FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Elk County, Pennsylvania

Boot Jack Tower

Elk County, PA lookout on State Game Lands 44: a 2018 100-ft steel tower beside a stone cabin; the original was a 1939 Aermotor, and 1921 papers describe earlier steel.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

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

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot steel structure (2018 replacement); the original tower was a 100-foot AermotorThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
2,204 ft (672 m)
Agency
Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry
Land
State land
Location
Elk County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.40036, −78.69250
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-boot-jack

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. 1921 BuiltNewspaper items describe a steel lookout tower being built on Boot Jack by the state forestry departmentSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1921 EventOctober 1921 item says a man would be stationed on the tower in fall and spring dry seasons (a planned seasonal lookout post)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1924 EventWatchman said dense smoke made any view of the landscape beyond a mile impossibleSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1924 and 1939
  5. 1939 BuiltRegister gives the original tower as a 100-foot Aermotor built in 1939Source: nhlr.org
  6. 1939 AlteredJune 1939 item reports the tower was raised from sixty feet to a height printed as 'eight-six feet' (not checked against a second source)Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1939 and 2018
  8. 2018 BuiltRegister's Built field for the current steel structureSource: nhlr.org
  9. 2018 Replaced by a new structureOriginal tower removed; replaced by a new 100-foot steel structure; stone observer's cabin remains on siteSource: nhlr.org
  10. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 24, 2020; nominated by Robert McKaySource: nhlr.org
  11. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Boot Jack Tower stands on State Game Lands 44 in Elk County, Pennsylvania, near Ridgway.1,2

A lookout tower has been on Boot Jack since at least 1921.2 A September 1921 newspaper item, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, reports that steel for a new state forestry tower had reached the hill from Harrisburg.2 An item from October of that year said a man would be assigned to the tower each spring and fall dry season to look out for fires.2

The register tells a different early story. It describes the original as a 100-foot Aermotor completed in 1939.1 A June 1939 item from the same Forest Lookouts source says the tower's height went from sixty feet to a figure printed as "eight-six feet."2 We could not check that printed figure against a second source. The pages we read do not show whether the 1921 steel tower, the 1939 raising and the Aermotor are one structure or several.

In November 1924 a watchman reported that dense smoke made it impossible to see the landscape beyond a mile.2

According to the register, the state's late-2010s fire tower upgrades included a 2018 swap of the original tower for a new 100-foot steel structure.1 In September 2017 the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources began a $4.6 million project to replace 16 towers on state forestland. Many of the original towers still in operation were built in the 1920s through 1940.3 The sources we read do not say whether Boot Jack was one of the 16.

The original tower has been taken down, but its stone observer's cabin is still on the site.1 The register added the tower on March 24, 2020, on the nomination of Robert McKay, and lists the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry as its administrator.1

We found no source describing public access or the tower's condition beyond that. Check with the Bureau of Forestry before visiting.

  1. Boot Jack Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/pa/boot-jack-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Boot Jack Hill, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/boot-jack-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. PA Environment Digest, DCNR Initiative To Replace, Renovate Fire Towers Across The State, https://paenvironmentdaily.blogspot.com/2018/02/dcnr-initiative-to-replace-renovate.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Boot Jack Tower
Photo: Robert McKay, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bootjack Tower
Bootjack TowerPhoto: Shawn Lesitsky -- PA Fire Towers StoryMap (Esri ArcGIS StoryMaps) · 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.

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.

    • NHLR: 2018
    • Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky): 1939

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

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, type, what it is built of, status, 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. Fire Towers of Pennsylvania (ArcGIS StoryMap, Shawn Lesitsky) Gave us: design, height, ownership, dates, photos, links Pennsylvania fire towers StoryMap (ArcGIS) · No licence stated; facts only (county, agency, built year, height, builder). · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.