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Fire lookout · Essex County, New York

Pharoah Mountain

Essex County, NY fire tower on Pharaoh Mountain, built 1918 after a 1910 observation station; vandalized and removed by DEC in 1992; summit now public wilderness.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed by DEC in 1992 after vandalism; no source read describes what remains 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. Summit is in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, open for recreation year-round at no charge (NYSDEC)

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Pharaoh Mountain Trail: 3.8 miles between the Pharaoh Lake Trail and Crane Pond Trail; climbs 1,355 feet in 1.2 miles to the summit (NYSDEC)

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower35-foot steel tower (Aermotor LS40 per Wikipedia) with a wooden observer's cabin and outbuildingsThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1918
Height
35 ft (10.7 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Conservation Commission purchase and erection in 1918 (Forest Lookouts, citing the 8th Annual Report); removed by DEC in 1992
Land
Unknown
Location
Essex County, New York
Coordinates
43.81853, −73.65797
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ny-pharoah-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 3.6 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. 1909 EventState fire superintendents decided to build a lookout at Pharoah Mountain near Schroon LakeSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1910 EventFire observation station established in April 1910 at a cost of $269.42; no tower needed at firstSources: en.wikipedia.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1918 Built35-foot tower built or erected in 1918 (Wikipedia; Forest Lookouts). A 1992 clipping says erected in 1917Sources: en.wikipedia.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1918 and 1943
  5. 1943 Condition assessmentCoast and Geodetic Survey station description calls the tower about 40 feet highSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1943 and 1987
  7. 1987 Last staffedTower ceased fire watching operationsSource: en.wikipedia.org
  8. 1989 EventAdirondack Park Agency plan called for removal of man-made structures from wilderness areas that yearSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1990 EventVandals cut two legs of the tower in the fall; DEC repaired the damageSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1992 RemovedDEC crews airlifted the tower debris out by helicopter in September; observer's cabin and outbuildings removedSources: en.wikipedia.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  11. 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.

Pharaoh Mountain rises in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness in Essex County.1 Older sources spell it "Pharoah."2 In 1909 state fire officials decided to add a lookout there, and in April 1910 a fire observation station opened on the mountain.2,1 With no trees to block the view, no tower was needed at first; the observer used a canvas tarp on a wooden pole frame for shelter from bad weather.1

A 35-foot steel tower went up in 1918, and the sources disagree on the year.1,2 A March 1992 newspaper clipping says it was erected in 1917.2 A 1943 Coast and Geodetic Survey description puts its height at about 40 feet.2

Fire watching ended in 1987.1 Vandals cut two of the tower's legs in fall 1990, and DEC repaired the damage.2

In 1989 an Adirondack Park Agency plan called for man-made structures to be removed from the wilderness area that year.2 Bills by two state legislators to save the tower were not enough, a town supervisor said.2

In September 1992 DEC crews airlifted the tower's debris out by helicopter and took down the observer's cabin and outbuildings, citing hiker safety.2 Wikipedia gives vandal damage that could not be repaired as one reason for removal.1

Today the summit lies in a wilderness area that is open year-round at no charge, and the Pharaoh Mountain Trail climbs to it.3 The state's lookout list marks the tower as gone.4 None of the sources read says what, if anything, is left on the summit.1,2,3

  1. Pharaoh Mountain, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Pharaoh Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/pharaoh-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, https://dec.ny.gov/places/pharaoh-lake-wilderness (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. New York fire lookout list, firelookout.org, 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, 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.