FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Tower designs

How to tell lookouts apart

Most fire lookouts were built from a handful of standard plans: wooden cabs the Forest Service drew up and shipped as kits, and steel towers bought from windmill and derrick makers. Knowing the plan tells you roughly when a lookout was built, and what it looked like if it is gone.

How many we can tell

Firefinder can name a standard design for 3,127 of its 7,824 lookouts (40%), from the plan names its sources use. For most of the rest, no source we use records the plan. Another 1,993 have a design described in words we could not match to one of the plans below. A lookout whose records describe more than one structure (an earlier cab and today's) is listed under each design they name, with the record's own words.

Wooden cabs, houses and towers

Most lookouts were wooden: a cab or house built from a standard plan, often shipped as a pre-cut kit, set on the ground, on a short base, or on a wooden tower drawn to go with it.

Northern Rockies (Forest Service Region 1)

Schematic, not to scale

L-4

Also called Aladdin, Lookout House Plan 4, Grange Hall type (early gable-roof version)

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 1
  • Region 6
  • Nationwide
  • 1929–1953

A small, square, one-room cabin built to live and watch from at the same time, with windows wrapping all four walls so the lookout could see in every direction. It is the design most people picture when they think of a fire lookout; sources count well over a thousand built.

1,523 lookouts on Firefinder, 359 standing

Years in use
Roughly 1929 to 1953. Sources agree a prototype existed by 1929 and that the design was formally approved and refined between 1930 and 1936, then stayed in standard use until about 1953, when the flat-roofed R-6 design began to replace it.
Cab
14 x 14 ft, about 6 ft 9 in to the eaves
On what
Could sit directly on the ground or on a wooden tower; Forest Service tower plans for use with the L-4 came in 10-ft increments from 10 ft up to about 120 ft, with a 3-ft-wide catwalk around the cab when raised on a tower.
Built of
Wood frame construction, drop or rustic siding on the lower third of the walls, cedar shingle or similar roofing, wood sash windows, and hinged exterior wood shutters.
Made by
USDA Forest Service (standard agency design, not a commercial manufacturer)
Models and plans
Plan L-4 (gable roof, 1928-1930); Plan L-4, 1931 and 1932 revisions (Region 1; hip roof from 1932); Standard 1936 14 x 14 Lookout House, B-4201 to B-4205 (Region 6); Region 4 Plan 80 (1933)
Where
Built nationwide but most numerous in USFS Region 1 (Montana/Idaho) and Region 6 (Washington/Oregon); well over a thousand were erected.
How to recognise it
  • square one-room cabin, windows on all four walls
  • hip (pyramidal) roof on most surviving examples; earliest ones had a plain gable roof
  • wide hinged wooden shutters that fold down to cover the windows when the cabin is unmanned
  • often sits atop a wood tower with a narrow catwalk porch
  • sometimes called 'Aladdin' because pre-cut kits for Region 6 were fabricated at a mill in Vancouver, Washington
  • the plain gable-roofed earliest version is sometimes nicknamed a 'grange hall' style cab
Plan versions

  1. Early L-4 (FFLA: 1928) 1928-30

    A gable roof at 1/3 pitch over a continuous band of nineteen six-light barn sash; shutters in two sections a side, hinged at the top and propped out on posts like awnings; built on the ground on dry rubble rock; painted Forest Drab and Ivory White. The bill of material in the scan is dated March 1930.

  2. 1931 revision Dec. 1930

    Region 1's redrawing by C. P. Fickes: still a gable roof at 1/3 pitch, with the window band above a 2-ft framed knee wall and holes at the corners for guy cables.

  3. 1932 revision (hip roof) Dec. 1931; bill of material 1935

    The roof changes to a 1/3-pitch hip (pyramid) with an octagonal block and a metal finial; nine-light sash; shutters on T-hinges held open by rods. Sold ready-cut, to go on Region 1's 10 to 50 ft log towers (T-10 to T-50) or on the ground; white outside, dark green stain inside.

  4. Standard 1936 (Region 6, B-4200) 1936-48

    Region 6's 14 x 14 ft lookout house, made the national standard in the 1938 plan book: the hip roof kept, four-light fixed and hinged sash, full-width shutters on heavy steel T-hinges, an optional 3-ft catwalk, built-in furniture and a cooler. Four types: on a tower or on the ground, for truck haul or horse pack. Revised in 1948 for the TT-1 tower.

  5. Region 4 Plan 80 (R-1 L-4) 1933

    The Intermountain Region's April 1933 tracing of Region 1's L-4, called the 'R.1 Type': hip roof at 1/3 pitch, three rows of panes, tie-down bolts at each corner post.

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

Sources disagree about where the L-4 originated. A Montana/Idaho National Register form credits Clyde Fickes of Region 1 with the first 14x14 prototype around 1929-1930, approved in 1931, later copied and revised by Region 6 in 1936. A Washington State National Register form instead describes the plan as adopted by Region 6 in 1929-30 and evolving out of Region 6's own earlier lookout plans going back to about 1915, with Region 1 treated as an adopter rather than the inventor. A compiler citing veteran lookout historian Ray Kresek says both regions produced similar 1929 plans independently and it is hard to say who was first. The two main National Register sources also give slightly different years for the roof-shape change (1931 vs. 1932) and for the shutter-hardware change (1936 is consistent, but described slightly differently). Treat the exact priority and exact revision years as unsettled.

On Firefinder

359 standing, 1,114 gone, 26 ruins, 21 moved, 1 replica, 2 status unknown. Show all 1,523 on the map

Standing today (359)
List all 359 standing, by state
Arizona (11)
  • Buck Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-ft wood CT-2 tower with an R-3 modified L-4 14 x 14 ft live-in cab and catwalk”
  • Diamond Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Region 3 variant of the L-4; 30-ft tower with 12x12 cab (sources describe the tower differently: Pacific Coast Steel vs MC-24)”
  • East Pocket Lookout StandingRecorded as: “CT-2 timber tower (Timber Engineering Corp.) with a 14 x 14 modified L-4 live-in cab with catwalk”
  • Hilltop Lookout StandingRecorded as: “early model L-4 with expanded catwalks”
  • Horsethief Lookout StandingRecorded as: “40-foot Pacific Coast Steel tower with a modified L-4 live-in cab”
  • Humboldt Mountain Lookout Standing
  • Kendrick Lookout StandingRecorded as: “10 ft steel tower with 14x14 ft flat-roof cab and catwalk (1964); earlier L-4 cab (early 1930s) and 1911 log cabin lookout”
  • Mount Union Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-foot Aermotor Mc-24 tower with modified L-4 cab”
  • Spruce Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Modified L-4 cab on a 30 ft Aermotor MC-24 tower (register)”
  • Tower Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-foot D-2 style Pacific Coast Steel tower with a modified L-4 cab”
  • Turkey Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “32-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 14 by 14 foot wood cab without catwalk, based on the L-4 design”
California (21)
  • Anthony Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-4 pyramid roof design; wooden 14 by 14 foot live-in cab with catwalk on a 10 foot wood tower”
  • Breckenridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-4 cab with catwalk on a 40 ft steel tower per the NHLR; fire-lookouts.org calls the present cab a C-3 style live-in cab”
  • Colby Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14x14 ft L-4 cab with catwalk on a 30-ft steel tower”
  • Cuyama Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Modified L-4 cab atop a 20-foot steel H-braced tower”
  • Deadwood Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “20-foot H-beam steel tower with a C-3(L) cab installed in 1952; the 1932 tower carried an L-4 or 4AR cab”
  • Eddy Gulch Lookout Standing
  • Fence Meadow Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14 x 14 ft L-4 cab with catwalk on a 20 ft H-braced steel tower (NHLR; fire-lookouts.org)”
  • Girard Ridge Fire Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-4 cab, 14'x14' with catwalk, atop an enclosed tapered 13-foot wooden tower, a 1917 design said to be unique to the California region”
  • Goat Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14 by 14 foot L-4 cab with catwalk on a 20 foot H-braced steel tower; base replaced with a Pacific Coast Steel tower after 1935”
  • Herd Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “classic 14 x 14 ft L-4 groundhouse with wooden catwalk; standard Forest Service 14 x 14 ft single-story house”
  • Jordan Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Original 1934 Region 1 cabin with a modified L-4 style cab on a 20-foot steel tower, enclosed with metal siding in 1970; the 2026 replacement is a new metal lookout described as honoring 1936 designs”
  • Mills Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “First lookout was an L-4 ground house (NHLR); the current structure is described as a tower with stairs, a platform and a compact cab (Calexplornia)”
  • Oak Flat Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-4 cab, 14x14 ft, on a steel tower with catwalk”
  • Red Mountain Lookout (San Diego County) Standing
  • Robbs Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-4 14 by 14 foot cab with outriggers on a 9-foot enclosed wooden base”
  • San Rafael (Cerro Negro) Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Standard L-4 14x14 cab (the Register says it appears to be standard) on a 30-foot steel K-brace tower; exterior paneling and asphalt roofing added; Chrysler Victory air raid siren on a short steel tower nearby”
  • Slater Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “California Region 5 version of the L4 cabin with prop-up shutters on a 22-foot enclosed timber tower; may be rebuilt to the BC-1401 (1949) revision of the BC-301”
  • Thorn Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-4 14 x 14 ft cab with catwalk on a 20 ft H-braced tower”
  • Timber Mountain Lookout Standing
  • Ukonom Mountain Lookout Standing
  • Wolf Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “current 108-foot treated timber L-4 tower with 7x7-foot cab; NHLR also describes a steel-tower account dated 1981”
Colorado (3)
Idaho (98)
Montana (64)
New Mexico (7)
Oregon (85)
South Dakota (2)
  • Bear Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “All-steel tower with L-4 cab (1939 replacement)”
  • Seth Bullock Lookout StandingRecorded as: “CL-100 cab on a steel tower (current); the 1939 structure had an L-4 cab”
Utah (1)
Washington (60)
Wyoming (7)
Also 1,164 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Arizona (3)
  • Atascosa Lookout GoneRecorded as: “L-4 type wooden groundhouse, 14 by 14 feet, modified hip roof with 2-foot overhang”
  • Barfoot Lookout GoneRecorded as: “14-by-14-foot wood-frame L-4 ground cabin with a roof-catch cistern”
  • Silver Peak Lookout GoneRecorded as: “L-4 type lookout, wood frame, 14 by 14 feet, with an outhouse, storage shed and water cistern”
California (4)
  • Grass Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “California Region revision of the USFS L-4 cabin on a 10 ft open timber tower”
  • Little Mountain Lookout Site RuinsRecorded as: “7-by-7-foot wood cab on a 10-foot wood tower (1926); later a 20-foot steel tower with L4 cab (1938)”
  • Needles Lookout GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab with catwalk, 14 by 14 feet (NHLR); fire-lookouts.org calls it a C-3 style cab”
  • Sunset Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “20-ft steel tower with a cab (sources differ: L-4 or BC-301 per the register; 14 by 14 ft wood cab per Angeles Adventures)”
Colorado (2)
Idaho (369)
Montana (225)
  • Alexander Mountain GoneRecorded as: “40-ft L-4 tower (1934); an 80-ft steel tower is also recorded for the 1930s”
  • Allen Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Anderson Peak GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole tower, type L-4”
  • Andy’s Knob GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a 30-foot timber pole tower”
  • Antrim Point MovedRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab (an 8-foot cab replaced an L-4 cab in 1968)”
  • Arbo Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Wooden L-4 tower”
  • Arrastra Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Arvilla Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot L-4 tower”
  • Ashley Mountain GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole tower with 7x7 ft shake cab (1923), replaced in 1935 by a 50-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Bald Top Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Baldy Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Cupola cabin (1928), then a 20-foot L-4 tower (1949) and a 30-foot treated timber tower (1979)”
  • Barren Peak Lookout RuinsRecorded as: “10' wooden tower with L-4 cab”
  • Battery Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower, recorded as an L-4 design”
  • Belmont Point GoneRecorded as: “30' pole L-4 tower”
  • Benchmark Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Bender Point GoneRecorded as: “30' pole L-4 tower (1953); 20' treated timber tower (1964)”
  • Big Arm (Jette) GoneRecorded as: “50-ft pole L-4 tower per firelookout.com; 1936 newspaper plans give four tamarack poles about 40 ft high, with the station on a platform”
  • Big Creek GoneRecorded as: “20-ft pole tower, L-4 type”
  • Big Hoodoo GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a pole observation tower; a 1930 newspaper item says the tower was to be 85 ft”
  • Blackpine Mountain MovedRecorded as: “50-foot cable-braced round timber tower (plan L-11) with an L-4 cab”
  • Blacktail Mountain GoneRecorded as: “40' pole L-4 (1934); 53' treated timber L-4 (1962)”
  • Bloom Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab (register says it 'may have been'; firelookout.com says L-4 cab); the Idaho Fire Lookouts site describes a 30-foot L-4 tower”
  • Blue Ridge GoneRecorded as: “40' pole L-4”
  • Boles Point GoneRecorded as: “50' pole L-4 tower with dwelling observatory”
  • Bonnet Top GoneRecorded as: “Pole L-4 tower”
  • Border Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Boulder Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Crow's nest and log cabin (1921); pole L-4 tower (1933)”
  • Boyd Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Bruce Ridge GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab atop a minor crest of the ridge”
  • Bungalow Mountain GoneRecorded as: “gable-roofed L-4 cab”
  • Bunker Hill GoneRecorded as: “pole L-4 tower”
  • Bunker Point GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Burnt Fork Pinnacle GoneRecorded as: “L-4 style lookout cab (ground kind)”
  • Burnt Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Cable Mountain GoneRecorded as: “20-foot log tower with a frame cab; 14-foot-square tower and living quarters per 1937 press; called a 20-foot pole L-4 tower by Kamstra”
  • Cameron Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Cameron Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Canyon Point GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Cardinal Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Caribou Peak GoneRecorded as: “20' pole L-4 tower (firelookout.com)”
  • Casey Peak RuinsRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a stone base”
  • Cayuse Hill GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Cedar Point GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Center Ridge GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower with a crow's nest about 1/8 mile northwest”
  • Clark Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a 20-foot pole tower”
  • Cobden Point GoneRecorded as: “L-4 observation cab on a 30-foot round timber tower”
  • Cold Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Colorado Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a 20-foot pole tower”
  • Coney Peak GoneRecorded as: “30-foot L-4 tower”
  • Crimson Peak GoneRecorded as: “10' wooden L-4 cab”
  • Crossover GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Cube Iron Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Dad Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-4 ground house with gable roof on a rock foundation”
  • Dalton Mountain GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Davis Peak GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Davis Point GoneRecorded as: “41-foot treated timber L-4 tower erected 1957”
  • Deer Peak GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower with a gabled L-4 cab”
  • Demers Ridge GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Divide Peak (Seventy-Two) GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower with a porch around the cab”
  • Dixie Peak GoneRecorded as: “Gabled L-4 cab atop rock piers”
  • Doris Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Driveway Peak GoneRecorded as: “1929 lookout tree and cabin; later a 50-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab”
  • Dutch Hill GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole tower with L-4 cab”
  • East Spread GoneRecorded as: “Pole tower with an L-4 cab”
  • Edith Peak GoneRecorded as: “Pole tower with an L-4 cab”
  • Elbow Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Shake-framed cupola cabin (1926); standard L-4 cabin on a 30-foot tower (1942)”
  • Elephant Rock GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab, ground level (not on a tower)”
  • Elk Mountain Gone
  • Elk Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Elk Mountain Lookout RuinsRecorded as: “10x10 ft frame cab with roof platform (1923); 10 ft pole tower with L-4 cab (1940); separate L-6 cab about 1 mile northeast”
  • Emery Hill GoneRecorded as: “30-foot L-4 tower”
  • Falls Point GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Fish Lake GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab (firelookout.com)”
  • Flatiron Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab; listed as a ground-level structure by the FFLA”
  • Flatrock GoneRecorded as: “Crow's nest (1933), then a 50-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1941)”
  • Flower Point RuinsRecorded as: “Platform atop a 60-foot pine tree; earlier 50-foot pole L-4 tower built 1934”
  • Forks GoneRecorded as: “30' pole L-4 tower”
  • Forster Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab half a mile south of the summit”
  • Garnet Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab (ground site)”
  • Garry Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower, about half a mile above U.S. Highway 2”
  • Goat Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Gold Creek Point GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Government Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Grassy Point RuinsRecorded as: “wooden L-4 tower”
  • Green Mountain GoneRecorded as: “pole L-4 tower, listed at 10 ft by firelookout.com”
  • Green Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50 ft pole L-4 tower”
  • Grizzly Point GoneRecorded as: “10-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab”
  • Grouse Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Gunsight Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Haines Point GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Half Dome Crag GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab (1933), later R-6 flat-roof cab (1961)”
  • Harvey Point GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Haugan Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Haystack Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Haystack Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Helmet (3 Forks) GoneRecorded as: “10-foot L-4 tower, a quarter mile north of the summit (firelookout.com wording)”
  • Hemlock Point GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab (firelookout.com); ground site per the state list”
  • Henderson Hill GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Henry West GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Hilger GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Hornet Ridge GoneRecorded as: “L-4 pole tower”
  • Horse Hill GoneRecorded as: “L-4 pole tower”
  • Horse Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50-ft pole L-4 tower from 1941, after a 50-ft three-tree platform with a cab (1915-1941)”
  • Hunter Point GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Inspiration Point GoneRecorded as: “Ground cabin with an L-4 cab”
  • Iris Point GoneRecorded as: “30-foot wooden tower with a 14-foot-square glass-walled cabin (1930 report); firelookout.com calls it a 30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Jim Creek GoneRecorded as: “53-foot treated timber R-6 tower, last of three structures (two-story log house, 50-foot L-4 tower)”
  • Johnson Peak GoneRecorded as: “90-foot steel Aermotor tower with an L-4 cab”
  • Kah GoneRecorded as: “20-foot L-4 tower, after a 1927 log cupola cabin”
  • Keno Mountain GoneRecorded as: “45-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab”
  • Keystone Peak GoneRecorded as: “10' pole L-4 tower”
  • Kid Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Landowner Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-ft round timber tower with L-4 cab”
  • Lena Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab listed for 1930; cabin listed for 1947”
  • Lion Hill GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole tower with L-4 cab”
  • Lodgepole Mountain GoneRecorded as: “10-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Lolo Springs GoneRecorded as: “Region-1 log cupola cabin inside a 30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Loveland Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a 50-foot pole tower”
  • Lucky Point GoneRecorded as: “10' pole L-4 tower”
  • Marble Point GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a 50-foot round timber pole tower”
  • Martin Divide GoneRecorded as: “10' wooden L-4 cab”
  • McCaffery GoneRecorded as: “40' pole L-4 tower with a 14-foot square cab (1951 description)”
  • Meadow Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Miller Peak Gone
  • Mineral Ridge GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Moose Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Moose Point GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Moran Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Mormon Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 lookout house on a 30-foot pole tower”
  • Mount Bushnell GoneRecorded as: “Gabled L-4 cab, built 1931”
  • Mount Emerine Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “20-foot treated timber R-6 flat tower (1964), since removed; earlier 20-foot pole L-4 tower (1932)”
  • Mount Henry GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a 20-foot round timber tower”
  • Mount High GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole tower of L-4 design (firelookout.com)”
  • Mount May GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Mount Thompson-Seton GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Mount Wright GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Nasukoin Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Newman Peak GoneRecorded as: “pole L-4 tower”
  • Newton Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Ninemile Divide GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Ninemile Point GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower per firelookout.com; a 1971 newspaper calls the tower 35 feet”
  • Odell Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Wooden L-4 tower in the 1930s; 18-foot steel live-in dated 1954 per firelookout.com”
  • Olson Peak GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Olson Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Ousel Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Pagoda Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Palisade Mountain GoneRecorded as: “gabled L-4 cab”
  • Penrose Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab (ready-cut house)”
  • Petty Ridge GoneRecorded as: “D-6 cupola cabin atop a log crib (1920s); 50-foot pole L-4 tower (1933)”
  • Picture Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Frame cupola cabin (1928); L-4 cab added in 1939”
  • Pinehill GoneRecorded as: “50-foot L-4 tower”
  • Pinkham Mountain GoneRecorded as: “40' platform between 3 trees (1921); 55' pole tower with 7x7' cab (1924); 41' treated timber L-4 tower (1949)”
  • Pinto Point GoneRecorded as: “40' pole L-4 tower built atop the northwest point”
  • Pioneer Ridge GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (built 1933); earlier two-story 14x14-foot cab (1923) with a later cupola”
  • Plateau Peak GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole tower of the L-4 type; pop-up cupola trailer used from 1970”
  • Point 56 GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Poorman GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Pot Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Pulpit Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower, originally with an L-4 cab”
  • Puzzle Hills GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Red Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower, with an R-6 cab added in the 1950s”
  • Red Plume GoneRecorded as: “15-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 cab, replacing a 1928 D-6 cupola cabin built on the ground”
  • Redtop Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower with a log cabin for living quarters”
  • Reid Divide GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower”
  • Richmond GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole L-4 tower; site first established in 1929 with a pole platform and tent cabin”
  • Rivers Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a north spur”
  • Riverside GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Rock Candy Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “10-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Roderick GoneRecorded as: “frame cabin (1921), then a 10-foot wood pole tower with L-4 cab (1942)”
  • Roswell GoneRecorded as: “10-foot pole tower with L-4 cab”
  • Saddle Mountain GoneRecorded as: “10' pole L-4 tower”
  • Scenery Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab built 1936; replaced in 1962 by an R-6 cab on a 10-foot concrete base”
  • Schley Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Schmitz Mountain GoneRecorded as: “72' steel tower with L-4 cab quarters”
  • Selway Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a log crib base, later a 30-foot L-4 tower”
  • Sentinel Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Seven Point Lookout GoneRecorded as: “Gable-roofed L-4 cab on a 10-foot tower”
  • Sheep Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Sheep Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cabin”
  • Siegel Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50-foot L-4 tower”
  • Silver King Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower, L-4 type (firelookout.com)”
  • Skyline Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Sliderock MovedRecorded as: “L-4 type, 40-foot pole tower (firelookout.com); museum describes an L-4 support structure”
  • Smoky Ridge GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Snowstorm Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Spar Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Spruce Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab”
  • Squaw Point GoneRecorded as: “20-foot L-4 tower (firelookout.com)”
  • Steamboat Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab: wood, painted white, about 14 by 14 feet and 14 feet tall (1960 survey description)”
  • Stryker Peak GoneRecorded as: “10-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Sugarloaf Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Sunset Peak GoneRecorded as: “20' L-4 tower”
  • Sunset Peak GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole tower, L-4 type”
  • Table Hill GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on the end of a southwest spur”
  • Table Top Mountain GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Taft Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Taft Summit GoneRecorded as: “35-foot pole platform tower built 1909; an L-4 tower built in the 1930s (firelookout.com)”
  • Tamarack Hill GoneRecorded as: “L-4 tower dated 1936 by firelookout.com; a tower already in use by 1927 per montanalookouts quotes”
  • Teeters Peak GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole tower with an 8x8-foot cab and L-4 cab quarters”
  • Telephone Butte GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Tepee Mountain GoneRecorded as: “pole L-4 tower”
  • Thompson Peak GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Thunder Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower, L-4 design”
  • Thunder Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Thunderbolt Mountain GoneRecorded as: “log cabin (1920), then L-4 cab (1948)”
  • Thunderbolt Mountain GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole L-4 tower with a glass enclosure”
  • Tom Tom Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Tony Peak Lookout GoneRecorded as: “10-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab”
  • Tuchuck Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab (per firelookout.com)”
  • Van Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab, filed as a ground structure rather than a tower”
  • Vanderburg Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Vermillion Peak GoneRecorded as: “pole L-4 tower”
  • Wade Peak GoneRecorded as: “30' pole L-4 tower”
  • Ward Mountain GoneRecorded as: “10' pole L-4 tower”
  • Warex GoneRecorded as: “70-foot pole tower, described as an L-4 tower”
  • Weigal Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • White Pine Ridge GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a ten-foot tower”
  • White River Butte GoneRecorded as: “10' pole L-4 tower”
  • Whitefish Mountain MovedRecorded as: “1938: 50' pole L-4 tower; 1978 replacement: 35' steel 7x7' tower moved from the Ingalls lookout”
  • Wildcat Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab”
  • Wildhorse Point GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower of the L-4 type”
  • Williams Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole tower with L-4 cab; 1937 item describes four 50-foot log legs and a 14-foot square cabin”
  • Windy Pass GoneRecorded as: “Log cabin (c.1914), later an L-4 cab (1931)”
  • Woodward Point GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Yogo Peak GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole L-4 tower”
New Hampshire (1)
New Mexico (4)
  • Cerro Valdez GoneRecorded as: “L-4 lookout with a log cabin, ground site”
  • Clara Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “14 by 14 ft modified L-4 ground house of cinder block (register: stuccoed cinderblocks)”
  • Red Top GoneRecorded as: “14-foot-square wood-frame L-4 type lookout house, built 1933; a trailer lookout later”
  • Rosilla Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 or L-5 log lookout house (photographed 1937; survey caption says it probably was built in the early to mid 1930s)”
Oregon (292)
South Dakota (3)
Washington (255)
Wyoming (6)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

