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Fire lookout · Potter County, Pennsylvania

Fox Mountain Tower Site

Potter County site; sources differ on the 1916 tower (steel Aermotor vs 20-ft wood), a 60-ft Aermotor was erected 1920, removed 1987; no tower stands today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1987 per register and Forest Lookouts; a hiking write-up says there is no longer a fire tower on the mountain

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. A gated forest road runs from East Cowley Road toward the summit; the sources read do not say who may pass the gate

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Walk the gated Fox Mountain Tower Road from East Cowley Road, then take a 0.7-mile spur along the ridge to the summit clearing. Active logging was under way on the day of the described hike.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerAermotorThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1916
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
2,403 ft (732 m)
Agency
Unknown
Land
Unknown
Location
Potter County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.64118, −78.16195
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-fox-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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1916 BuiltRegister describes a steel Aermotor built 1916; Forest Lookouts lists a 20-foot wood tower built 1916Sources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1920 BuiltForest Lookouts: a 60-foot Aermotor tower erected in 1920Source: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1920 and 1987
  4. 1987 RemovedRegister: the Aermotor tower was removed in 1987; Forest Lookouts gives 1987 as removal without naming the towerSources: firetower.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1987 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 Forest Lookouts site lists a 20-foot wood tower built on Fox Mountain in 1916, and a 60-foot Aermotor erected there in 1920.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register places the site in Potter County and describes a steel Aermotor tower built in 1916.2 The two sources disagree on what was built that year.

The register says the Aermotor tower was removed in 1987.2 The Forest Lookouts page also gives 1987 as the removal year, but it does not say which tower that was.1

Fox Mountain has no fire tower now.3 A hiking write-up says the summit clearing may mark where the old tower stood.3 The same write-up describes a gated forest road from East Cowley Road, a 2.5-mile ascent, then a 0.7-mile spur to the summit.3 The writer also reports that logging was in progress on the day of the hike.3 The sources we read do not say whether the gate is open to the public.

  1. Fox Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/fox-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Fox Mountain Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/fox-mountain-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Fox Mountain Fire Tower - Austin, PA, MyHikes, https://myhikes.org/trails/fox-mountain-fire-tower (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: design, 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, 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.