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Photograph of Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station
Photograph by Marc Wanner, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station

Built in 1917. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. 9 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1906.

From the record

“The Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station is a historic fire observation station located on the western end of the Loon Lake Mountains west of Loon Lake in Franklin County, New York in the Debar Mountain Wild Forest. The station and contributing resources include a 35-foot-tall (10.7 m), steel-frame lookout tower erected in 1917; it replaced a wooden fire tower that was constructed in 1912.”

Wikipedia article Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 86 National Register listings published here for Franklin County · listed in 2008 · category: Structure · built in 1917.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Summit of Loon Lake Mountain, Franklin, 12989
  • When was it listed? December 2008
  • Category. structure
  • Also known as. Fire Observation Stations of New York State Forest Preserve MPS
  • Town. Franklin town
  • When was it built? 1917
  • National Register reference number. 08001144 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1906 to 1994

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 88 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet covering Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station, surveyed 1906

Fires near this property

23 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station between 2002 and 2020, burning about 28 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined9
Equipment and vehicle use5
Recreation and ceremony4
Natural3
Fireworks1
Arson/incendiarism1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
6 September 2008Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
25 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
24 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
10 September 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.1 acresFire Department of New Yorknot named
10 September 2002Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresNew York Forest RangersDEBAR MTN
24 August 2019Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreNew York Forest RangersLITTLE HAYSTACK FIRE
12 August 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
7 July 2016Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Loon Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station: 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Titanium, Metal. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Brewer Hill MineIron, Titanium, MetalPast ProducerReplacement
Tucker PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Maps showing this location

9 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

2 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Debar Pond Lodge5.0 miles2014
Merrillsville Cure Cottage7.3 miles1995

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 08001144 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Franklin CountyAll 86 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.