L-6

Also called Patrol Shelter, Tower Cupola (early version)

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 1
  • from 1932

The smallest of the standard Forest Service cabins, built for a single observer to stand watch in rather than to live in day-to-day. It was usually perched high on a wooden tower, with the lookout's actual living quarters in a separate building on the ground below.

97 lookouts on Firefinder, 15 standing

Years in use
Documented as built from the early 1930s onward (a 1938 inventory lists examples dated 1932); sources do not give a clear end date.
Cab
8 ft 9 in square (the 1932 plan).
On what
On the ground as a patrol shelter, or on top of Region 1's 50 to 98 ft log towers with cupola (T-1, T-2), with the lookout's living cabin on the ground.
Built of
Wood frame construction, hip roof on the standard version.
Made by
USDA Forest Service (standard agency design)
Models and plans
Plan L-6 (Patrol Shelter / Tower Cupola)
Where
Documented in USFS Region 1 (Idaho/Montana); likely used more broadly as part of the same family of standard plans as the L-4 and L-5.
How to recognise it
  • very small single-room cab, built for watching rather than living
  • hip roof
  • sits high on a tall wood tower, separate from the lookout's living quarters on the ground
  • 1932 plan: shingled hip roof at 1/3 pitch with a finial, shutters propped on rods (hinged to the platform rail on a tower), folding bunk and a central firefinder
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

One source describes the original 1935 handbook version as an '8 3/4 ft-square' shelter also called a 'Patrol Shelter or Tower Cupola,' while design-type summaries give a plain 8x8 ft figure; these may be the same building rounded differently, or an early vs. later version, but the sources do not say which.

On Firefinder

15 standing, 74 gone, 2 ruins, 4 moved, 1 replica, 1 status unknown. Show all 97 on the map

Standing today (15)
List all 15 standing, by state
California (1)
  • Baker Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14x14 ft live-in L-6 cab on an open timber tower about 20 ft tall”
Idaho (5)
Montana (3)
Oregon (5)
  • Frazier Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot guyed treated timber tower with 7-by-7-foot L-6 wooden cab”
  • Glass Hill Lookout Site StandingRecorded as: “100-ft treated timber tower; L-6 cab per FFLOS, 7x7-ft cab per firelookout.com; living quarters and garage (house since replaced)”
  • Hat Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “82-ft treated timber tower with an L-6 7'x7' cab and catwalk, built 1948”
  • Tope Creek Lookout StandingRecorded as: “103-foot timber tower; cab size disputed (8 by 8 ft L-6 per NHLR, 7 by 7 ft per firelookout.com)”
  • Wolf Mountain Lookout Standing
Washington (1)
Also 82 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (1)
Idaho (32)
  • Armstrong Peak Lookout GoneRecorded as: “60-foot pole tower with L-6 cab and cabin”
  • Atlasta Lookout Site Gone
  • Bat Point Lookout GoneRecorded as: “L-6 cab on a 60-foot pole tower”
  • Beals Butte Lookout Gone
  • Big Rock (62) GoneRecorded as: “30-foot round pole tower with 7x7 cab (1921), replaced in 1932 by a 45-foot round pole tower with L-6 cab”
  • Billings (Summit) GoneRecorded as: “Pole platform (1927), then an 84- to 86-foot wooden L-6 tower with an L-4 type ground cabin (late 1930s)”
  • Blacklead Lookout Site Gone
  • Boston Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “60-foot pole L-6 tower with a log cabin”
  • Cutoff Peak Lookout RuinsRecorded as: “Log ground cabin with a tower; sources disagree on the cab (L-6 per firelookout.com, L-4 per Idaho Fire Lookouts)”
  • Dairy Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “1945 pole tower with L-4 cab per two sites (40 ft), or 50-ft L-6 with gable roof per the Forest Service list; earlier 75-ft crow's nest (1927) and log cabin (1929)”
  • Dull Axe Lookout GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1934), with a 60-foot pole tower with L-6 cab half a mile north”
  • Green Point Lookout GoneRecorded as: “L-6 cab”
  • Hemlock Butte GoneRecorded as: “74-foot L-6 tower, the last structure in the record”
  • Hemlock Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “L-6 cab on a 30-foot pole tower, with a cabin for living quarters”
  • Jasper Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole L-6 tower with ground log cabin living quarters”
  • Jericho Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “55-foot tree platform (about 1920), later a 70-foot pole L-6 tower (1932)”
  • Little Green Mountain GoneRecorded as: “74-foot L-6 tower”
  • Lookout Peak Lookout GoneRecorded as: “75-foot pole tower with L-6 cab and cabin”
  • Mason Butte Lookout GoneRecorded as: “L-6 cab”
  • Moscow Bar Lookout GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab, with a 20-foot L-6 tower about two miles northwest as a patrol point”
  • Nipple Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole tower with an L-6 cab and an accompanying cabin for living quarters”
  • Raspberry Butte Lookout GoneRecorded as: “50 ft pole tower with L-4 cab; patrol point 75 ft pole tower with L-6 cab half a mile west”
  • Roberts Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “60-foot pole tower with a 7 by 7 foot L-6 cab, after a 1928 platform tower”
  • Ruby Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower with an L-6 cab”
  • Ruby Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower with L-6 cab, with a frame cabin”
  • Sheep Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “L-6 tower with log cabin living quarters (1930), replacing a 1917 cabin with an elevated platform”
  • Smith Point Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot pole L-6 tower with a cab, plus a ground cabin for living quarters”
  • Solomon Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “75-foot pole L-6 tower with a cabin”
  • Swartz Meadow Lookout GoneRecorded as: “80-foot pole tower with L-6 cab; cab 7 x 7 feet per Forest Service list”
  • Teepee Summit Lookout GoneRecorded as: “1933 log cabin 1/4 mile NW of summit; 1934 30-foot pole tower with L-6 cab; two patrol lookouts nearby”
  • Whiskey Butte Lookout MovedRecorded as: “100-foot pole tower with L-6 cab and ground cabin (original); later 86-foot Army surplus steel tower”
  • Whitetail Peak GoneRecorded as: “50-ft pole tower with L-6 cab”
Montana (3)
  • Elk Mountain Gone
  • Elk Mountain Lookout RuinsRecorded as: “10x10 ft frame cab with roof platform (1923); 10 ft pole tower with L-4 cab (1940); separate L-6 cab about 1 mile northeast”
  • Pleasant View GoneRecorded as: “L-6 cab”
Oregon (26)
  • Aschoff Butte Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Tree crow's nest and tent (c.1925), then a treated timber tower by c.1935; 110 ft per FFLOS, 82 ft L-6 per firelookout.com”
  • Baker Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “99' wooden L-6 tower (1941) replacing a 135' tree platform; cab 8x8 per Forest Lookouts' 1941 entry, 7x7 per its May 1942 inspection report”
  • Bear Bones Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Ground cabin; sources disagree (L-5, L-6, or a plan FC-2 10 x 10 ground house)”
  • Bell Mountain Lookout Site (Tillamook County) Gone
  • Buxton Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “100-foot wooden L-6 tower (1941), replaced by a 99-foot timber tower with a 7x7 cab (1963)”
  • Fanno Mountain Lookout Site Gone
  • Goat Mountain GoneRecorded as: “14-by-14 cab on an 82-foot tower after the 1951 rebuild (Forest Lookouts); firelookout.com gives an 84-foot wooden L-6 tower in the 1930s”
  • Gold Hill Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-6 cab”
  • Grants Pass Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “40-foot tower with an L-6 cab (register); firelookout.com calls it a wooden observation tower”
  • Grasshopper Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-6 cab on a treated timber tower”
  • Green Mountain Lookout Site (Clatsop County) GoneRecorded as: “1957 tower: 65-ft wood tower with 7x7 Amort cab; 1934 tower: 83-ft treated timber with 7x7 L-6 cab (register; Forest Log says 75 ft)”
  • Hoover Ridge Lookout GoneRecorded as: “26-foot tower with an L-6 cab and a cabin”
  • House (Wildcat) Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “82-foot timber L-6 tower with ground cabin”
  • Huckleberrry (Shasta) Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “50-foot pole L-6 tower with cabin, replacing a 1929 crow's nest and camp”
  • Ingram Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Wooden L-6 tower with ground cabin: 50 ft per register and Forest Fire Lookout Association; 65 ft per a 1933 newspaper quoted by Forest Lookouts”
  • Kirkland Butte Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “100' treated timber tower with L-6 cab (1934); 101' steel Aermotor tower (1941)”
  • Lamb Butte Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-6 cab”
  • Lookout Mountain Status unknownRecorded as: “82-foot timber tower with L-6 cab (1938, per Forest Lookouts); firelookout.com instead gives a 34-foot steel tower with 7x7 cab”
  • Myers Butte Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “90-foot tower with an L-4 cab and a cabin (register); 90-foot wooden L-6 tower with a cabin (firelookout.com); 100-foot creosoted ring-connected tower with a 7x7 cab (1936 district records)”
  • Nebo Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-6 tower with a frame cabin, 87 feet per the register and firelookout.com; 79-foot tower built by the Wendling CCC camp per the history page”
  • Nebo Peak GoneRecorded as: “Disputed: register gives a 94' treated timber L-6 tower with cabin, cut to 72' in 1955; firelookout.com gives a 30' pole L-4 tower”
  • Nebo Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Register: 94-foot treated timber L-6 tower with cabin, trimmed to 72 feet in 1955 with a 10x10 foot cab added. firelookout.com: 30-foot pole L-4 tower in 1933”
  • Peterson Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “66-foot wooden L-6 tower and cabin, built in 1941 to replace a 1930 crow's nest and tent cabin”
  • Post Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Successive towers: 40-ft pole L-4 (about 1937), 82-ft treated timber L-6 (1940s), 84-ft treated timber R-6 with flat cab (1962)”
  • Signal Tree/Kenyon Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “Last tower: 53-ft treated wood with flat-roof live-in cab (ODF cab); earlier 100-ft timber tower with L-6 cab (1935)”
  • Stony Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Wooden L-6 tower with cabin per Register and firelookout.com; 1936 records describe a creosoted ring-connected tower with a 7 x 7 cab”
Washington (20)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

L-2 frame lookout house (District 1)

Also called Old L-2, L-2 cupola cabin

Part of the Cupola houses (early regional plans) family

  • Ground house
  • Wood
  • Region 1
  • 1919–1930

An early Northern Rockies standard from about 1919: a small wood-frame house on the ground, 14 x 12 ft, with a glazed cupola about 8 ft square on the roof ridge where the lookout watched. Shingled walls and roof, shutters, a ladder up into the cupola, and a lightning-protection diagram. Built until about 1929.

