FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Northumberland County, Pennsylvania

Boyers Knob Tower Site

Steel fire tower on Boyers Knob south of Shamokin, PA: built 1921, removed 1975 per FFLOS. Papers give 67 ft (plan) and 47 ft; a 2014 DEP reclamation project covers the site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1975, according to the FFLOS register.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

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

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerSteel Aermotor tower (FFLOS register); steel structure (1927 newspaper)The design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1921
Height
47 ft (14.3 m)
Elevation
1,789 ft (545 m)
Agency
Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters (1927 newspaper)
Land
Unknown
Location
Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
40.75620, −76.51135
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-boyers-knob

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 3.5 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 BuiltRegister gives 1921; an October 1921 newspaper says erection had begun, for a planned 67-foot towerSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1922 First staffedJohn Deitrich placed in charge, November 1922; earliest staffing foundSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1927 StaffedM.C. Beck had been towerman for three years and was expected back in spring 1927Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1930 StaffedTower reopened in August 1930 after a serious fire situation; John A. Scott, Jr. called back to take chargeSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1930 and 1975
  6. 1975 RemovedRegister removal yearSource: firetower.org
  7. No record between 1975 and 2008
  8. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 16, 2008; nominated by Henry IsenbergSource: firetower.org
  9. 2014 EventState reclamation project at the site (December 31, 2012 to April 18, 2014) removed three hazardous structures; the fact sheet does not name the lookout towerSource: files.dep.state.pa.us
  10. 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.

The Boyers Knob tower stood on the mountain south of Shamokin, in Northumberland County.1,2 Newspapers of the time wrote the name as Boyer's Knob.2

In October 1921 the state forestry department began erecting a tower that a Wilkes-Barre paper described as sixty-seven feet tall.2 The register describes it as a steel Aermotor tower built in 1921.1 A 1927 Shamokin paper gave a different height, describing a steel structure 47 feet tall.2 I used that figure, about 14.3 meters, for the tower.2

The fire season ran from about March to June, and a towerman was on duty at the tower to report fires.2 In November 1922 the forestry department at Harrisburg put John Deitrich in charge.2 By 1927, M.C. Beck of Shamokin had been the towerman for three years and was expected back that spring.2

In August 1930 the paper reported that the situation had become so serious that the tower was reopened to spot further fires.2 The paper said it was the first time the tower had been open at that time of year since it was built.2 John A. Scott, Jr., was called back from a vacation in Baltimore to take charge.2

The register gives 1975 as the year the tower was removed.1 A state reclamation project named the Boyers Knob Lookout project ran from December 31, 2012, to April 18, 2014, and restored 86 acres of abandoned strip-mine ground at the site.3 The fact sheet says three hazardous structures were taken away, but it does not say whether the lookout tower was one of them.3

The fact sheet says that, at the time, the reclaimed ground was part of a large RV park, and that Route 125 North near Gowen City gives access to it.3 I found no source that describes any tower remains, and nothing I read says whether the land is open to visitors today.

  1. Boyers Knob Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/boyers-knob-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Boyer's Knob, Eastern US Lookouts, quoting the Wilkes-Barre Record, Mount Carmel Item and Shamokin News-Dispatch, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/boyers-knob.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Boyers Knob Lookout Abandoned Mine Reclamation Project, Fact Sheet, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, https://files.dep.state.pa.us/Mining/Abandoned%20Mine%20Reclamation/AbandonedMinePortalFiles/Accomplishments/OSM49_3237_101.1_Boyers_Knob_Lookout.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

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