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Fire lookout · Bayfield County, Wisconsin

Iron River Lookout

1934 steel fire tower in Bayfield County; the state's lookout network ended in 2015-16, the tower is listed as standing, and its current access is unconfirmed.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

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

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerSteel tower by the International Stacey company with an internal corner leg ladderThe design: Other steel maker
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
1,295 ft (395 m)
Agency
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Bayfield County, Wisconsin
Coordinates
46.57668, −91.32448
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wi-iron-river

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

Downloads about 3.6 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. 1934 BuiltBuilt February 1934 per the register; the register credits the Conservation Commission, other sources say CCCSources: nhlr.org, centraluslookouts.weebly.com, legacy.wisconsinhistory.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 2015
  3. 2015 ClosedRegister: state operation ended in 2015 when the DNR decommissioned its lookout network; the Journal Sentinel said the towers would leave service in 2016Sources: nhlr.org, archive.jsonline.com
  4. 2018 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered April 3, 2018Source: nhlr.org
  5. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Iron River Lookout is a steel fire tower on Forest Road 244 in Bayfield County, inside the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.1,2,3 The register gives its elevation as 1,295 feet.1

The tower was built in 1934.1,2,3 The register dates the work to February of that year. It presents the tower as evidence of a joint effort by the Forest Service and the Wisconsin Conservation Commission to safeguard the state's forest resources.1 Central US Lookouts also dates it to 1934 and credits the CCC with building the 100-foot steel tower.2

The builder is not settled. The register credits the Conservation Commission, while Central US Lookouts and the state's property file both say CCC without saying which body they mean.1,2,3

The sources also disagree on height. The register says the tower was made by the International Stacey company, has an internal corner leg ladder, and stands 79 feet 6 inches tall.1 The state's property file calls it a 100-foot fire tower, and Central US Lookouts gives the same 100 feet.3,2

The register says the state ran the lookout for 81 years, until 2015, when the DNR decommissioned its lookout network.1 A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article from December 2015 gives a different year. It says the DNR would take all 72 of its fire towers out of service in 2016, after judging them unsafe and too costly to replace.4

I found no fire or smoke record tied to this tower in the sources I read. The state's property file says the tower is not on the National or State Register of Historic Places.3 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists it as standing.5 The register entry is dated April 3, 2018.1

I could not find a current access note for Iron River. According to the Forest Service, the Mountain Fire Lookout Tower is the only one of the forest's 14 original towers that visitors may ascend.6 I could not confirm whether Iron River is one of those 14, so do not assume it can be climbed.

  1. Iron River Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wi/iron-river-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Iron River, Central US Lookouts, https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/iron-river.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. FOREST RD 244 property record, Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, https://legacy.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI24653 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. End of an era: State to end use of its 72 forest fire towers, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, https://archive.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/end-of-an-era-state-to-end-use-of-its-72-forest-fire-towers-b99636185z1-362818661.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Wisconsin Lookouts (Standing), Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wi/wi-st/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Mountain Fire Lookout Tower, USDA Forest Service, Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/chequamegon-nicolet/recreation/mountain-fire-lookout-tower (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Iron River Lookout
Photo: Brian Ziegler, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- central US (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, links centraluslookouts.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
  4. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.