4 lookouts on Firefinder, 2 standing

Years in use
The sheet carries a faint date of April 1919 (?); the register examples were built in 1929.
Cab
14 x 12 ft house with a cupola about 8 x 8 ft.
On what
On the ground, on rock piers.
Built of
Wood frame with shingled walls and roof over shiplap; ponderosa pine or cedar.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, District 1 (Missoula)
Models and plans
Plan L-2 (District 1, before 1930)
Where
Montana and northern Idaho.
How to recognise it
  • glazed cupola on the roof ridge
  • gable roofs, shingled walls
  • materials cost no more than $160 west of the Divide (sheet 3)
  • staged building suggested: piers first, walls later
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

Region 1 reused the number L-2 in 1939 for a log tower with a cupola (the old T-2); register pages that say 'L-2 cupola cabin' mean this house.

On Firefinder

2 standing, 1 gone, 1 ruins. Show all 4 on the map

Standing today (2)
Idaho (1)
Montana (1)
  • Priscilla Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-2 cupola cabin with shake walls and gable roof (a cabin, not a tower)”
Also 2 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Idaho (2)
  • Smith Peak Lookout RuinsRecorded as: “Fickes L-2 Special cab, a half-price version of the D-6 cupola (1928)”
  • Ward Peak Lookout GoneRecorded as: “1929 L-2 shake cupola cabin, which replaced a cabin dated 1914”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Cupola houses (early regional plans)

Also called Old L-1, Old L-2, L-3, Old R-6 (pre-1930s, unrelated to the later flat-top R-6), Nez Perce Model, R-3 log cabin with cupola

  • Ground house
  • Wood
  • Region 1
  • 1911–1933

Before the L-4 became the nationwide standard around 1930, individual forests and regions built their own small two-part lookout houses: a plain room below and a glassed-in observation room or small tower above it, often called a cupola. These were usually log or frame cabins and varied a good deal from forest to forest.

283 lookouts on Firefinder, 102 standing

In this family: L-2 frame lookout house (District 1) 4 · D-6 118 · D-1 3

Years in use
Cupola-style lookouts were being built on some forests by around 1911; construction mostly tapered off through the 1930s as the L-4 and similar single-story plans became standard, though a few cupola cabins stayed in service for decades afterward.
Cab
Varied by forest and plan; documented examples include 12x12, 12x14, 14x14 and 15x15 ft.
On what
Built on the ground as self-contained two-part buildings, rather than on raised towers.
Built of
Both peeled-log and milled-frame construction are documented; roofs were typically hipped or gabled, with glazed sides on the upper cupola section.
Made by
USDA Forest Service (various regional and district designs, not standardized nationally)
Models and plans
Old L-1; Old L-2 (1928 model); L-3 (1928); Old R-6 (12x12 frame with cupola, pre-dates the later flat-top R-6 of the same name); Nez Perce Log Lookout House; R-3 log cabin with cupola (Flathead National Forest)
Where
Documented mainly in USFS Region 1 (Idaho and Montana forests, including the Nez Perce, Flathead, Lolo and Bitterroot National Forests).
How to recognise it
  • two-part building: a plain lower room with a smaller glassed cupola or crow's-nest room above
  • log or frame construction, often locally built rather than from a national kit
  • predates the single-story L-4-style cab
Where sources disagree

This entry groups together several different named plans (Old L-1, Old L-2, L-3, an early 'Old R-6,' the 'Nez Perce Model,' and an 'R-3' log cabin from the Flathead National Forest) that sources describe as closely related cupola-style buildings rather than as one single standardized plan. The exact differences between them, and the full nationwide extent of the cupola style outside Region 1, are not covered in the sources reviewed. Note that the 1920s-era 'Old R-6' cupola cabin is unrelated to the later (1953 onward) flat-roofed R-6 design, despite sharing a name.

On Firefinder

102 standing, 173 gone, 3 ruins, 3 moved, 2 status unknown. Show all 283 on the map

Listed below: the 159 whose records do not say which Cupola houses (early regional plans) plan or model it is. The other 124 are listed under their own design.

Standing today (49)
List all 49 standing, by state
Colorado (1)
  • Leon Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Log construction with corrugated sheet metal; built as a 12-foot-square house with a cupola”
Idaho (20)
Montana (8)
New Jersey (1)
New Mexico (1)
  • Osborne Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Ground-level house with cupola, designed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (register)”
North Carolina (1)
Oregon (9)
South Dakota (1)
Virginia (1)
  • Red Oak Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Cupola-style lookout, built in the 1930s (NHLR); the state index lists its type as Ground”
Washington (6)
Also 110 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Arizona (1)
  • Mount Wrightson GoneRecorded as: “Final 1928 version about 12 by 12 feet, with a cupola holding a fire finder, on a platform 4 feet above ground; earlier lookouts were smaller”
California (9)
Idaho (40)
Montana (12)
  • Baldy Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Cupola cabin (1928), then a 20-foot L-4 tower (1949) and a 30-foot treated timber tower (1979)”
  • Elbow Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Shake-framed cupola cabin (1926); standard L-4 cabin on a 30-foot tower (1942)”
  • Kah GoneRecorded as: “20-foot L-4 tower, after a 1927 log cupola cabin”
  • Lake Mountain GoneRecorded as: “log cupola cabin”
  • Lolo Springs GoneRecorded as: “Region-1 log cupola cabin inside a 30-foot pole L-4 tower”
  • Mount Headley Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Cupola cabin (1928); earlier 11x11 ft frame and metal cab (1914)”
  • Picture Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Frame cupola cabin (1928); L-4 cab added in 1939”
  • Piquett Mountain GoneRecorded as: “cupola cabin, built 1928 (site a camp from 1921)”
  • Quigg Peak GoneRecorded as: “log and frame cupola cabin”
  • Sixmile GoneRecorded as: “cupola cabin (about 1929), preceded by a crow's nest and camp (1910)”
  • Stryker Ridge GoneRecorded as: “Converted school bus with a cupola”
  • Two Trees Point GoneRecorded as: “Log cupola cabin on the east summit”
New York (1)
  • Spitzenberg Mountain RuinsRecorded as: “Stone shelter house with a cupola for a fire observer; main room planned 16 ft square”
Oregon (23)
Washington (23)
Wyoming (1)
Sources

Southwest (Region 3)

Schematic, not to scale

Region 3 cab

Also called R-3 cab, low-sill cab

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 3
  • 1934–1954

The Southwest's own wooden live-in cab: 12 x 12 ft (later 14 x 14 ft), with windows that come down unusually low, set on a short Aermotor MC-24 steel tower or a concrete-block base, usually without a catwalk.

7 lookouts on Firefinder, 7 standing

Years in use
Register examples were built from the mid-1930s to 1954.
Cab
12 x 12 ft; 14 x 14 ft in later examples.
On what
On about 30-ft Aermotor MC-24 towers, or 10-ft concrete-block bases.
Built of
Wood frame.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 3
Where
Arizona and New Mexico.
How to recognise it
  • low window sills
  • usually no catwalk
  • live-in
On Firefinder

7 standing. Show all 7 on the map

Standing today (7)
Arizona (2)
  • Baker Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-3 12'x12' wooden”
  • Hutch Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “31 ft Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12 x 12 ft wooden R-3 cab; built without a catwalk, steel catwalk added 2008”
New Mexico (5)
  • Davenport Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14x14 ft cab of local R-3 design, described as CL-100 series in the 2020 chapter report, on a 10-ft concrete block base; catwalk added several years after 1954”
  • El Caso Lookout StandingRecorded as: “31.6-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower with a restored R3 12x12 low-sill cab (register)”
  • Glorieta Baldy Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 tower with an R-3 live-in 14'x14' wooden cab, no catwalk”
  • Mangas Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12-by-12-foot wooden R3 low-sill cab and no catwalk”
  • Mount Withington Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Special R-3 design cab with a slightly sloped gable roof on a concrete block base; a catwalk was added later”
Sources

California (Region 5)

Schematic, not to scale

California (Region 5) plans

Also called Plan 4-A, BC-301, DuBois cab

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 5
  • 1914–1951

California's own Forest Service region developed its lookout standards somewhat independently of the Region 1/Region 6 L-4 story. It settled on its own 14x14 ft live-in cab in 1917, well before the L-4 existed, and later developed its own small all-steel cab for use on steel towers. The two families, wood cab and steel cab, were used side by side on different towers around the state.

204 lookouts on Firefinder, 102 standing

In this family: Plan 4-A 18 · D-5 (4-AR) 44 · C-3 25 · BC-301 118 · BC-201 19

Years in use
The first standardized live-in cab (12x12 ft) was designed for Region 5 in 1914 and enlarged to 14x14 ft in 1917; that basic wood-cab lineage, and a later small steel-cab design adopted in 1951, both remained part of the region's standard plans for decades afterward.
Cab
14 x 14 ft for the standard wood live-in cab (Plan 4-A, later revised as BC-301); 13 x 13 ft for the later all-steel live-in cab used on steel K-brace towers.
On what
Steel K-brace towers of this family were built up to about 120 ft; an individually documented example (North Mountain Lookout) used a 54-ft steel K-brace tower.
Built of
Early cabs were wood frame, pre-cut to standard dimensions ('ready-cut'); the later steel cab was built of ferrous sheet metal with a flat roof.
Made by
USDA Forest Service Region 5 (standard agency design); Coert DuBois is credited as the original designer of the 1914/1917 cab
Models and plans
Plan 4-A (1917 wood cab); BC-301 (1934 revision of Plan 4-A); BC-201 (1933 lookout-fireman's dwelling); BC-1001 (1944-45 steel-frame cab with airport-control-tower-style sloped windows); CL-30 / CL-104 (1951 all-steel 13x13 ft flat-roof cab); Plan 809R (1947 California Department of Forestry octagonal cab)
Where
USDA Forest Service Region 5, California.
How to recognise it
  • 14x14 ft wood live-in cab on early examples, similar in size to an L-4 but independently developed
  • later steel K-brace towers topped with a small (13x13 ft) all-metal flat-roofed cab
  • some later examples (1944-45 'BC-1001' style) have outward-sloping windows reminiscent of an airport control tower
Where sources disagree

The scanned federal document this entry relies on has some OCR-garbled plan numbers for the region's steel-tower series (rendered inconsistently as, for example, 'L-20,' 'L-40' and 'L-80' in different passages), so exact plan numbers for the steel-tower-only (non-cab) designs are not given with full confidence here. It is also not fully clear from the sources how the 'CL-30' and 'CL-104' cab labels relate to each other -- they may be the same 13x13 ft steel cab design referred to by two different numbering systems, since both are described identically (13x13 ft, all-steel, flat roof) in the same source.

On Firefinder

102 standing, 91 gone, 3 ruins, 6 moved, 2 status unknown. Show all 204 on the map

Each one is listed under its own plan or model.

Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Plan 4-A

Also called 4A, Primary Lookout Building (District 4, 1921)

Part of the California (Region 5) plans family

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 5
  • Region 4
  • 1917–1923

One of the first standard live-in lookouts in the West: a 14 x 14 ft wooden house with a steep pyramid roof and a band of windows all round, the lookout living and watching in one room with the firefinder on a raised platform in the middle. Register pages call it California's Plan 4A of 1917; the Intermountain district printed it in 1921 as its own standard 'Primary Lookout Building', and several were built in Idaho.

18 lookouts on Firefinder, 7 standing

Years in use
Built from 1917 until 1923, when the 4-AR (D-5) replaced it; the Intermountain booklet is dated July 1921.
Cab
14 x 14 ft (14 ft 4 in overall), one room.
On what
On the ground, or on a braced timber underpinning up to 12 ft.
Built of
Wood frame with rustic siding below the windows, cedar shingle roof, redwood or cedar sills, stone or masonry footings.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, District 5 (California) and District 4 (Intermountain)
Models and plans
Buildings Series No. 4, Plan 4-A (District 4, 1921)
Where
California and Idaho.
How to recognise it
  • steep pyramid roof (12 in 12 pitch)
  • six windows a side, two panes each, with the door in place of the second window from a corner
  • firefinder on a raised platform with a revolving chair, in the centre of the room
  • 1921 lightning protection: wires over the roof hips and down the corners to four buried copper cones
  • painted brown with white trim and a moss-green roof (1921 specification)
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

FFLA labels this scan 'Plan 4-A (Region 5 4-A)', but the booklet itself says 'Standard for District 4' throughout and names Ogden as the supply depot; nothing in it mentions California. Register pages call the 4A a California Region 5 plan of 1917. The same series number may have been used by both districts for the same house, or one district may have copied the other's.

On Firefinder

7 standing, 9 gone, 1 ruins, 1 moved. Show all 18 on the map

Standing today (7)
California (5)
Idaho (2)
Also 11 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (10)
Idaho (1)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

D-5 (4-AR)

Also called 4AR, 4-AR, Supervisor Hall Special, District 5 style

Part of the California (Region 5) plans family

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 5
  • Region 6
  • 1922–1934

California's standard 'primary lookout house' of 1922 and the revised California lookout that followed the 4-A: a 14 x 14 ft wooden live-in house with a steep roof, windows on every side behind board shutters, and the firefinder on a raised platform in the middle of the room. It stood on the ground or on a short braced timber tower. Oregon used it too and called it the 'Supervisor Hall Special'. About a dozen survive.

44 lookouts on Firefinder, 23 standing

Years in use
The District 5 booklet is dated March 1922; register examples run from about 1923 to 1934, a late use.
Cab
14 x 14 ft (13 x 13 ft on some Oregon records).
On what
On the ground or on a braced timber tower; the 1922 booklet lists materials for 5, 10 and 16 ft towers, and register pages give 8 to 30 ft.
Built of
Wood frame.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, District 5 (California)
Models and plans
Primary Lookout House (District 5 pattern, 1922); 4-AR; D-5
Where
California, Oregon, and single examples in Nevada, Idaho, Arizona and Washington.
How to recognise it
  • steep roof at half pitch (12 in 12)
  • five windows a side, two panes each, with storm sash and screens
  • door in the middle of a wall, where the 4-A had it near a corner
  • board shutters held by steel shutter bars
  • firefinder table on a raised platform with a revolving chair
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

The 1922 booklet does not itself use the names D-5 or 4-AR; Mark Swift says he took D-5 from one set of plans, and that Region 6 records later called some D-5s L-4s. The booklet's elevation reads as a gable roof to one reader, while Swift describes a hip roof. The District 4 Plan 4-A booklet of 1921 is strikingly similar.

