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Fire lookout · Sullivan County, Pennsylvania

North Mountain Tower Site

Former Sullivan County, PA lookout: a 60-foot Blaw-Knox tower from 1923, removed in August 1989. A cell tower now stands on or near the site.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. Only source is a 1984 visit report: the visitor asked a private landowner's permission to park and hike up. No current access statement found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in August 1989. Undated passages of a visit report on the register say a large cell tower now stands on or near the site.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower60-foot Blaw-Knox steel tower from 1923; a 1958 survey describes a cabin atop a four-legged steel structureThe design: Blaw-Knox
Built of
Steel
Built
1920
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
2,583 ft (787 m)
Agency
Wyoming State Forest
Land
State land
Location
Sullivan County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates
41.31934, −76.55452
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-pa-north-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.

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. 1920 Built23-foot steel tower built by the North Mountain Road and Gun ClubSource: firetower.org
  2. 1923 Replaced by a new structureReplaced by a 60-foot Blaw-Knox steel towerSource: firetower.org
  3. No record between 1923 and 1951
  4. 1951 EventTower blew overSource: firetower.org
  5. 1952 RebuiltTower re-erectedSource: firetower.org
  6. No record between 1952 and 1984
  7. 1984 EventVisit report: not in service for several yearsSource: firetower.org
  8. 1989 RemovedRemoved in August 1989Source: firetower.org
  9. No record between 1989 and 2008
  10. 2008 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 16, 2008Source: firetower.org
  11. 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.

North Mountain's first lookout, a 23-foot steel tower, was raised in 1920 by the North Mountain Road and Gun Club.1 A 60-foot Blaw-Knox steel tower took its place in 1923.1 A 1958 Coast and Geodetic Survey station description says the station is a cabin atop a four-legged steel structure near the west end of the mountain.2

Wind knocked the tower over in 1951, and it was re-erected in 1952.1 A visitor who came in the late summer of 1984 found that it had not been in service for several years.1 The first flight of stairs had been taken off and lay in the rank grass at the foot of the tower.1

The register dates the removal to August 1989.1 Undated passages in the same visit report say a large cell tower now stands on or near the spot, and that the ground cabin is still standing, based on photos on a geocaching page.1 The visit party asked a private landowner's permission to park on a driveway along PA 42 and then hiked up the steep road.1 We found no source that says whether the public may go up there today.

The Wikipedia article on the mountain still says it is home to the fire tower. The register's 1989 removal date conflicts with that.1,3

  1. North Mountain Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/pa/north-mountain-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. North Mountain, Forest Lookouts, Eastern US Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/north-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. North Mountain (Pennsylvania), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Mountain_%28Pennsylvania%29 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Tower in 1930s
Tower in 1930sPhoto: Frank Little, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tower in 1930s
Tower in 1930sPhoto: Frank Little, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cabin interior in 1930s
Cabin interior in 1930sPhoto: Frank Little, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cabin interior in 1930s
Cabin interior in 1930sPhoto: Frank Little, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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.

Sources

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