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Fire lookout · Blair County, Pennsylvania

Brush Mountain Tower Site

Steel Blaw-Knox fire tower on Brush Mountain near Altoona, PA: built 1923 per FFLOS (late-1922 papers say recently erected). FFLOS says moved 1940 as Scalp Level; a 1945 item disputes this.

Approximate location

No source gives where this lookout stood, so the map shows it on Brush Mountain, the one summit of that name in Blair County, Pennsylvania in the USGS Geographic Names Information System. The lookout may have stood on it or nearby. Know where it stood? Suggest an edit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register says it was moved in 1940 and renamed Scalp Level. A March 1945 item still places the tower on Brush Mountain, so the move date is disputed.

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 Blaw-Knox tower (FFLOS register); a steel cabin for the ranger stood at its base (1927 article)The design: Blaw-Knox
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1923
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
State department of forests and waters, Pennsylvania (1927 article)
Land
Unknown
Location
Blair County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
40.52173, −78.33219Approximate: placed on Brush Mountain (a summit), from USGS GNIS. No source gives where it stood.
This entry
UnverifiedFrom a single source and not yet checked. Details may be wrong. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-brush-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.

From an approximate location

This view, and what it could see, are worked out from Brush Mountain, where the map places the lookout, not from a recorded site. The real view may differ.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.4 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. 1923 BuiltRegister and a 1927 article give 1923; Altoona Mirror items from November and December 1922 describe it as nearly complete or recently erectedSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1924 FireNovember 1924 forest fire at the foot of the mountain burned more than 150 acres by midnight; flames were heading toward the towerSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1924 EventJuly 1924: $25 reward offered for information on people who broke into the cabinSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1925 StaffedForest fire warden to man the lookout by October 15, 1925Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1927 EventJuly 1927: man found guilty of defacing state property at the tower and fined $10; the charge alleged he cut his name and other marks on itSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1939 StaffedJesse D. Brandt assigned to the tower, April 1939Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1940 MovedRegister says moved in 1940 and renamed Scalp Level; a March 1945 item still places the tower on Brush MountainSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1945 EventMarch 1945: vandals badly damaged the tower; not in service that year; a patrolman was assigned insteadSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1945 and 2008
  10. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: September 16, 2008Source: FFLOS register entry
  11. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 Brush Mountain tower stood on the highest point of Brush Mountain, northeast of Altoona, in Blair County.1,2 The register calls it a steel Blaw-Knox tower built in 1923.1 A March 1927 article said the state erected a 60-foot steel tower there in 1923, with a steel cabin for a ranger at its foot.2 Altoona Mirror items from late 1922, though, already described the tower as recently erected and nearly complete, so the build year is disputed.2

The lookout had a ranger on duty during the fire season.2 In October 1925 a warden was to man it by October 15, and in April 1939 Jesse D. Brandt was assigned to it.2

The tower also attracted vandals.2 In July 1924 a $25 reward was offered for information leading to the arrest of people who broke into the cabin.2 A March 1927 article said men or boys, or both, had on a number of occasions damaged the tower and cabin and harmed the trees, with losses too great to estimate.2 In July 1927 a man was found guilty of defacing state property at the tower and fined $10. The charge alleged that he cut his name and other marks on it.2

In November 1924 a forest fire started at the base of the mountain and by midnight had burned more than 150 acres.2 The Altoona Tribune reported that the blaze was moving toward the steel lookout at the summit.2

The register says the tower was relocated in 1940 and given the name Scalp Level.1 A March 1945 newspaper item, however, reported that vandals had badly damaged the tower on Brush Mountain and that it would not be in service that year.2 That suggests it was still on the mountain in 1945, so the sources disagree on when the move happened, if it did.1,2

I found no source that says where the Scalp Level tower stands now, or whether anything of the summit lookout remains. Nothing I read says whether the summit is open to visitors.

  1. Brush Mountain Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/brush-mountain-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Brush Mountain, Eastern US Lookouts, quoting Altoona newspapers from 1922 to 1945, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/brush-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, county, 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: type, 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
  4. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Gave us: an approximate location, on Brush Mountain (a summit) USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) · Public domain

More about this lookout elsewhere

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.