On Firefinder

23 standing, 20 gone, 1 ruins. Show all 44 on the map

Standing today (23)
List all 23 standing, by state
California (19)
  • Babbit Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Supervisor Hall”
  • Black Fox Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “4AR”
  • Black Mountain Lookout (San Bernadino NF) StandingRecorded as: “CL-100 steel cab with flat corrugated metal roof and metal mesh catwalk on a solid rock outcrop (completed 1962); the earlier structure was a California Region 5 Plan 4AR cabin on a 10 ft open timber tower”
  • Blue Mountain Lookout (Modoc National Forest) StandingRecorded as: “Forest Service steel lookout tower (Region 5 4AR design, 1929); 14-foot-square glass cab; 1962 steel CL-100 house on the existing tower”
  • Bonanza King Lookout StandingRecorded as: “California Region 5 Plan 4AR wooden lookout house on a concrete and rock foundation; an Aircraft Warning Service residence cabin was added in WWII”
  • Boucher Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “4AR”
  • Buck Rock Lookout StandingRecorded as: “4A style, 14 by 14 ft cab (1917-1923 design), replaced on-site by the 4AR model elsewhere; reached via a suspended flight of stairs”
  • Deadwood Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “20-foot H-beam steel tower with a C-3(L) cab installed in 1952; the 1932 tower carried an L-4 or 4AR cab”
  • Dixie Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “rare, surviving California Region 5 Plan 4AR design on an enclosed 10-foot timber tower”
  • Frazier Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “4AR”
  • Grouse Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “4AR cab, 14 by 14 feet, steep 12/12 roof, five windows per wall; NHLR calls it a forerunner of the L-4 model”
  • Hot Springs Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Region 5 design C-3 wood 14 x 14 ft cab on a new 20 ft tower (1942); earlier 4AR 14 x 14 cab on a 23 ft timber tower (1928)”
  • Keller Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “likely a Region 5 4AR cabin on a 20-foot open steel tower (1926); cab replaced with a Region 5 BC-301 in 1954”
  • La Cumbre Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “4AR”
  • Sawmill Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “4-AR”
  • Ship Mountain (Four Brothers) Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Two-story cab built in 2008; the earlier timber tower used a Region 5 Plan 4AR cab”
  • Sugar Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “California Region 5 4AR design on a 30-foot steel tower, with an all-glass cab (NHLR; 1932 newspaper)”
  • Sugarloaf Lookout StandingRecorded as: “California Region 5 Plan 4AR cabin on an 8 ft concrete tower”
  • Thompson Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Two-story summit lookout (completed 1932 per Summit Post); the register calls it an R1 design, a Region 1 revision of the California Region 4AR”
Nevada (1)
Oregon (3)
Also 21 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (13)
Oregon (7)
Washington (1)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

C-3

Also called C3, R-5 cab

Part of the California (Region 5) plans family

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 5
  • 1933–1942

California's most common wooden live-in cab of the 1930s: 14 x 14 ft with a hip roof, like an L-4, but with the door in the middle of a wall and two-pane windows. From about 1934 most had outriggers to hold the shutters open.

25 lookouts on Firefinder, 17 standing

Years in use
Register examples were built between 1933 and 1942.
Cab
14 x 14 ft.
On what
On the ground, on short enclosed timber towers, or on steel towers of 20 to 30 ft.
Built of
Wood frame.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 5 (California)
Models and plans
C-3; C-3 with outriggers
Where
California, with a few in Idaho.
How to recognise it
  • door in the middle of a wall
  • two panes per window
  • hip roof, 8 in 12 pitch
  • outriggers for the shutters on most
Where sources disagree

One register page dates the design to 1917 and calls it a forerunner of the L-4; Mark Swift's notes say maintenance records often confused the C-3 with the L-4.

On Firefinder

17 standing, 7 gone, 1 moved. Show all 25 on the map

Standing today (17)
List all 17 standing, by state
California (16)
  • Argentine Rock Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Enclosed tower with C-3 cab and catwalk”
  • Black Mountain Lookout (Plumas NF) StandingRecorded as: “14'x14' C3 live-in cab with catwalk, Forest Service R-5 (California region) design, on an 11' enclosed timber tower”
  • Breckenridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-4 cab with catwalk on a 40 ft steel tower per the NHLR; fire-lookouts.org calls the present cab a C-3 style live-in cab”
  • Calpine Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “C-3, 14'x14' wooden cab with catwalk on an enclosed 17-foot tower, enclosed windmill-style; living quarters on first landing”
  • Deadwood Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “20-foot H-beam steel tower with a C-3(L) cab installed in 1952; the 1932 tower carried an L-4 or 4AR cab”
  • Estelle Mountain Lookout (now at Hemet-Ryan) Standing
  • Figueroa Mountain Lookout Standing
  • Hot Springs Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Region 5 design C-3 wood 14 x 14 ft cab on a new 20 ft tower (1942); earlier 4AR 14 x 14 cab on a 23 ft timber tower (1928)”
  • Miami Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14 x 14 ft C-3 cab with catwalk on a 20 ft H-braced steel tower”
  • Mount Tom Lookout StandingRecorded as: “C-3 wooden cab (14 by 14 ft) with catwalk on a 30-32 ft K-braced steel tower with straight stairway”
  • Musick Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “20-foot H-beam steel tower with C-3(L) cab (1939); originally a compass-type station (1912), rebuilt as a cab/cabin tower (1924)”
  • Red Mountain Lookout (San Diego County) StandingRecorded as: “15 x 15 ft R5/C3 cab on a 10 ft enclosed tower (per the Register); FFLA describes a plain wood cab on a 10 ft concrete-block base after 1977”
  • Sardine Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14'x14' C-3 cab on an enclosed 17-ft wood tower, built by the CCC”
  • Tobias Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “C-3 type 14 x 14 ft live-in cab with catwalk, on a short foundation”
  • Topa Topa Peak Lookout Site StandingRecorded as: “Steel H-brace tower built to California Region 5 plan BC-301, with a wooden 14 by 14 foot C3 cab (cab since destroyed)”
  • Vetter Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14x14 ft ground-level ('C3') cab with steel shutters; rebuilt 2019-2020 in concrete board and steel framing”
Idaho (1)
  • Custer Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-5 (Region 5) C-3 cab, a 14 by 14 ft groundhouse with catwalk; the design dates to 1917”
Also 8 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (8)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

BC-301

Also called BC-3, BC-302

Part of the California (Region 5) plans family

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 5
  • 1933–1954

California Region 5's standard wooden cab of the CCC era, an updated version of the L-4 idea: a 14 x 14 ft live-in cab, usually on a short enclosed timber tower with a storage room below. It is the design most named on California's registers.

118 lookouts on Firefinder, 56 standing

Years in use
Register examples were built between 1933 and 1954, most before 1943; the CL-30 steel cab began to replace it in the 1950s.
Cab
14 x 14 ft.
On what
Usually on a 10 to 30 ft enclosed or open timber tower (Forest Service tower plans L-101, L-301, L-601, L-701), sometimes on steel.
Built of
Wood frame.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 5
Models and plans
BC-301; BC-302
Where
California, with a few in Oregon; Region 1 drew its own revision.
How to recognise it
  • live-in cab with catwalk
  • often on an enclosed timber tower with a storage room
On Firefinder

56 standing, 53 gone, 2 ruins, 5 moved, 2 status unknown. Show all 118 on the map

Standing today (56)
List all 56 standing, by state
California (54)
Oregon (2)
  • Big Rock Lookout Standing BC-301Recorded as: “Standard 14x14 Forest Service-type cab on a 9 ft enclosed tower (labelled L-4 by firelookout.com, BC-301 by the register)”
  • Garwood Butte Lookout Standing BC-301Recorded as: “L-4 cab, an updated BC-301 version”
Also 62 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (62)
  • Alaska Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin atop a 16-foot enclosed timber tower”
  • Ball Mountain Lookout (Tehama County) Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20 ft enclosed timber tower”
  • Billy's Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20-foot H-brace open steel tower (register); a 1952 survey describes a 30-foot steel tower”
  • Black Diamond Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Plan BC-301 cabin atop a 30-foot open steel K-brace tower, with a garage on site”
  • Black Mountain (Black Hill) Tower Site Gone BC-301
  • Cahoon Rock Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “US Forest Service California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin atop a 20 foot enclosed timber tower”
  • Cajon Mountain Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin atop a 30 foot K-Brace open steel tower”
  • Camel's Hump Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 on an 8-foot enclosed timber tower”
  • Camp Six Mountain Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20-foot open timber tower, which replaced an earlier lookout structure”
  • Camuesa Lookout Site Ruins BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10-foot open timber tower”
  • Cecil Point Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10-foot enclosed timber tower; 1954 replacement was an R1M Region 1 mobile cupola trailer”
  • Cherry Hill Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 16-foot enclosed timber tower”
  • China Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on an enclosed timber tower”
  • Columbia Hill Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 16-foot enclosed timber tower (1936 replacement)”
  • Crystal Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin atop a 20-foot X-brace open steel tower”
  • Cuyamaca Peak Tower Site Gone BC-301
  • Deadwood Baldy Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on an enclosed timber tower”
  • Digger Butte Lookout Gone BC-301Recorded as: “20-foot L-401 tower with BC-301 wood frame cab (Register); a 1936 newspaper item describes a thirty-foot steel tower”
  • Estelle Mountain Lookout Moved BC-301Recorded as: “14-by-14-foot cab on a 30-foot steel K-brace tower (FFLA-SDRC calls the cab BC-301; the register calls it C-3)”
  • Folsom Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin atop a 30-foot enclosed timber tower”
  • Fox Mountain Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on an enclosed timber tower (register: 10-foot tower; 1948 survey sheet: 15-foot tower)”
  • Goat Mountain Lookout Site (Mendocino NF) Ruins BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot K-brace steel tower”
  • Hayden Hill Moved BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10 foot enclosed timber tower (NHLR)”
  • Helester (Hellister) Point Lookout Site Status unknown BC-301Recorded as: “20 foot K-brace open steel tower with a California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin”
  • Hungry Creek Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10 foot timber tower”
  • Johnstone Peak (San Dimas) Moved BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 30 foot K-brace steel tower (register); the Angeles Adventures history describes a 14 by 14 foot wood cab”
  • Jones Point Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 ground cabin mounted on concrete piers”
  • Josephine Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “Region 5 Plan BC-301 cab on a short, open timber tower”
  • Kettenpom Peak Lookout Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a timber tower (Register); sources disagree on the tower's height and frame”
  • Kettle Rock Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 BC-1401 design (a revision of the BC-301) on a 9-foot block tower”
  • Lakeview Point Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20 ft timber tower per a 1986 survey; never built”
  • Lexington Hill Lookout Site Moved BC-301
  • Loma Prieta Lookout Gone BC-301Recorded as: “US Forest Service BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot enclosed K-brace steel tower (1934)”
  • Madulce Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301, 10-foot open timber tower”
  • McPherson Mountain Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 ground cabin, not on a tower”
  • Medicine Mountain Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “Ground cabin to California Region 5 Plan BC-301; a 1952 survey describes a standard Forest Service single-story lookout house about 14 feet square”
  • Mendenhall Peak (Highline) Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin atop a 10-foot open timber tower”
  • Mount Ingalls Moved BC-301Recorded as: “10-foot enclosed timber tower built to California Region 5 Plan BC-301 (register)”
  • Pacheco Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “Forest Service Region 5 plan BC-301 cabin atop an enclosed timber tower”
  • Pine Mountain Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin atop a 10-foot open timber tower”
  • Pinecrest Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 ground cabin”
  • Pinyon Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301, open steel tower on a K-brace”
  • Pony Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-302Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-302 cabin on an enclosed timber tower; first and only structure, 1934”
  • Potato Hill Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on an enclosed timber tower”
  • Red Mountain Lookout (San Bernadino NF) Gone BC-301Recorded as: “1934 standard Region 5 Plan BC-301 wood cab (14 by 14 ft) with catwalk, on a 20-foot steel H-brace tower with steel I-beam corner posts”
  • Red Top Lookout Status unknown BC-301Recorded as: “Timber tower with a matching BC-301 cab, two stories per the register; fire-lookouts.org describes three stories”
  • Reservoir Summit Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 lookout on a 10-foot open timber tower”
  • Rocky Butte Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “CCC tower to USFS Plan No. L-701; original BC-301 cab replaced by a steel CL-30 cab in 1977”
  • San Gabriel Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “Region 5 Plan 4A cabin on a 10-foot X-brace open steel tower; may later have been replaced by a BC-301 design”
  • Santa Ynez Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin (register; Carey calls it a classic C3 cab) atop a 30 ft K-brace open steel tower”
  • Shelton Butte Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10 foot enclosed timber tower”
  • Sierra Pelona Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 BC-301 cabin atop a 30-foot K-brace steel tower”
  • Slate Mountain Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20 foot H-brace open steel tower; a garage was also built on site”
  • Stateline Point Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 ground cabin; another register photo shows a 20-foot enclosed timber tower”
  • Sunset Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “20-ft steel tower with a cab (sources differ: L-4 or BC-301 per the register; 14 by 14 ft wood cab per Angeles Adventures)”
  • Three Peaks Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “Ten-foot enclosed timber tower with a 14x14 cab, California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin”
  • Topanga Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot K-brace steel tower (register says the design appears to be a USFS one)”
  • Valley View Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 14 foot enclosed timber tower”
  • Ventana Double Cone Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “14x14 ground cabin on a rock foundation, California Region 5 Plan BC-301”
  • West Big Pine Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10-foot open timber tower”
  • West Libre Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20 ft enclosed timber tower”
  • Whitaker Peak Lookout Site Gone BC-301Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10 ft open timber tower”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

BC-201

Also called Lookout-fireman house

Part of the California (Region 5) plans family

  • Ground house
  • Wood
  • Region 5
  • 1933–1940

A Region 5 house for a fire guard who also kept watch: a frame cottage with a kitchen and bedroom and a 'lookout room' glazed on three sides, for places where a tower was not needed or the view was partly blocked anyway. Some served as the residence beside a steel tower.

19 lookouts on Firefinder, 11 standing

Years in use
A 1934 design; register examples were built from 1933 to 1938.
Cab
About 19 x 30 ft house with a lookout room glazed on three sides (180 to 270 degrees of view).
On what
On the ground.
Built of
Wood frame.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 5
Models and plans
BC-201
Where
California.
How to recognise it
  • windows on three sides of the lookout room only
  • a dwelling, not a tower
On Firefinder

11 standing, 8 gone. Show all 19 on the map

Standing today (11)
California (11)
Also 8 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (8)
  • Campbellville Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “8x8 foot wood-frame observation cabin on a 60-foot treated timber tower (1937), with a BC-201 residence cabin”
  • Iron Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Platform built into a tree about 60 feet up; BC-201 cabin and garage added in 1934”
  • Mount Woodson Tower Site Gone
  • Pratt Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “45-foot Aermotor steel tower with a Forest Service BC-201 residence”
  • Sheetiron Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “7x7 observation cabin on a 70-foot X-brace open steel tower; residence cabin also built; BC-201 cabin added 1935”
  • Sierra Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “BC-201 Forest Fireman Lookout Station, Region 5 1934 design: 19x30 ft wood frame building with a 270-degree glassed lookout room”
  • Spanish Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Ground cabin before 1920; BC-201 Fireman-Lookout cabin built in 1934 to replace the older building”
  • Thomas Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “60-ft Aermotor open X-brace steel tower with a 7x7 observation cabin on top, and a BC-201 residence cabin for the operator”
Sources

Pacific Northwest (Region 6)

Schematic, not to scale

R-6

Also called R-6 Flattop, R-6 Flat

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 6
  • Region 1
  • Region 4
  • from 1953

The design that replaced the L-4 from the 1950s onward. Instead of a peaked roof, it has a flat roof that overhangs the walls on all sides to shade the windows, giving lookouts of this type their distinctive squared-off silhouette.

