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Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Wisconsin

Lookout Mountain Lookout

Also known as Lookout Mountain (Searchlight)

Lincoln County, WI 84-foot DNR standard stair tower built 1932; NHLR US 1243 (2017); listed as gone, and a DNR tower there was toppled in 1971 per a 1972 report.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Listed as gone by the Forest Fire Lookout Association; a June 1972 newspaper report describes a DNR tower toppled in 1971, but the 2017 NHLR entry uses the present tense and the sources do not show which tower is which

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 sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower84-foot Wisconsin standard stair-style tower with galvanized steel plate landings and treadsThe design: Wisconsin standard tower
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1932
Height
84 ft (25.6 m)
Elevation
1,948 ft (594 m)
Agency
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Lincoln County, Wisconsin
Coordinates
45.40058, −89.48237
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wi-lookout-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 3.6 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. 1932 BuiltNHLR 'Built' field and description give 1932Source: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1932 and 1971
  3. 1971 DestroyedA DNR fire tower on Lookout Mountain was toppled on November 5 of the fall before a June 10, 1972 report; the year 1971 is inferred from 'last fall' in that reportSource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1972 EventIn June 1972 a Lincoln County judge found the man charged with the toppling innocent by reason of insanitySource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1972 and 2017
  6. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 28, 2017 as US 1243, WI 38Source: nhlr.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 Lookout Mountain tower stood on the Lincoln County Forest, and the National Historic Lookout Register says it was built in 1932.1 The register describes an 84-foot Wisconsin standard tower with stairs rather than the caged exterior ladder typical of its type, and says all of its landings and stair treads are galvanized plate steel.1 The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is listed as its administrator.1

A June 1972 Milwaukee Sentinel report, reproduced on the Forest Lookouts website, says a DNR fire tower on Lookout Mountain was toppled on November 5 of the previous fall.2 The same report says a man was charged with that toppling and with trying to topple a second tower on the mountain. In June 1972 a Lincoln County judge found him innocent by reason of insanity.2

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Wisconsin list marks the Lookout Mountain tower as gone.3 The register entry, added in August 2017, still uses the present tense, so the sources do not show whether it describes the tower toppled in 1971 or the second tower that was targeted.1,2

No source describes what, if anything, remains on the mountain today, or whether visitors can reach the site.1,3,2

  1. Lookout Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wi/lookout-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Lookout Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/lookout-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Wisconsin Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wi/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Photo of Lookout Mountain Lookout
Photo: Tyler Bormann, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered.

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: 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. 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

More about this lookout elsewhere

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