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Fire lookout · Essex County, New York

Makomis Fire Tower Original Site

Also known as Makomis Mountain

Essex County, NY: enclosed wooden tower 1911, steel tower 1916; taken off the summit and re-erected in Speculator, where it now stands in a park.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at Speculator

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Not on the mountain: the tower now stands in Speculator, Hamilton County

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. The relocated tower stands in a village park in Speculator. The sources describe no access to the original summit.

Can you climb it?
Yes
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
The relocated tower is in Sacandaga River Community Park, not on Makomis Mountain; a visitor guide says you can climb it.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Moved
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot steel Aermotor LS25 tower, replacing an enclosed wooden tower on the summitThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
1,686 ft (514 m)
Agency
New York State Conservation Commission
Land
Unknown
Location
Essex County, New York
Coordinates
44.08789, −73.66449
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-makomis-fire-tower-original

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.6 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 BuiltAn enclosed wooden tower was built on the summitSource: firetower.org
  2. 1916 Built'Built' field on FFLOS detail pageSource: FFLOS register entry
  3. 1916 Replaced by a new structureReplaced by a steel 40-foot Aermotor LS25 tower; the newsletter gives 1912 for the first steel towers in the AdirondacksSources: firetower.org, nysffla.org
  4. 1918 AlteredWooden steps added to the interiorSource: firetower.org
  5. No record between 1918 and 1970
  6. 1970 ClosedCeased operationSource: firetower.org
  7. 1970 RemovedRemoved from the summit by private individuals sometime after 1970; the register gives the removal only as 1970sSource: firetower.org
  8. No record between 1970 and 2022
  9. 2022 MovedRe-erected in the Village of Speculator by Excelsior Towers; a visitor guide dates the move to 2019Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.org, adventuresny.com
  10. 2023 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites registerSource: firetower.org
  11. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to Speculator.Source: FFLA
  12. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from.

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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Makomis Mountain lookout in Essex County, New York, started as an enclosed wooden tower. The Former Fire Lookout Sites register dates that tower to 1911.1 In 1916 it was replaced by a 40-foot steel Aermotor LS25 tower.1 A New York chapter newsletter counts the steel tower among the eleven earliest steel fire towers raised in the Adirondacks, in 1912.2 The register gives 1916, and a Sun Community News article says it was the first steel tower raised in the Adirondack Park that year.1,3 The sources do not agree on the date, and we have not settled it.

The register says the tower had an exterior ladder at first, and that wooden steps were added inside in 1918.1 It also says the New York State Conservation Commission administered the tower.1 We did not find a list of the people who staffed it or any fire it watched. The register says the tower ceased operation in 1970.1

After that, private individuals took the pieces off the summit, sometime after 1970. The register gives the removal only as the 1970s.1 Excelsior Towers bought all the pieces and re-erected the tower in the Village of Speculator in 2022, according to the register.1 A visitor guide dates the move to 2019 instead.4

Today the relocated tower stands in Sacandaga River Community Park in Speculator.5,4 The visitor guide says you can climb it.4 A 2021 newsletter said the village was rebuilding the tower at its park and was making progress toward reopening it to the public.2 The New York list of lookouts marks the original Makomis Mountain site as gone, and we found no source that describes what, if anything, remains on the summit.5

  1. Makomis Fire Tower Original Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ny/makomis-fire-tower-original-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. New York State Chapter newsletter, January 2021, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.nysffla.org/News2021/2021%20Jan%20final.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Makomis Fire Tower brings long history to Speculator, Sun Community News, https://suncommunitynews.com/news/99053/makomis-fire-tower-brings-long-history-to-speculator/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Sacandaga River Community Park, Speculator, NY, Adventures in New York, https://adventuresny.com/sacandaga-river-community-park-speculator-ny/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. New York lookout list, firelookout.org, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ny/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

1917 photo
1917 photo (1917)Photo: New York State Archives, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • FFLOS: 1916
    • Forest Fire Lookout Association, New York State Chapter: 1911

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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. 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.