244 lookouts on Firefinder, 153 standing

Years in use
Became the standard replacement design starting in 1953; individual examples were still being built into the 1970s.
Cab
15 ft 4 in square in the 1959 to 1971 plans (sources round it to 15 x 15 ft), with a 3-ft catwalk all round (21 ft 4 in overall); some register pages describe 14 x 14 ft R-6-style cabs.
On what
On the ground on concrete footings with a catwalk, on concrete-block or storage bases (Region 4's Plans 80-A and 80-B), or on Region 6 timber towers (CT-3, CT-6, TT-1).
Built of
Plywood construction with a tar-paper roof covering in at least one description; later examples used concrete block for the base or tower as heavier materials became easier to transport.
Made by
USDA Forest Service (standard agency design, Region 6)
Models and plans
B-4301 to B-4304 (1959; parts drawn from 1954); redrawn 1962-64, with B-4303A ground house (1963); 'A' revision (1971); Region 4 Plans 80-A (1958) and 80-B (1961)
Where
Originated in and named for USFS Region 6 (Washington and Oregon); used there and adopted elsewhere as the L-4 was phased out, including Region 1 (Montana/Idaho).
How to recognise it
  • flat roof that overhangs the cab walls by a few feet on all sides
  • square floor plan, usually 14x14 or 15x15 ft
  • often sits on a concrete-block base rather than a wood tower
Plan versions

  1. 1959 plan (B-4300 series) 1954-59

    Drawn by Region 6 architect A. P. DiBenedetto: a flat felt roof overhanging 3 ft on every side, tall sash of four horizontal panes filling each wall with one opening sash on three sides, plywood shutters, and a catwalk; on the ground or on a CT-3 or TT-1 tower.

  2. 1962-64 redrawing 1962-64

    Windows grouped in factory-made twin and triple frame units, plywood shutters on shutter bars, safety gates and a counterweighted trap door on the catwalk, steel gussets in the roof; a new sheet for a ground house on six footings with a short stair.

  3. 1971 'A' revision 1971

    The divided sash give way to big fixed plate-glass panes, three to a wall, with small aluminum vent windows above; an aluminum-grating door in the catwalk.

  4. Region 4 Plan 80-A 1958

    The Intermountain Region's version, 15 ft 4 in square, alone on concrete piers or (sheet 80A-1) on a one-story cinder-block storage building with an outside stair and a wood-railed catwalk.

  5. Region 4 Plan 80-B 1961-63

    Region 4's 1961 house combining the R-6 flat top with its own Smith Knob plans: the same cab on an 8-ft pumice-block storage basement, plywood siding, tall single-pane windows and a pipe-and-wire-mesh catwalk rail.

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

Sources disagree on the standard cab size: general reference pages say 15x15 ft, but several individually documented R-6-style lookouts (for example on the Mt. Hood National Forest) are 14x14 ft, and one source describes a 12x12 ft cab being replaced in 1981 by a 14x14 ft 'R-6 wood flat top' cab. It is unclear whether 14x14 and 15x15 were both official variants, whether the standard changed over time, or whether 'R-6 style' was applied loosely to any flat-roofed replacement cab regardless of exact size.

On Firefinder

153 standing, 78 gone, 1 ruins, 11 moved, 1 status unknown. Show all 244 on the map

Standing today (153)
List all 153 standing, by state
Arizona (4)
  • Humboldt Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “CL-100 R-6 metal flattop cab with catwalk on a steel tower”
  • Mount Bigelow Lookout StandingRecorded as: “53-ft Army CL-100 metal tower with a 14x14 ft cab; the 2013 summary calls the cab wood R-6, the register says metal; the cab was removed in 2013, leaving the platform”
  • Red Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Wooden R-6 flat-top dual cab, about 15 x 15 ft, with a roof overhang, on a 10 ft concrete foundation”
  • Rose Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 cab on a steel tower; cab replaced in 1981 with a 14x14 ft R-6 wood flat-top live-in cab with catwalk”
California (1)
  • Chews Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “steel-frame tower under a 13 x 13 ft cab; flat-roofed R-6 style cab since 1984”
Colorado (1)
  • Zenobia Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “NPS model 15'x15' R-6 flattop cab on a 30' timber tower”
Florida (1)
  • Central Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-100 steel tower with R-6 cab (NHLR); flyer describes an eighty-foot steel structure”
Idaho (47)
Montana (41)
  • Baptiste Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Treated-timber tower with a flat-roofed R-6 cab, built 1964 to replace a 1928 30-foot tower”
  • Bare Cone Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 cab on a 10-foot concrete base”
  • Berray Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flattop cab with catwalk on a 30-ft timber tower (built 1965); earlier 1940 50-ft pole tower with L-4 cab”
  • Big Creek Baldy Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flattop cab, 15x15 ft, on a 41-ft timber tower”
  • Blue Mountain Lookout (Lolo NF) Standing
  • Camel's Hump Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 cab on a 41-foot treated timber tower”
  • Cinnamon Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “10-foot timber tower with R-6 flat cab and catwalk”
  • Cooney Lookout Standing
  • Cyclone Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 cab on a 41-ft treated timber tower (1967); replaced a 40-ft pole tower with an L-4 cab (1935)”
  • Deer Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab, 15 by 15 feet, with catwalk on a 10-foot concrete base”
  • Diamond Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 10-foot concrete base”
  • Eddy Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat-topped cab, 15 by 15 feet, with catwalk on a 10-foot concrete base (present tower); first station an L-4 ground house, 1931”
  • Firefighter Lookout StandingRecorded as: “41-ft tower; NMLA describes an R-6 flat-top base with an L-4 style tower on it, the only one of its kind, its hip roof later made flat”
  • Garnet Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 10-foot concrete base”
  • Garver Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14x14 ft R-6-style flattop cab on a 30-foot treated timber tower with catwalk; original 1929 one-story log ground house still on site”
  • Gem Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flattop cab with catwalk on a 30-foot treated timber tower”
  • Granite Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “15x15 ft R-6 flat cab on a treated wood tower (original 1932 structure was an L-4 cab on a 20-foot tower)”
  • Hogback Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab atop a 10-foot concrete base (built 1961); first lookout had an L-4 cab (1936)”
  • Jocko #2 Lookout StandingRecorded as: “40-ft treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab; R-6 cabs are a standard 15x15-ft frame house (CSKT)”
  • Jumbo Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab (built 1957), replacing an L-4 cab from 1937”
  • Keeler Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Treated-timber 53-ft R-6 tower with flat cab (1963), third lookout on the site; earlier 1934 50-ft L-4 pole tower and 1924 50-ft platform tower with cabin”
  • Lookout Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flattop cab with catwalk on a 10-foot concrete base (one source says cinder block)”
  • Mission Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab, 41-foot treated timber tower”
  • Morrell Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flattop cab with catwalk, about 15 by 15 ft, on a 10 ft concrete block base (1962 replacement)”
  • Mount Marston Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 10 ft concrete base (built 1962); earlier L-4 cab (1932)”
  • Patrick's Knob Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flattop cab with catwalk on a 10 ft concrete base (1976); replaced a 20 ft pole tower with L-4 cab (1934)”
  • Patrol Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab”
  • Pistol Creek Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 53-foot treated timber tower”
  • Porphyry Lookout StandingRecorded as: “40-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab”
  • Prairie Reef Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Present R-6 flat cab, built 1968; earlier L-4 cab built 1931”
  • Richards Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flattop cab with catwalk on a 10-foot concrete block base”
  • Spotted Bear Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “20-ft treated timber R-6 tower; earlier two-story 13x13 ft log cabin (1916)”
  • Stark Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 20-ft treated timber tower”
  • Swede Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat-cab treated-timber tower (present); first lookout a 50 ft pole tower with L-4 cab”
  • Teepee Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Two-story gabled R-6 cab (1984) on a modified R-6 plan”
  • Up Up Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab, 41-foot treated timber tower”
  • Webb Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on 10-foot concrete base”
  • Williams Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 53-foot timber tower”
  • Willow Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “10-foot concrete base with R-6 flat cab”
  • Yaak Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on 41-foot treated timber tower”
  • Ziegler Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flat-top cab with catwalk on a treated-timber tower; 14 x 14 ft cab per the register”
Nevada (1)
  • Ella Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “modified R-6 flattop cab, 14 by 14 feet with a catwalk and slightly slanting windows, on an 8-foot concrete block base; FFLA lists a 2-story cab”
New Mexico (1)
  • St. Peter's Dome Lookout StandingRecorded as: “CL-100 to CL-106 series metal 14x14-foot R6 flat-top cab with metal catwalk on a 10-foot cinder block base with storage room (register)”
Oregon (36)
Washington (17)
Wyoming (3)
  • Blackhall Lookout StandingRecorded as: “15'x15' R-6 flattop cab with catwalk on a 10' concrete block base”
  • Kennaday Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 flattop cab, 15 by 15 feet, with catwalk, on a 10-foot concrete block base (present tower, 1964); the earlier 1930s cab was an L-4”
  • Spruce Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “R-6 tower (41-foot treated-timber, per firelookout.com; Recreation.gov instead says 55 feet)”
Also 91 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (1)
Idaho (17)
  • Bailey Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “Log cabin with cupola (1927); R-6 cab on a 10-foot tower (1959)”
  • Black Butte Lookout Status unknownRecorded as: “USFS Region 6 Flat Top cab on an 8-foot concrete block tower, built 1970, described by FFLA as a two-story structure”
  • Black Mountain Lookout (Boundary County) MovedRecorded as: “Current 53-foot open timber tower with a Region 6 flat-top cab; earlier 40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab (1935) and a 1921 cabin on a short tower”
  • Bumblebee Peak Lookout GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1933); later 30-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab”
  • Cold Springs Lookout GoneRecorded as: “R-6 cab on a 41-foot treated timber tower”
  • Eagle Peak Lookout GoneRecorded as: “53-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab (1963); the first lookout was a 50-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1934)”
  • Elkhorn Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 10-ft concrete base (1959), replacing a 1933 L-4 cab”
  • Faset Peak GoneRecorded as: “R-6 cab on a 53-foot treated timber tower (1963 to 1975); the 1931 structure was a 48-foot pole tower with a 7x7 cab and log cabin”
  • Frost Peak Lookout GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower (1934), replaced by a 30-foot treated-timber tower (1961-62; R-5 or R-6 cab)”
  • Huckleberry Mountain GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab on a 20-foot pole tower, later an R-6 flat cab on a 20-foot treated timber tower”
  • Huckleberry Mountain Lookout RuinsRecorded as: “20-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab (last structure)”
  • Lemonade Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab (1934); R-6 flat cab on a 10-foot concrete base from 1962”
  • Mastadon Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 10-foot concrete base (from 1963)”
  • Mount Coeur d’Alene Lookout GoneRecorded as: “Final structure was a 67-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 cab, built 1963 or 1964 after a 41-foot L-4 tower (1948)”
  • Smith Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “Two-story concrete-block base with R-6 cab (1965); 10-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1934)”
  • Spades Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “67-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab (present tower from 1963); an earlier 50-foot pole tower (1926) and a 54-foot steel tower (1941)”
  • Sunset Peak Lookout SIte GoneRecorded as: “Concrete two-story base with R-6 flat cab (1957)”
Montana (12)
  • Antrim Point MovedRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab (an 8-foot cab replaced an L-4 cab in 1968)”
  • Blizzard Hill Lookout SIte GoneRecorded as: “1960 cupola trailer, then a 1963 two-story R-6 cab per firelookout.com; the register describes an R-6 flat top tower”
  • Half Dome Crag GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab (1933), later R-6 flat-roof cab (1961)”
  • Jack Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “53-ft treated timber tower with R-6 cab”
  • Jim Creek GoneRecorded as: “53-foot treated timber R-6 tower, last of three structures (two-story log house, 50-foot L-4 tower)”
  • Liscom Butte GoneRecorded as: “Ground-level site (firelookout.org type 'Ground'). firelookout.com lists an R-6 flat cab in 1958.”
  • Little Joe Mountain MovedRecorded as: “53-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab (built 1969 at Little Joe)”
  • Lookout Mountain GoneRecorded as: “20-foot treated timber R-6 tower”
  • Mount Emerine Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “20-foot treated timber R-6 flat tower (1964), since removed; earlier 20-foot pole L-4 tower (1932)”
  • Red Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot pole L-4 tower, with an R-6 cab added in the 1950s”
  • Scenery Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab built 1936; replaced in 1962 by an R-6 cab on a 10-foot concrete base”
  • Yager Butte Lookout MovedRecorded as: “53-foot treated timber R-6 tower with flat cab”
Oregon (28)
  • Bally Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “61' wooden tower with 7'x7' cab (1933), replaced in 1960 by an 82' treated timber R-6 tower”
  • Blue Rock Lookout Site Gone
  • Buster Butte Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “1933: 40-foot round fir pole tower with 14x14 L-4 cab; replacement 41-foot treated timber tower with R-6 cab”
  • Coos Lookout Site Gone
  • Cultus Mountain GoneRecorded as: “20-foot round tower with a 10x10 L-5 cab (1935); 1958 replacement a 20-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 cab”
  • Cultus Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “20-foot round tower with a 10x10 foot L-5 cabin (1935), replaced in 1958 by a 20-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 cab”
  • Divide (5 Fingers) Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “41-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 cab”
  • Flag Point Lookout GoneRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 41-foot timber tower (1973); earlier 30-foot L-4 pole tower (1932) and 40-foot pole tower with 6 by 6 foot cab (1924)”
  • Frazier Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “R-6 cab on a spur ridge northeast of the summit”
  • Gearhart Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-5 cab (1935), replaced in the 1950s by a 10-foot treated timber R-6 tower”
  • Grass Mountain Lookout Site (Lane County) GoneRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a treated timber tower (1962); earlier 40-ft wooden 7x7 tower with ground cabin (1933)”
  • Grasshopper Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab (1958-1977); earlier D-6 cupola (1925) and L-4 cab (1933)”
  • He He Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “22-foot round timber tower with an L-4 cab (1934), then a treated timber tower with an R-6 cab (1958)”
  • Herman Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “15-ft pole tower with L-4 cab (1934); 41-ft treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab (1960)”
  • Iron Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “R-6 flat-top cab moved in 1976; earlier L-4 ground house (1933)”
  • Lake Butte Lookout Site MovedRecorded as: “30' treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab (1962-63); earlier 33' pole tower with L-4 cab (1938)”
  • Lookout Mountain Lookout Site-WWNF II GoneRecorded as: “82-foot treated-timber R-6 tower with cab (built 1964); earlier 14x16 cabin (1933) and 50-foot pole tower with cab (1934)”
  • Marys Peak Lookout Site Gone
  • Mount Defiance Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-4 (40-foot pole tower, 1934); the final 1962 tower was a 41-foot R-6 flat-cab”
  • Mount Fuji Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “R-6 ground cabin (1959), replacing an earlier cupola cabin”
  • North Mountain Lookout SIte GoneRecorded as: “20-foot wooden tower with an L-4 cab (1933); replaced in 1965 by a 41-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 cab”
  • Post Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Successive towers: 40-ft pole L-4 (about 1937), 82-ft treated timber L-6 (1940s), 84-ft treated timber R-6 with flat cab (1962)”
  • Round Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Cabin in the 1930s, then a timber tower in the 1950s: treated timber R-6 per FFLOS, enclosed L-4 per firelookout.com”
  • Serpentine GoneRecorded as: “41-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat-roof cab (1962)”
  • Tallow Butte GoneRecorded as: “8x8 ft enclosed platform with a tent cabin (1960); an R-6 cab is given for 1964 by firelookout.com only”
  • Wagner Butte Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “D-6 cupola cabin (1923), then a prefabricated R-6 flat cab (1961)”
  • Wheeler Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Successive towers: 50-ft pole or wooden tower with 7x7 cab (1931-32); 40-ft wooden tower with tent cabin (1936); 67-ft treated timber R-6 tower (1959)”
  • Yamsay Mountain Lookout Site Gone
Washington (33)
  • Anderson Butte Lookout Site (Grays Harbor County) GoneRecorded as: “Disputed: L-4 cab built 1937 (Register, firelookout.com) or a wood 14-by-14 standard R-6 plan ground house built 1943 (Forest Service inventory, as quoted by Forest Lookouts and Willhite)”
  • Barnaby Butte Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “15' treated timber L-5 tower (FFLOS and Firelookout); 15-foot timber tower with R-6 cab (WillhiteWeb); Firelookout also lists a possible 20' R-6 tower in the 1960s, marked with a question mark”
  • Blue Slide Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “D-6 cupola cabin (1942); 30-foot treated timber L-4 tower (1946); 40-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab (1960)”
  • Bodie Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Log cabin with roof platform (1915); 20-foot L-4 tower with cab (1930); 20-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab (1963)”
  • Bunker Hill Lookout Site (Okanogan County) GoneRecorded as: “1930 L-4 cab lookout house (gable roof, per WillhiteWeb); 1960 10-foot treated timber R-6 flat tower”
  • Burnt Hill Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “R-6 14x14 foot cab on a two-story house; 1959 replacement was a 40-foot timber tower with live-in cab”
  • Cedar Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “40-foot wooden tower with ground cabin (1931); 40-foot treated timber tower with 15x15 R-6 flat cab and catwalk (1961)”
  • Chester Ridge Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “20-foot treated timber R-6 tower”
  • Chewelah Peak Lookout Site MovedRecorded as: “50-ft pole tower with L-4 cab (1938); 41-ft treated timber tower with R-6 flattop cab (1963)”
  • Colonel Bob Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-4 gable cab per three sources; 14x14 standard R-6 ground house per a structural inventory entry quoted by Forest Lookouts”
  • Dillard Point Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “20-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 flat cab”
  • Dirtyface Ridge Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “D-6 cupola cabin and platform (1920); L-4 cab (1933, FireLookout.com doubts it was built); R-6 flat cab (1957)”
  • Flattop Lookout Site Moved
  • Flattop Mountain Lookout Moved
  • Frost Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “10-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat-roof cab”
  • Goat Peak Lookout Site MovedRecorded as: “R-6 flat cabin on a 10-foot treated timber tower (about 1960), replacing a D-6 cupola cabin built in 1928”
  • Higley Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “14x14-foot cab (1934); a 40-foot treated timber R-6 tower (1957, per register and Firelookout.com); an 8x16-foot AWS cabin added 1944”
  • Huckleberry Mountain Lookout Site (Colville NF) GoneRecorded as: “20-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1930s); replaced in 1964 by a 20-foot treated timber tower with R-6 cab”
  • Hyas Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “R-6 flat-top cab on a 40-ft treated timber tower (1956); earlier AWS cabin”
  • Jefferson Ridge Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Treated timber R-6 lookout tower; 41 ft per FFLOS and FireLookout, 40 ft per the 1962 newspaper item quoted by Willhite and Forest Lookouts”
  • Mount Jupiter Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “R-6 standard plan, 14x14 ft wood-frame ground house (register lists it as a gable-roof L-4 ground cab)”
  • Mount Spokane Moved
  • Mount Walker Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Gable-roofed L-4 cab on a ground house; the Forest Lookouts page calls the ground house a standard R-6 plan, 14 by 14 feet, wood frame”
  • National Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “1936: 60-ft wooden tower with 8x8 cab (CCC). 1965: 40-ft wooden DNR tower with R-6 live-in cab”
  • North Baldy Lookout Site MovedRecorded as: “R-6 flat-roof cab on a 41-ft treated timber tower (1964)”
  • Old Dominion Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “15-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1938), replaced in 1963 by a 20-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab”
  • Quartz Mountain Lookout Site (Colville NF) GoneRecorded as: “40-foot pole L-4 built 1933 per the register; a 53-foot L-4 moved in from Churchill Mountain in 1955; cut to 30 feet and given a flat R-6 cab in 1959”
  • Sauk Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “cupola cabin (1928), replaced by an R-6 flat cab”
  • Silver Star Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “L-4 cab built 1934, later an R-6 flat cab (register and firelookout.com); a rustic flat-roofed house, 15 ft 4 in square, was built in 1954 per a newspaper item”
  • Sopelia Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on concrete pillars”
  • Steamboat Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “R-6 flat cab on a 20-foot treated timber tower (1956); earlier 14-by-14-foot cabin (1928)”
  • Twin Sisters Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “30-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 flat cab”
  • Webb Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Two-story enclosed cabin with garage topped by an L-4 cab (FFLOS, Firelookout.com); WashingtonLookouts describes a 16-foot round timber tower with a 14x14 R-6 plan cab”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

