.org, adirondackexplorer.org, hikingthetrailtoyesterday.wordpress.com
  11. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Catamount Mountain, near South Colton in St. Lawrence County, first carried a fire tower in 1911.1,2 That first tower was a wooden structure shaped like a log-framed pyramid, with no cab on top.1,2 In 1917 the state replaced it with a 35-foot steel Aermotor LS40 tower.3,4,2

A new observer's cabin went up in 1925.5 A state chapter newsletter notes that its author could find no photos of it.5

In 1942 a fire near Mud Lake threatened wide destruction. The observer had a telephone, but the men deep in the forest did not, so he could do little to help the crews below.3 The telephone company then put a phone on a service truck, and the district ranger could call the tower from there to direct the men.3 At the height of the battle more than 200 fighters were at work.3

In 1950 William McDonald returned to the tower as a fire spotter.3 In 1966 Miles McCarthy, the observer on the tower, spotted a blaze in the woods south of South Colton. The fire, of unknown origin, started when a hunting camp burned to the ground.3 McCarthy was still at his post in 1969.3

The state closed the tower at the end of the 1971 fire season.4,2 A 2018 blog gives 1970 instead.6 The tower was removed in the early 1980s.4,6 The Explorer says the cabin was removed too, by the early 1980s.2

Today the Explorer's writer found the tower's foundations on the summit.2 The foundation of the observer's cabin now makes a bench with a view north.2 The same article notes a steel building, spiraling cables and telephone poles near the top, and says the New York Telephone Company built a relay station with an 80-foot antenna on the mountain in 1946.2 A 2018 blog says the fire tower is no longer there.6

The trail network is on private property, but it is open to the public.2 Visitors park near the lodge, where a map sits in a box by the fence.2 The Explorer describes the 2.5-mile out-and-back as an easy two-hour hike with about 420 feet of climbing.2 Hikers who reached the summit in later years, while an observer was posted, may have received a card signed by the observer, courtesy of the state Conservation Department.2

  1. New York chapter newsletter, May 2019, New York State Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.nysffla.org/Newsletters/2019-05.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. All-season access to a former fire tower mountain, Adirondack Explorer, https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/communities/history/catamount-colton/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Catamount Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/catamount-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Catamount Mountain, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catamount_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. New York chapter newsletter, January 2025, New York State Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.nysffla.org/News2025/2025%20Jan%20final.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  6. Catamount Mt. on Carry Falls Reservoir, Hiking the trail to yesterday (blog), https://hikingthetrailtoyesterday.wordpress.com/2018/01/17/catamount-mt-on-carry-falls-reservoir/ (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. 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.