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Fire lookout · Cambria County, Pennsylvania

Elstie Tower Site

Gallitzin Township, Cambria County steel Aermotor tower, planned at 80 ft and built 1930, removed 1981; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register says it was removed in 1981; no source describes what remains at the site

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 towerThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1930
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
2,465 ft (751 m)
Agency
Unknown
Land
Unknown
Location
Cambria County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
40.52118, −78.53391
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-elstie

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 3.2 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. 1930 BuiltRegister gives 1930; the Indiana Gazette reported foundation excavation beginning in September 1930 for a tower planned at 80 feetSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1939 StaffedD. Angelis of Dysart named observer; had been a fire warden for a number of yearsSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1939 and 1981
  4. 1981 RemovedRegister: removed in 1981Source: firetower.org
  5. No record between 1981 and 2008
  6. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered with the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on September 16, 2008Source: firetower.org
  7. 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 Elstie tower was a steel Aermotor lookout in Gallitzin Township, Cambria County.1,2 The register dates it to 1930.1 In September 1930 the Indiana Gazette reported that foundation work had just started on a tower planned at 80 feet, close to the Blair County boundary.2

The forestry department had authorized the tower as the ninth in its district.2 Foresters had expected the costly late-summer fire season to rule out more towers, so the approval came as good news.2

An April 1939 Altoona Mirror item said Dysart resident D. Angelis had been picked as observer at the tower near Coupon. It also said he had served for years as a fire warden.2

The register lists the tower as removed in 1981.1 It was added to the register on September 16, 2008.1

No source we read describes what stands at the site today, or whether it is open to visitors. A map database still has a point called Elstie Fire Tower in Gallitzin Township. Its entry gives the type as tower and no status.3

  1. Elstie Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/elstie-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Elstie, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/elstie.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Elstie Fire Tower, Mapcarta, https://mapcarta.com/22722986/Map (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, 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.