L-5

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 6
  • Region 1
  • from 1930

A smaller relative of the L-4, used at lesser lookout points where a full-size cabin was not needed. The name was applied to more than one actual building, so what an 'L-5' looks like varies by forest.

108 lookouts on Firefinder, 13 standing

Years in use
Mainly built during the 1930s; sources do not give a clear end date.
Cab
Nationally described as 10 x 10 ft, a scaled-down L-4. In USFS Region 1 (Montana/Idaho), however, period Forest Service records instead describe 'L-5' as a 14 x 14 ft gable-roofed log cabin, not a 10x10 frame building.
On what
Normally built on the ground, as a low-priority secondary lookout point.
Built of
In Region 1 (the FFLA plan) notched logs with a band of windows above a 3 ft log wall and a shake or shingle gable roof; elsewhere, sources describe a small wood-frame cab.
Made by
USDA Forest Service (standard agency design)
Models and plans
Plan L-5
Where
Used at secondary lookout points nationwide; the 14x14 log-cabin variant is specifically documented in Idaho and Montana.
How to recognise it
  • small, plain, single-room cabin
  • gable roof (both the 10x10 frame version and the Region 1 log version)
  • noticeably smaller than an L-4 if it is the 10x10 version
  • Region 1 plan: about 14 ft 8 in square outside, 19 six-light sashes in a continuous band, hinged wooden shutters, gable roof at 1/3 pitch
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

There is a real contradiction in the sources about size: most general design-type pages describe the L-5 as a 10x10 ft frame cabin, but a 1938 Forest Service inventory reproduced in the Montana/Idaho National Register form lists 'L-5' as a 14x14 ft gable-roofed log cabin built in 1930, which is the same footprint as an L-4 but in log rather than frame construction and with a gable instead of hip roof. A National Historic Lookout Register glossary entry gives only '10-by-10 cab' with no further detail. It is possible the name was reused for two different local building types; this page cannot resolve which is 'the' L-5.

On Firefinder

13 standing, 93 gone, 2 moved. Show all 108 on the map

Standing today (13)
List all 13 standing, by state
Arizona (1)
  • Hyde Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-5 groundhouse per NHLR; NRHP record lists the Civilian Conservation Corps as architect”
Idaho (6)
Montana (1)
  • Skookum Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “L-5 log and frame ground house with mortise-and-tenon log joints”
Oregon (2)
Washington (3)
Also 95 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Idaho (2)
  • Highline Lookout GoneRecorded as: “35-foot platform tower with a log cabin; L-5 log cabin on a log crib per firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts, two-story per Forest Lookouts”
  • Savage Ridge Lookout GoneRecorded as: “Nez Perce L-5 log cabin”
New Mexico (1)
  • Rosilla Peak GoneRecorded as: “L-4 or L-5 log lookout house (photographed 1937; survey caption says it probably was built in the early to mid 1930s)”
Oregon (51)
Washington (41)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

D-6

Also called D-6 Cupola, District 6 Cupola House

Part of the Cupola houses (early regional plans) family

  • Ground house
  • Wood
  • Region 6
  • from 1915

An early standard design that looks like a small two-story house: a plain lower story topped by a smaller, mostly-glassed second story the observer stood in. It predates the L-4 and is one of the oldest standardized Forest Service lookout shapes.

118 lookouts on Firefinder, 49 standing

Years in use
The prototype was built in 1915; most construction described in sources happened during the 1920s, with at least one individually dated example from 1917 and another from 1919. Sources do not give a clear end date for new construction, though the design was being phased out and replaced by the L-4 by the 1930s-1950s.
Cab
Main floor about 12 x 12 ft, with a second-floor observatory roughly a quarter the size of the main floor.
On what
Normally built directly on the ground or on a low base, as a two-story building rather than on a separate tower.
Built of
Wood frame construction, windows around the upper portion of the structure, hipped roof, glassed-in second story.
Made by
USDA Forest Service (standard agency design, District/Region 6)
Models and plans
D-6 Cupola House
Where
Originated in and named for District 6 (Pacific Northwest), later Region 6 (Washington and Oregon); also recorded as used in Idaho and Montana (Region 1). Very few examples remain standing today.
How to recognise it
  • looks like a small two-story building rather than a single-room cab
  • glassed-in upper story (the 'cupola') sits on top of a larger plain lower story
  • hipped roof
  • usually built on the ground, not raised on a wood tower
  • the District 6 'ready-cut' plan of December 1921: a 12 ft square living room under a hip roof, a small glassed cupola with a pointed roof reached by a ladder, a lightning rod, and corner guy cables with turnbuckles; the kit came to about 3,310 board feet, 7,000 lb, cut and numbered for packing in
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

The exact end date of D-6 construction is not clearly stated anywhere in the sources reviewed; it appears to have continued in occasional use into the 1920s even after the L-4 was introduced around 1929-1930. The FFLA scan is titled 'Ready Cut Lookout House' and does not itself use the name D-6.

On Firefinder

49 standing, 65 gone, 2 ruins, 2 moved. Show all 118 on the map

Standing today (49)
List all 49 standing, by state
Arizona (1)
Idaho (7)
Montana (4)
New Mexico (1)
Oregon (24)
Washington (12)
Also 69 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Arizona (1)
  • Deadman GoneRecorded as: “D-6 cupola-style lookout, the only example of that style in Arizona per the Coconino NF photo caption”
Idaho (8)
Montana (7)
  • Gold Peak GoneRecorded as: “Pole tower with cab; D-6 cupola cabin from 1928 per firelookout.com”
  • Lone Mountain GoneRecorded as: “D-6 cupola cabin”
  • Mount Silcox GoneRecorded as: “Standard D-6 cupola cabin (1925) on a rock foundation”
  • Petty Ridge GoneRecorded as: “D-6 cupola cabin atop a log crib (1920s); 50-foot pole L-4 tower (1933)”
  • Red Mountain GoneRecorded as: “D-6 cupola cabin, set on the ground”
  • Red Plume GoneRecorded as: “15-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 cab, replacing a 1928 D-6 cupola cabin built on the ground”
  • St. Patrick Peak GoneRecorded as: “D-6 cupola cabin built 1923 on a site developed with a log cabin in 1919”
Oregon (31)
Washington (22)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Region 6 7 x 7 tower cab (1936)

Also called Standard 1936 7'x7' Lookout House, B-4100

  • Cab
  • Wood
  • Region 6
  • from 1936

A small wooden observation cab for the top of a tall timber tower, made the national standard in 1936 together with the 14 x 14 ft lookout house. The lookout watched from it and lived in a cabin on the ground. It was drawn with a catwalk and shutters, or without a catwalk and entered through a trap door in the floor.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Standard from 1936; sheets revised to 1940.
Cab
7 x 7 ft, with a 12 ft 6 in square catwalk when it has one.
On what
Drawn for the CT-1 (52 to 119 ft) and CT-5 (31 and 41 ft) timber towers.
Built of
Wood frame with rustic siding below the windows and a canvas roof over boards.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 6 (Portland)
Models and plans
B-4101, B-4102 (with catwalk); B-4103 (without catwalk)
Where
Pacific Northwest, issued as a national standard.
How to recognise it
  • tiny cab with windows all round and a firefinder stand
  • shutters hinged at the top and propped on braces
  • without a catwalk: no door or shutters, a trap door in the floor instead
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Region 6 standard timber towers (CT, RT and TT types)

Also called CT-1, CT-2, CT-3, CT-4, CT-5, CT-6, RT-1, TT-1, creosoted timber tower

  • Tower
  • Wood
  • Region 6
  • Nationwide
  • 1937–1964

The Pacific Northwest region's stock wooden towers of 1937 to 1948, made the national standard for timber towers in the 1938 plan book. Each type was offered in a few fixed heights, from a 10-ft stand to 119 ft, and topped with either the small 7 x 7 ft cab or the 14 x 14 ft live-in house. Most are creosote-treated timbers bolted with split-ring connectors and steadied by four guy cables.

15 lookouts on Firefinder, 9 standing

Years in use
The CT types were drawn in 1937-38, the CT-6 in 1941-42 and the TT-1 in 1948; the TT-1 sheets were still being revised in the early 1960s.
Cab
7 x 7 ft cab on the CT-1 and CT-5; 14 x 14 ft house (later the 15 ft 4 in R-6 flat house, B-4301) on the CT-2, CT-3, CT-4, CT-6, RT-1 and TT-1.
On what
CT-1: 52, 66, 82, 99, 119 ft. CT-2: 28 (29), 41, 53 ft. CT-3: 20, 30, 40 ft. CT-4: 65, 83, 100, 117 ft. CT-5: 31, 41 ft. CT-6: 10 ft. RT-1: 10, 24, 40 ft. TT-1: 41, 67, 82 ft (20, 30, 53 ft added later).
Built of
Creosote-treated timber (Douglas fir or Southern yellow pine), 6 x 6 or 8 x 8 legs, bolted with split rings; RT-1 untreated peeled poles on log cribs; concrete footings and guy anchors.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 6 (Portland); sometimes made up by contractors (one CT-2 in Arizona was supplied by Timber Engineering Co. in 1943)
Models and plans
CT-1; CT-2; CT-3; CT-4; CT-5; CT-6; RT-1; TT-1
Where
Oregon and Washington mainly; a few stand in Idaho, Arizona and Virginia.
How to recognise it
  • four legs X-braced in tiers, stairs switching back inside the frame
  • four guy cables at 45 degrees to buried anchors (except the short CT-6 and RT-1)
  • CT-1 and CT-4 taper toward the top; CT-2 and CT-3 have straight sides
  • CT-3 legs are built up from nailed planks so every piece can be packed in by mule
Plan versions

  1. Type selection sheet (1940) 1940

    Region 6's one-sheet chart of every type and height, with its drawing numbers, for choosing a tower by cab size and how materials could be hauled; the TT-1 and CT-6 were added to it by hand later.

  2. CT-1 1937-40

    The tall creosoted tower for the small 7 x 7 ft cab: tapered 8 x 8 legs in eleven X-braced tiers at its full 119 ft, nine stair landings, a 12 ft 6 in square catwalk.

  3. CT-2 1938-52

    A straight-sided tower about 12 ft 10 in square for the 14 x 14 ft house, in four X-braced stages at 53 ft, with a 20 ft square catwalk frame on top.

  4. CT-3 1938-54

    The pack-in substitute for the CT-2: each leg is a bundle of 2-in planks nailed around a steel angle, so no piece is too heavy for a mule.

  5. CT-4 1937-44

    The tall tapered tower for the 14 x 14 ft house, built like the CT-1 but wider at the top for a 20 ft catwalk frame; five stair landings at 83 ft.

  6. CT-5 1938-41

    The lightest type, of 6 x 6 legs, for the 7 x 7 ft cab with or without a catwalk; small enough to go in by truck or pack string.

  7. CT-6 1941-61

    A 10-ft stand of four sloping 8 x 8 posts with one set of braces and an outside stair, revised to carry the R-6 flat house (B-4301).

  8. RT-1 1938

    A round-log tower of peeled poles on log-crib footings, guyed to log deadmen, for remote sites only pack stock could reach; 10, 24 or 40 ft with the 14 x 14 ft house. The 1938 book allows it only up to 40 ft and where no treated or steel tower could be brought in.

  9. TT-1 1948-64

    The postwar treated-timber tower, designed in 1948 to newer lumber-stress rules, with split rings and shear plates and steel gussets at the guys; cut either in short pieces for pack horses or long ones for trucks, and later modified for the R-6 flat house.

Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

The sheets never spell out CT and RT; read as creosoted timber and round timber from the labels. The TT-1 plans call it a treated timber tower. One register page dates a CT-2 to 1939 in Virginia, outside Region 6.

On Firefinder

9 standing, 5 gone, 1 ruins. Show all 15 on the map

Standing today (9)
Arizona (2)
  • Buck Mountain Lookout Standing CT-2Recorded as: “30-ft wood CT-2 tower with an R-3 modified L-4 14 x 14 ft live-in cab and catwalk”
  • East Pocket Lookout Standing CT-2Recorded as: “CT-2 timber tower (Timber Engineering Corp.) with a 14 x 14 modified L-4 live-in cab with catwalk”
Idaho (2)
Oregon (2)
  • Dry Soda Lookout Standing CT-2Recorded as: “CT-2”
  • Eden Ridge Standing CT-3Recorded as: “CT-3, 40-foot treated timber tower with a 14-by-14-foot cabin (1960); the tower it replaced was an L-4 from 1940”
Washington (3)
Also 6 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Arizona (1)
  • Dutch Joe Gone CT-1Recorded as: “Timber tower with 7x7 wood-frame cab, 99 ft (1940 plan CT-1); 1939 reports say steel 110 ft and wood 100 ft”
New Hampshire (1)
Oregon (2)
Virginia (1)
Washington (1)
Sources

East and Lake States (Regions 7 and 9)

Schematic, not to scale

Region 9 observation mast (emergency lookout)

Also called L5-01, emergency lookout mast

  • Tower
  • Wood
  • Region 9
  • from 1937

The simplest lookout in the 1938 plan book: a single creosoted pole standing 40 ft above the ground, held by three guy wires, with a small railed platform on top reached by steps fixed to the pole. The book allows it only for short-term use at secondary points.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Drawn by the Eastern (Region 9) office in 1937.
Cab
No cab: an open platform about 5 ft square (?) with a trap door and a pipe railing.
On what
40 ft above ground, about 5 ft buried, on a concrete footing.
Built of
Creosoted pole, plank floor, galvanized guy strands and pipe railing.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 9
Models and plans
L5-01
Where
Issued from Region 9 (Lake States and East).
How to recognise it
  • one guyed pole
  • pole steps on alternating sides
  • no roof or cab
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

The platform size and the pole class are small print on the scan and uncertain.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources

Log lookouts

Log lookouts were built where timber stood at hand: the Northern Rockies' early cupola cabins and log houses, and a few later plans drawn for log.

