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Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Wisconsin

Zenith Lookout

100-foot Wisconsin standard tower in Lincoln County west of Tomahawk, built December 1939 per the register; a July 1977 burglary report names a state DNR employee as the reporter. Listed as standing.

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 towerWisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladderThe design: Wisconsin standard tower
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1939
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
1,540 ft (469 m)
Agency
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Lincoln County, Wisconsin
Coordinates
45.46261, −89.85568
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wi-zenith

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.

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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. 1939 BuiltBuilt December 1939 per the registerSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1939 and 1977
  3. 1977 EventJuly 1977 burglary reported by a state DNR employee; door torn off, glass broken, communications radio damagedSource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1977 and 2017
  5. 2017 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 19, 2017; nominated by Tyler BormannSource: nhlr.org
  6. 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.

The Zenith lookout is a 100-foot tower of the state's standard design, with an outside ladder the register describes as protected, administered by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.1 It stands in Lincoln County, west of Tomahawk off Highway 86.1,2

The register dates its construction to December 1939.1 I found no source naming the builder or saying when the tower was first staffed.

A July 1977 newspaper item, quoted on the Central US Lookouts page, reported a burglary at the tower. According to the item, the door was pulled off its hinges, glass was broken and a radio used for communications was damaged.2 The report came from a state Department of Natural Resources employee. That hints at some state connection to the site at the time, but the item does not show that anyone staffed the cab.2

A Wisconsin lookout list still shows the tower as standing.3 The register accepted it on June 19, 2017, on a nomination by Tyler Bormann.1

In 2015 the Associated Press reported that dozens of the state's forest-fire towers, most dating to the 1930s and 1940s, were being decommissioned. The part of that report I could read does not mention Zenith by name.4

Today I found no source about access, climbing or rental for the Zenith tower. Check with the Wisconsin DNR before any visit, and stay off a tower that is closed or posted as off limits.

  1. Zenith Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wi/zenith-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Zenith, Central US Lookouts, https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/zenith.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Wisconsin Lookouts (alphabetical list), firelookout.org, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wi/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Wisconsin Decommissioning Fire Outlook Towers, Associated Press via CBS Minnesota, https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/wisconsin-decommissioning-fire-outlook-towers/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Zenith Lookout
Photo: Brian Ziegler, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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. 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, 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.