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Fire lookout · Fulton County, New York

Kane Mountain Fire Tower

A 1925-26 Aermotor steel tower on Kane Mountain near Caroga Lake; manned until 1988, restored in 2003, cabin repaired in 2021; a 2018 landowner closure is reported.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. A later Explorer hike reports a 2018 landowner closure and the South Trail closed; the NHLR 2018 visit called the tower easily accessible; no source states whether climbing is permitted

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Wikipedia lists three foot trails to the summit; a later Explorer hike used the East Trail after the South Trail closed
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 2018)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower60-ft Aermotor LS-40 steel-frame lookout with 7x7-ft steel cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1925
Height
59 ft (18.0 m)
Elevation
2,200 ft (671 m)
Agency
NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Land
State land
Location
Fulton County, New York
Coordinates
43.18100, −74.51580
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-kane-mountain

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.

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. 1925 BuiltEstablished 1925 per NHLR; Wikipedia says the tower was erected in 1925; Explorer gives 1926Sources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1926 First staffedBegan operating in 1926 per NHLRSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1926 and 1960
  4. 1960 BuiltObserver's cabin built about 1960 per Wikipedia; Explorer's 1932 account suggests an earlier cabinSources: en.wikipedia.org, adirondackexplorer.org
  5. No record between 1960 and 1988
  6. 1988 Last staffedTower manned until 1988Sources: nhlr.org, adirondackexplorer.org
  7. 1995 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 6, 1995 as US 111, NY 10Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2001 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to NRHP September 23, 2001Source: en.wikipedia.org
  9. 2003 RestoredTower restored and cabin painted by the Canada Lake Protective Association and DECSource: adirondackexplorer.org
  10. No record between 2003 and 2018
  11. 2018 Condition assessmentNHLR visit January 1, 2018: tower in good overall condition; observer's cabin vandalized, open to the elements, with a hole in the roofSource: nhlr.org
  12. 2018 ClosedLandowner closed the property to the public, per Explorer; the South Trail is no longer openSource: adirondackexplorer.org
  13. 2019 RestoredA volunteer painted over graffiti that someone had sprayed on the cab inside and out with yellow paint (reported spring 2019).Source: nysffla.org
  14. 2020 RestoredFFLA volunteers painted over graffiti on the Kane tower on Sept 15, 2020, after a Covid delay.Source: nysffla.org
  15. 2021 EventFFLA restoration grant awarded for repairs to the Kane Mountain observer's cabin, paid to the NY Chapter (the report mislabels the state as California).Source: firelookout.org
  16. 2021 RestoredNY chapter of the FFLA, under a DEC volunteer agreement, repaired the observer's cabin with a new roof and porchSource: firelookout.org
  17. 2025 AlteredA donated replica map and an FFLA-funded map table were installed in the cab for the centennial; the map was pulled for moisture damage in autumn, repaired and returned.Sources: nysffla.org, nysffla.org, nysffla.org
  18. 2025 RestoredFFLA volunteers gave the observer's cabin a fresh coat of stain ahead of the August centennial.Source: nysffla.org
  19. 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.

Kane Mountain stands on Green Lake's northwest flank, inside the Shaker Mountain Wild Forest, outside Caroga Lake in Fulton County, and a steel fire tower has stood on its summit since the mid-1920s.1,2,3 The National Historic Lookout Register says the site was established in 1925 but only started operating in 1926, while Wikipedia says the tower was erected in 1925.2,3 The Explorer gives 1926 as the build year.1 The tower is 60 feet tall, an Aermotor LS-40 with a 7-by-7-foot steel cab, and it was staffed until 1988.2,3,1

The Explorer's account names a 1932 fire watcher, James Luff, and describes visitors picnicking in the clearing by his cabin.1 That sits uneasily with Wikipedia's date of about 1960 for the observer's cabin.1,3

Once the state let the tower go, it deteriorated, and the watcher's cabin ended up as a surface for graffiti.1 In 2003 the Canada Lake Protective Association and the DEC restored the tower and gave the cabin a fresh coat of paint.1 The NHLR's January 2018 visit found the observer's cabin vandalized, open to the elements, and with a hole in the roof.2 In 2021 the New York chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, which holds a volunteer agreement with the DEC, received a restoration grant for the cabin.4 The DEC provided funding and did most of the roof and porch work, and the cabin got a new roof and porch.4

The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 23, 2001.3 The 2018 NHLR visit called the tower in good overall condition, though its glass was not intact and the site was unstaffed.2

Access has changed: a later Explorer hike reports that a landowner closed the property in 2018 and that the South Trail was no longer open.1 The author still reached the tower by the East Trail, and the NHLR called the tower easily accessible in 2018.1,2 The sources do not say whether climbing is permitted, so check with the DEC before going up.2,3,1

  1. A short jaunt with a fire tower outside Caroga Lake, and the hardest part is getting there, Adirondack Explorer, https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/?p=303973 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Kane Mountain Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ny/kane-mountain-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Kane Mountain Fire Observation Station, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_Mountain_Fire_Observation_Station (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. 2021 Restoration Grant report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-rest-2021.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Kane Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
June 2003--Panoramic view of Canada Lake
June 2003--Panoramic view of Canada Lake (2003)Photo: Bill Starr, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Feb. 2004--Tower and Cabin
Feb. 2004--Tower and Cabin (2004)Photo: Warren Johnsen (courtesy Bill Starr), via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Kane Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, 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: 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. Map and Coordinates List for NYS DEC Firetowers (Andy Arthur) Gave us: ownership, links Andy Arthur, andyarthur.org (CC BY 3.0) · CC BY 3.0, credit: Andy Arthur, andyarthur.org. Facts + short description text reused under that licence. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.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 FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  7. 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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