Northern Rockies (Forest Service Region 1)

Schematic, not to scale

Region 1 log towers with living quarters (T-10 to T-50)

Also called T-10, T-20, T-30, T-40, T-50, L-7 to L-11 (from 1939)

  • Tower
  • Log
  • Region 1
  • from 1932

Region 1's 1932 series of peeled-log towers, 10 to 50 ft high, each built to carry the standard L-4 house as living quarters on a railed platform. The number is the height: a T-30 stands 30 ft to the platform. Taller ones have more braced bays, switchback stairs and guy cables. In 1939 the region renumbered them L-7 to L-11.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Drawn in February 1932 (designed by C. P. Fickes and J. B. Halm); renumbered in August 1939.
Cab
A railed platform for the standard L-4 house (the 50-ft sheet says L-4 or L-5).
On what
10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ft, one braced bay per 10 to 12 ft.
Built of
Four peeled log legs with sawn 8 x 8 caps and sills, on concrete piers; guy cables on the 30 ft and taller.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 1 (Missoula)
Models and plans
T-10 (L-7); T-20 (L-8); T-30 (L-9); T-40 (L-10); T-50 (L-11)
Where
Montana and northern Idaho.
How to recognise it
  • log legs, not sawn timber
  • shutter rods of the house hinge to the platform rail
  • the taller ones were assembled one side at a time on the ground and raised with gin poles
Plan versions

  1. T-10 (L-7) 1932

    One braced bay, a single stair flight, about 16 x 18 ft footprint.

  2. T-20 (L-8) 1932

    One tall braced bay and one long outside stair.

  3. T-30 (L-9) 1932

    Two braced bays, a mid-height landing, guy cables.

  4. T-40 (L-10) 1932

    Three braced bays, switchback stairs, guyed to anchors about 60 ft apart.

  5. T-50 (L-11) 1932

    Four braced bays of about 12 ft, tension cables across the bays, three stair landings.

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

Register pages usually say '30-ft pole L-4 tower' rather than naming the plan, so few lookouts on Firefinder are recorded under it.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Region 1 log towers with cupola (T-1, T-2)

Also called T-1, T-2, L-1 and L-2 (from 1939)

  • Tower
  • Log
  • Region 1
  • 1932–1944

Tall Region 1 log towers of 1932 built to carry only the small L-6 cupola, with the lookout living in a cabin on the ground: a 50-ft tower whose stairs climb to a 14 ft 5 in platform, extended by a supplementary sheet to 62, 74, 86 and 98 ft with spliced legs and cable bracing. Renumbered L-1 and L-2 in 1939.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Drawn in February and March 1932; one sheet revised in 1944.
Cab
The L-6 cupola, 8 ft 9 in square, on a 14 ft 5 in platform with a trap door.
On what
50 ft; the T-2 also 62, 74, 86 and 98 ft.
Built of
Four peeled log legs, guyed, with taut cross cables on the T-2; concrete piers.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 1
Models and plans
T-1 (L-1); T-2 (L-2)
Where
Montana and northern Idaho.
How to recognise it
  • stairs with landings
  • guy cables with turnbuckles
  • leg splices on the taller towers
Plan versions

  1. T-1 (L-1) 1932

    The 50-ft tower for the L-6 cupola.

  2. T-2 (L-2) 1932

    12-ft bays with cable X-bracing, 50 ft, with a supplementary sheet for 62 to 98 ft.

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Region 1 patrol tower (T-3)

Also called T-3, L-3 patrol tower (from 1939)

  • Tower
  • Log
  • Region 1
  • from 1933

A light pole tower for patrolmen, drawn in 1933 in heights of 12 to 48 ft: no house, just a small railed platform reached by a ladder of notched rungs. It was put together flat on the ground and pulled upright in one piece with a gin pole and hoist.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Drawn in February 1933; renumbered L-3 in 1939.
Cab
No cab: an open platform about 8 x 8 ft 6 in.
On what
12, 24, 36 and 48 ft (bases 10 to 16 ft wide).
Built of
Poles with X-bracing in 12-ft bays; light guy cables.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 1
Models and plans
T-3 (L-3)
Where
Montana and northern Idaho.
How to recognise it
  • ladder instead of stairs
  • open railed platform
  • raised in one piece
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources
  • Original drawings: Patrol Tower L-3 (old T-3, 1933)USDA Forest Service, scan hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Associationpublic domain (US government work); linked, not copied
Schematic, not to scale

D-1

Part of the Cupola houses (early regional plans) family

  • Ground house
  • Log
  • Region 1
  • from 1922

A log-built cousin of the D-6 cupola house, built of logs instead of milled frame construction but following the same two-story idea of plain quarters below and a glassed observation room above.

3 lookouts on Firefinder, 2 standing

Years in use
First built in 1922, per a glossary source; sources do not say how long the design stayed in use.
Cab
14 x 14 ft log cabin with a framed glass cupola on top.
On what
Built on the ground, as a self-contained two-part log building rather than on a separate tower.
Built of
Peeled-log walls, with a framed, glassed cupola structure on top.
Made by
USDA Forest Service (standard agency design)
Models and plans
D-1 Cupola
Where
Documented in USFS Region 1 (an example is recorded under construction in Idaho's Powell Ranger District in 1922).
How to recognise it
  • log cabin walls, not milled frame siding
  • glassed observation cupola on top of the main log structure
  • built on the ground
Where sources disagree

Only a single short glossary definition and one brief 1922 construction record were found for D-1; its relationship to D-6 (whether D-1 is simply a log version of the same basic D-6 idea, or a separately numbered plan from a different district) is not explained in the sources reviewed.

On Firefinder

2 standing, 1 gone. Show all 3 on the map

Standing today (2)
Montana (2)
Also 1 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Montana (1)
  • Standard Peak GoneRecorded as: “D-1 cupola cabin on a platform”
Sources

Southwest (Region 3)

Schematic, not to scale

District 3 log lookout tower (1921)

Also called Log Lookout Tower, Dist. 3

  • Tower
  • Log
  • Region 3
  • from 1921

A Southwestern District plan of 1921, reprinted in the Forest Service's 1924 tower booklet: a guyed tower of four log poles carrying a small gable-roofed housing with two swinging windows, a protractor table and a floor trap door.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Drawn in June 1921.
Cab
A small gable-roofed housing.
On what
30, 40, 50 and 60 ft.
Built of
Log poles, guyed.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, District 3 (Southwest)
Where
Arizona and New Mexico (District 3).
How to recognise it
  • four guyed log poles
  • trap door 30 in square
  • two opposite swinging windows
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources

Intermountain (Region 4)

Schematic, not to scale

Plan 81-A (10 x 10 on log crib)

Also called R-4 Plan 81-A

  • Whole lookout
  • Log
  • Region 4
  • from 1941

A small Intermountain Region lookout of 1941: a 10 ft square glazed cab with a cedar-shingle hip roof resting on a few courses of logs. Builders could add a log crib underneath as a storage room that also raised the cab, and a catwalk carried on logs that stick out from the crib.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Drawn in January 1941.
Cab
10 x 10 ft inside (10 ft 10 in outside).
On what
On the ground on log sill courses, or on an optional log crib storage section about 7 ft 6 in to 8 ft high.
Built of
Framed, glazed cab on log courses; logs of 10 to 12 in for the crib; rock masonry or concrete foundation, whichever is cheaper.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 4 (Ogden)
Models and plans
R-4 Plan 81-A
Where
Intermountain Region (Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho, western Wyoming).
How to recognise it
  • twelve-light sash hinged at the top
  • projecting log rafter ends
  • optional catwalk on projecting sill logs with a log railing
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

Only the first of six sheets is in the scan; the crib height figures are partly illegible.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources
Schematic, not to scale

SITPA log lookout

Also called Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association lookout station

  • Whole lookout
  • Log
  • Region 4

A two-story log lookout station drawn by the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association, a private fire-protection association: about 20 ft square, with a kitchen and bedroom on the ground floor and a windowed observation room upstairs around the firefinder table. It sits inside a 10 ft concrete platform with a log railing, and a cage of copper wire on poles guards it from lightning. The set even includes a matching log privy, the 'Little Lookout'.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
The sheets carry no date.
Cab
About 20 x 20 ft, two stories.
On what
Two stories on a dry rock foundation; no tower.
Built of
Round logs meeting at round corner posts; pole-rafter roof of cedar shingles; concrete platform.
Made by
Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association
Models and plans
Sheets A to E
Where
Southern Idaho.
How to recognise it
  • steep pyramid roof
  • six nine-light windows on each wall upstairs
  • maps hung from the ceiling to swing down for use
  • 'bird cage' lightning protection on poles around the building
  • guyed at the corners with wire rope
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

No date or plan number appears on the sheets.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources

Steel towers and cabs

Steel towers came from windmill and derrick makers (Aermotor above all) and later from Forest Service plans that any steel company could bid on. Most carry a small 7 x 7 ft steel cab; some a 14 x 14 ft live-in cab.

Nationwide

Schematic, not to scale

Aermotor steel tower

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • from 1912

A tall, open steel lattice tower topped by a small steel cab, built by a Chicago windmill maker that became the leading supplier of steel lookout towers before the Second World War. Other makers built towers to very similar specifications, so a maker's plate or local records are the surest way to tell an Aermotor from its look-alikes.

855 lookouts on Firefinder, 596 standing

In this family: Aermotor LS-40 206 · Aermotor MC-39 93 · Aermotor LL-25 10 · Aermotor LX-24 / LX-25 22 · Aermotor MC-24 22

Years in use
The Forest Service began buying Aermotor towers in 1912 (one source says the earliest sales were 1914); Aermotor was the leading maker of steel lookout towers through the 1920s and continued producing named models (such as the MC-39) at least into the mid-1930s. Sources do not state when Aermotor stopped building fire lookout towers specifically.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab, about 6 ft 9 in tall to the eaves.
On what
1920s-era models ranged from about 21 to 102 ft (measured to the cab floor); a later design summary gives an overall range of 34 to 175 ft across all Aermotor tower models and heights.
Built of
Hot-dip galvanized steel throughout (coated after fabrication to resist rust), with a four-piece galvanized steel roof assembled from inside the cab and galvanized steel wall sheets on the lower part of the cab; window glass was not supplied by Aermotor and had to be sourced separately.
Made by
Aermotor Company, Chicago, Illinois (a windmill and steel-tower maker founded in 1888)
Models and plans
LS-40 (inside stairway); LX-25 (inside steel ladder); LX-24 (outside steel ladder); LS-50; MC-39
Where
Used nationwide; sources describe it as especially common in the southeastern, midwestern and eastern United States, and comparatively rare in the Pacific Northwest. Also documented on National Forests in Arizona and New Mexico.
How to recognise it
  • open steel lattice tower with diagonal cross-bracing
  • small square steel cab (about 7x7 ft) at the top, enclosed with flat galvanized sheet panels below the window band
  • stairway or ladder running up the inside or outside of the tower, depending on model
  • frequent landing platforms with guardrails on the taller (LS-40) models
  • anchored to rock or concrete piers at the base with long galvanized anchor rods
  • the sales booklet offered three models: LS-40 (inside stairway), LX-25 (inside ladder with landings) and LX-24 (outside ladder), all with the same 7 x 7 ft house
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

Exact height ranges differ between sources (21-102 ft for 1920s models specifically, versus 34-175 ft given as an overall figure covering all eras/models), most likely because they are describing different time periods and model ranges rather than genuinely disagreeing. The precise meaning of Aermotor's model-letter codes (what 'L,' 'S,' 'X,' 'M,' 'C' stand for) is not explained in any source reviewed, so it is given here only as documented model names, not decoded abbreviations. A New York State National Register nomination states the Aermotor MC-39 model is 'essentially identical' to a 1933 International Derrick Company tower design, implying the two companies built to a shared or closely coordinated Forest Service specification rather than fully independent designs; this page treats Aermotor and IDECO as separate manufacturer entries because that is how the sources name them, while noting the overlap. One 2012 National Register form calls the 1930s maker 'the Aermotor Company of Texas'; company histories place Aermotor in Chicago in that era and its move to Texas decades later, so that wording looks like an anachronism.

On Firefinder

596 standing, 192 gone, 2 ruins, 34 moved, 31 status unknown. Show all 855 on the map

Listed below: the 503 whose records do not say which Aermotor steel tower plan or model it is. The other 352 are listed under their own design.

Standing today (332)
List all 332 standing, by state
Alabama (10)
Arizona (19)
  • Big Springs Lookout Standing
  • Chediski Lookout StandingRecorded as: “121-foot Aermotor lookout; an original log groundhouse is preserved on the site”
  • Colcord Lookout Standing
  • Dry Lake Lookout Standing
  • Dry Park Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor tower, 120 feet tall, with a groundhouse and support buildings established in 1936”
  • Elden Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Present 54-ft metal tower with a CL 100 live-in cab with catwalk (built 1977), replacing a 37-ft Aermotor tower erected in 1926”
  • Gentry Lookout Standing
  • Grandview Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab; historic lookout residence on the site”
  • Jacob Lake Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor steel tower with a 7 x 7 ft metal cab; height given as 80 ft by markers and Wikipedia and 100 ft by the register”
  • Limestone Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab”
  • Monte Vista Lookout Standing
  • Moqui Lookout StandingRecorded as: “83-ft metal tower with 14x14 ft CL-100 live-in cab and catwalk (1952), replacing a 1930 Aermotor fire tower; Wikipedia calls the structure a groundhouse and fire lookout”
  • Mount Ord Lookout StandingRecorded as: “102-foot tower with a 14 by 14 foot metal CL-100 cab and catwalk, built 1983 to replace a 1936 Aermotor MC 39 tower”
  • Mount Ord Lookout (now at the Rim Country Museum) StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC 39 steel tower, dated 1936”
  • North Rim Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor, 75-ft tower with 7x7 cab”
  • O'Haco Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor 1040 tower, 100 ft, with 7x7-ft metal cab and catwalk to a side door”
  • Reno Lookout Standing
  • Thornton Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100 ft Aermotor X-brace open steel tower with 7x7 observation-only cabin”
  • Webb Peak Lookout Standing MC-40Recorded as: “46-foot Aermotor tower with a 7x7-foot metal cab (register: MC-40; hiking club: CL 100-106)”
Arkansas (9)
California (24)
  • Alder Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab, a ranger cabin and a single-car garage”
  • Armstrong Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor 7x7 observation cab on an 80-foot X-brace open steel tower, with a BC-201 cabin for the operator”
  • Bald Mountain Lookout (Sequoia NF) StandingRecorded as: “CL metal 14 by 14 foot cab with corrugated flat roof on a 40-foot Aermotor tower”
  • Banner Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Steel tower with a 1926 Aermotor cab; newspapers give 60 ft (1926, 1971) or 65 ft (1948), replacing a wooden tower of about 40 ft”
  • Bear Mountain Lookout (Fresno County) StandingRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot observation cab; CCC residence built to Forest Service BC-201 plan”
  • Blacks Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor 45-foot X-brace open steel tower with a 7x7-foot observation-only cab; BC-201 cabin for the lookout operator (1938)”
  • Bloomer Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “60-foot steel Aermotor Company tower; cab modified 1959”
  • Blue Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab per the Register; a 1952 survey describes a four-legged steel tower with a 10 foot square metal house on top”
  • Blue Ridge Lookout Site (now at the Tulare County Fairgrounds) StandingRecorded as: “60-foot open steel Aermotor tower with a 7x7 observation cab; cab modified in 1960”
  • Duckwall Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot cab; Aeromotor design per Peakbagging.com”
  • Harvey Mountain Lookout Standing
  • High Point Lookout Standing
  • Howell Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “60-foot steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab, an Aermotor Company product; a house on the grounds was built under the ECW program in 1935”
  • Mount Bielawski Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor Company steel tower, the oldest such tower in California per NHLR; cab remodeled 1955, internal stairway replaced the ladder”
  • Mount Konocti Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Steel X-B tower with a 732-6A cab, similar in design to an Aermotor tower (NHLR gives 45 feet; newspapers give 50 and 75 feet)”
  • Mount Oso Lookout StandingRecorded as: “World War II surplus Army observation tower brought from Tracy Airport, possibly an Aermotor product; cab altered for a catwalk and door”
  • Mount Zion Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor Company tower erected by the State in 1930; BC-201 lookout residence built under the ECW program; office, water tower and garage that may date from 1932”
  • Oregon Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor Company tower with a 7x7 observation cabin; station buildings built by the CCC”
  • Platte Mountain Lookout Standing
  • Rushing Mountain (Big Hill) Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Steel Aermotor-built tower with a glass cab; CCC-built residence and garage, house based on the Forest Service BC-201 plan with the front entry altered”
  • Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (I-5) Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor 100-foot X-brace open steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot observation cab”
  • Sierra Vista (Quiggs Mountain) Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor Company tower per the register; before it, a 1931 crow's nest in a sugar pine”
  • Turner Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor 7x7 observation cab atop a 60-foot steel tower, plus a California Region 5 Plan BC-301 ground cabin (NHLR)”
  • Woods Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with 7x7-foot cab”
Colorado (1)
  • Whites Mesa Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor tower, lower 30 feet used, with 14 by 14 foot platform and 7 by 7 foot steel cab added in 1964”
Florida (8)
Georgia (6)
Idaho (14)
Illinois (1)
  • Big River Lookout StandingRecorded as: “60-foot steel tower with a glass-enclosed cab; Aermotor design per a 2024 blog”
Indiana (3)
Kentucky (5)
Louisiana (3)
Maine (2)
Maryland (4)
Massachusetts (4)
  • Acushnet Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor tower with a 10 by 10 foot wooden cab”
  • Charlton Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor steel tower with a 10x10-foot wood cab (registry); FFLA gives a 68-foot structure height”
  • Georgetown Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Current tower with a 10x10-foot cab and a catwalk on the roof (registry); FFLA describes a 68-foot Aermotor tower”
  • Sandwich Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “75-foot steel tower with 10 by 10 foot wooden cab, built 1966 on Telegraph Hill, replacing the 1934 CCC 60-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot steel cab”
Michigan (3)
Minnesota (19)
  • Aiton Heights Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Four-legged steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab; the Register calls it an Aermotor tower”
  • Badoura Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot stairway tower with a metal cab; the Register says Aermotor, the Hubbard County list says McClintock Marshall”
  • Bemidji Fire Tower (now at Camp Wilderness) StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab, rebuilt as an 80-foot tower at Camp Wilderness”
  • Ben Draper Lookout StandingRecorded as: “110-foot Aermotor steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab”
  • Cloquet Forest Station StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor tower, 80 ft”
  • Cromwell (Skunk Island) StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor tower; four-legged steel structure with an enclosed observation platform at the top”
  • Emily Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “68-foot Aermotor ladder tower”
  • Farley Hill Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor ladder tower”
  • Floodwood Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower”
  • Frontenac Lake (Schoolcraft) StandingRecorded as: “Four-legged steel Aermotor tower with a metal observation room and an octagonal cab”
  • LaSalle Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor ladder tower, 80 feet”
  • Longville StandingRecorded as: “81-foot Aermotor steel ladder tower (cab removed)”
  • Nimrod Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “94-foot Aermotor ladder tower with a 6-foot-8-inch octagonal crow's nest cab reached by a vertical ladder”
  • Pine Island Lookout (now at Big Bog) StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor stairway tower”
  • Pomroy Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “95-foot Aermotor stairway tower with square cab”
  • Quadna Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “81-foot Aermotor ladder tower (Tower 42)”
  • St. Croix StandingRecorded as: “100-foot steel tower with cross-bracing; Aermotor maker per one source (Forest Lookouts)”
  • Summit StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor ladder tower”
  • White Pine Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “94-foot Aermotor ladder tower with a metal observation room (county survey notes)”
Mississippi (35)
Missouri (1)
Montana (2)
  • Lakeview (USFWS) StandingRecorded as: “100-foot steel Aermotor tower”
  • Strawberry Lookout StandingRecorded as: “65-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7x7 metal cab, above a one-story log cabin on the ground”
New Hampshire (2)
New Jersey (15)
  • Apple Pie Hill Station Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-ft Aermotor tower with a metal box cab at the top, painted red and white”
  • Bass River Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot steel tower, 7'x7' metal cab, McClintock-Marshall style with an Aermotor Co. nameplate”
  • Bearfort Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “68-foot steel tower, McClintock-Marshall design, possibly supplied by Aermotor”
  • Belleplain Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-ft Aermotor steel tower with 7'x7' metal cab; original 60-ft tower with a 40-ft section added in the 1930s”
  • Blue Anchor Station Fire Tower Standing LS-47Recorded as: “LS-47”
  • Budd Lake Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-ft steel Aermotor tower with 7'x7' metal cab; carries an Osborne fire finder”
  • Culvers Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor tower, 47 feet with a 7x7 foot cab per NHLR (Willhite says 45 feet)”
  • Dias Creek Station Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor with 7x7 foot metal cab, raised to 100 feet in 1970”
  • Greystone Station Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “1937 tower; top 47-foot section and 7x7 foot metal cab moved from a 1920s Edison fire tower, on an extended Aermotor base, 92 feet total”
  • Jamesburg Station Fire Tower Standing LS-42Recorded as: “LS-42 60-foot Aermotor steel tower, 48 ft to the cab floor”
  • Lebanon Station Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor tower with a 7x7-foot metal cab, painted red and white”
  • McKeetown Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor tower with a 7x7-foot metal cab, raised to 100 feet by a 20-foot addition in 1946 (per NHLR)”
  • Medford Station Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7x7-foot metal cab”
  • Millville Station Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Steel Aermotor tower, 60 ft originally with a 7'x7' metal cab; later raised to 100 ft”
  • Mizpah Station Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Steel Aermotor tower, originally 60 ft with 7'x7' metal cab; raised to 100 ft in 1959”
New Mexico (11)
  • Barillas Lookout StandingRecorded as: “54-foot steel tower with a 14-by-14-foot live-in CL-100 type cab and catwalk; the Register and the 2020 report call the tower an Aermotor”
  • Brushy (Cibollito) Lookout StandingRecorded as: “50-foot open steel Aermotor tower with a 7x7 observation cab; a residence cabin is also on site”
  • Cedar Springs Lookout Standing MC-40Recorded as: “35-foot MC40 Aermotor tower with a two-room ground house”
  • Dark Canyon Lookout Standing MC-99Recorded as: “Aermotor MC-99 steel tower, 48 ft high (the top 48 ft of a 90 ft U.S. Army surplus tower), with a 7 x 7 ft steel cab; CCC observer's cabin and shed beside it”
  • Hillsboro Peak Lookout Standing MC-40Recorded as: “45.9-ft Aermotor MC-40 tower with 7x7 ft metal cab”
  • Isleta Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor 7x7 observation-only cab on a 50-foot open steel tower; a residence cabin sits on site inside a fenced enclosure”
  • Mogollon Baldy Lookout Standing MI-25Recorded as: “Aermotor MI-25 steel K-brace tower with a 14'x14' cab (NHLR says the cab is wooden); Observer's Log Cabin (1923) adjacent”
  • Ruidoso Lookout Standing MI-25Recorded as: “30-ft Aermotor steel tower with 14x14 ft wood cab and steel mesh catwalk; reported as a rare MI-25 model in the Southwest”
  • Tohatchi Lookout StandingRecorded as: “62-foot Aermotor tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab”
  • Tohnitsha Lookout Standing
  • White Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “70-foot Aermotor open steel tower with 7x7 observation cab; ground residence cabin on site”
New York (7)
  • Black Rock Forest Fire Tower Standing LS-42Recorded as: “Aermotor LS-42, 80 ft, with 7x7 metal cab (NHLR)”
  • Loon Lake Mountain Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “35-foot steel-frame Aermotor fire lookout tower with cab, on the Loon Lake Mountain summit”
  • Moosehead Mountain Lookout (now at Industry City) Standing LS-25Recorded as: “Aermotor LS-25 steel tower, 40 feet, with external ladder access (erected 1916 at Moosehead Mountain)”
  • Mount Arab Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Prefabricated steel Aermotor tower with a 7 x 7 ft metal cab, built by the Aermotor Corporation; an observer's cabin stands across from it”
  • Pine Creek (Venison Hill) StandingRecorded as: “54-foot Aermotor tower, the only one of its manufacture and design in New York (NYSFFLA)”
  • Salamanca StandingRecorded as: “Steel tower about 40 ft to its floor; maker unidentified (not Aermotor, International Derrick, Blaw-Knox or International Stacey, per the 2022 writer)”
  • Utsayantha Mountain Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “59-foot-3-inch steel International Derrick fire tower (the Register gives 60 feet and an Aermotor)”
North Carolina (9)
  • Bearwallow Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “47-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 ft metal cab”
  • Chambers Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “45-foot Aermotor tower with a 7x7-foot metal cab”
  • Mount Noble Lookout StandingRecorded as: “60-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab”
  • Mount Sterling Tower StandingRecorded as: “60 ft steel Aermotor tower, 7 ft x 7 ft metal cab”
  • Rendezvous Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “NHLR describes a 50-foot Aermotor tower with a 7x7-foot cab; a 1934-36 state report quoted by Forest Lookouts gives a 59-foot-3-inch steel tower; a CCC-built cabin from the early 1930s stands just below the tower”
  • Shuckstack Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab”
  • Walker Top Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower”
  • Warren County Lookout Standing
  • Wauchecha Bald Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor live-in-cab tower, about 35 feet tall, with a 13x13 cab and catwalk; all-metal with storm shutters and a pyramid hip roof”
Ohio (5)
Oklahoma (4)
Oregon (15)
Pennsylvania (23)
Rhode Island (1)
South Carolina (4)
South Dakota (1)
  • Elk Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “All-steel tower with 7-by-7-foot cab; Aermotor per firelookout.com”
Tennessee (21)
Texas (2)
  • Love's Lookout StandingRecorded as: “125-ft steel Aermotor tower with a 7x7 ft metal cab”
  • Pine Mills Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Believed to be a 70-foot tower with a 7 by 7 foot Aermotor cab”
Vermont (2)
  • Burke Mountain Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “54’ Aermotor tower with 7’ x 7’ steel cab”
  • Stratton Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “55-ft Aermotor steel tower with 7x7-ft cab (register and Green Mountain Club shelter history); USFS calls the renovated tower 70 ft”
Virginia (20)
Washington (7)
West Virginia (2)
  • Big Ridge Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor 7x7 ft cab on an 80 ft tower”
  • Tams Mountain Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab; CCC built a log observer's cabin”
Wisconsin (8)
  • Clevedon Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Inside corner leg ladder; register says it appears to be a 100-foot Aermotor tower”
  • Connors Lake Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with US Forest Service-style stairway (register); Park Falls Ranger Station tower cabin built during the CCC program (1991 state record)”
  • Fifield Lookout Standing
  • Hayward Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with a US Forest Service-style stairway”
  • Oak Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot tower manufactured by the Aermotor Company, with an internal corner leg ladder”
  • Pembine Lookout Tower (now at Paust) StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower (NHLR); the Historical Society record lists its wall material as metal and names International Stacey Company in the architect field”
  • Rock Falls Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with a US Forest Service-style stairway”
  • Villas Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with inside corner ladder”
Also 171 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Alabama (2)
Arizona (5)
  • Bright Angel Point GoneRecorded as: “75-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7x7-foot cab”
  • Mahan Mountain GoneRecorded as: “30-foot Aermotor tower bought in 1922; a cabin and cement cistern were planned for the summit”
  • Mica Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor tower with a 7 ft. square cab”
  • Round Mountain Lookout Gone MC-30Recorded as: “35’ Aermotor MC30 tower with 7’x7’ metal cab; a side door replaced the trap door”
  • Saddle Mountain Gone MC-30Recorded as: “Aermotor MC30 tower, 35 ft, with a 7x7 ft metal cab (the structure now stands at Round Mountain)”
California (5)
Florida (3)
Idaho (15)
  • Binarch Mountain Lookout Gone MC-40Recorded as: “40-foot pole tower with 7x7 cab (1920s), replaced in 1934 by an 80-foot Aermotor MC-40 steel tower with 7x7 cab”
  • Cold Mountain Lookout MovedRecorded as: “72-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7x7 metal cab; log cabin and privy at the original site”
  • Green Creek Point Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot steel Aermotor tower”
  • Long Mountain Lookout Moved MC-40Recorded as: “Aermotor MC-40 steel tower (1964 listing); 54 ft with a 12 x 12 wood cabin (1998 sale notice)”
  • Mineral Mountain Lookout Ruins MC-40Recorded as: “Aermotor MC-40, 52 ft steel tower (1966), after a 40 ft wooden tower with L-4 cab (1935)”
  • Moscow Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “40-foot round pole tower with an L-4 cab on the east summit (1934); a 74-foot steel Aermotor on the west summit (1935), moved to the east summit in 1959”
  • Mud Creek Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot steel Aermotor tower, with a 130-foot crow's nest tree platform half a mile northwest (1932) and L-4 cab living quarters”
  • Newport Hill GoneRecorded as: “40-foot Aermotor steel tower with cabin living quarters (1959 listings); a 45-foot steel tower was reported in 1936”
  • Packsaddle Mountain GoneRecorded as: “D-6 style cupola cabin (1925); 76-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7-by-7 cab (1934)”
  • Peck Mountain Lookout GoneRecorded as: “Steel Aermotor tower, 45 feet per Idaho Fire Lookouts and firelookout.com (the register says 74), with a 7 by 7 foot steel cab; an R-4 ground cab for living quarters”
  • Quartz Ridge Lookout Gone MC-40Recorded as: “100-foot steel Aermotor tower with an L-4 cab for living quarters; one source gives the model as Aermotor MC-40”
  • Rock Rabbit Point GoneRecorded as: “1929 tree platform and log cabin; 46-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7 x 7 foot cab (register)”
  • Sloans Creek Point MovedRecorded as: “72-foot Aermotor tower with a 7x7 metal cab, plus a log cabin residence”
  • Spades Mountain Lookout Gone
  • Split Creek Point Lookout MovedRecorded as: “72-foot open steel tower with an Aermotor 7x7 cab, plus a log residence cabin”
Maine (1)
Maryland (2)
  • Church Creek Forestry Tower MovedRecorded as: “120-foot steel tower (1932 notice); Aermotor tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab and rooftop catwalk (NHLR); restored top 40 feet kept”
  • Quantico Lookout MovedRecorded as: “Aermotor steel tower with a 7' x 7' metal cab and a 'widow's walk' roof (NHLR)”
Massachusetts (3)
Michigan (1)
Minnesota (21)
  • Askov GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor stairway tower with four steel legs and a lookout cabin on top”
  • Bemidji MovedRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab, per the NHLR; a 1960 survey description calls it a four-legged steel structure with a metal observation room”
  • Birch Lake GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor ladder tower”
  • Buena Vista GoneRecorded as: “81 ft ladder tower, Aermotor make; 1960 survey note gives overall height as 85 ft”
  • Cloquet Valley GoneRecorded as: “Steel Aermotor stairway lookout, 80 feet per county catalog, about 85 feet per 1952 survey”
  • Day Lake GoneRecorded as: “100-foot ladder tower with square cab, listed as Aermotor”
  • Dixon Lake GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor stairway tower”
  • Eaglehead GoneRecorded as: “81-foot Aermotor ladder tower (county table); a 1952 survey describes a four-legged steel structure with an enclosed observation platform”
  • Egg Lake GoneRecorded as: “81-foot Aermotor ladder tower”
  • Farris GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor stairway tower”
  • Gemmell GoneRecorded as: “94-ft ladder tower, possibly an Aermotor”
  • Gull Lake GoneRecorded as: “100-ft Aermotor stairway tower, Tower #19, erected by the CCC in 1937”
  • Hovland Lookout Tower GoneRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor ladder tower; a visitor's 2007 photo log describes an octagonal cab”
  • Jay Cooke GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor stairway tower of steel with four legs (1952 survey note)”
  • Mirror Lake GoneRecorded as: “100-foot steel stairway tower; the county list names Aermotor and a square cab (cab later removed)”
  • Mount Weber GoneRecorded as: “56-foot Aermotor ladder tower, state tower #142”
  • Mud Lake GoneRecorded as: “Four-legged steel structure with an observation room at the top; Aermotor ladder tower”
  • Pine Island MovedRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor stairway tower; lookout number 89 in the county report”
  • Remer GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor stairway tower”
  • Spider Lake GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor ladder tower (1928 record); a 1981 survey describes a steel truss tower”
  • Sugarbush GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor tower; a 1941 survey note describes steel construction with an enclosed crow's nest”
Mississippi (3)
Missouri (1)
Montana (6)
  • Condon Ranger Station GoneRecorded as: “90-foot steel Aermotor tower”
  • High Point GoneRecorded as: “Steel Aermotor tower with a frame cabin; also a wildlife observation point”
  • Illinois Peak GoneRecorded as: “Steel Aermotor tower erected 1938, with a log cabin”
  • Johnson Peak GoneRecorded as: “90-foot steel Aermotor tower with an L-4 cab”
  • Sunday Mountain GoneRecorded as: “60-foot steel Aermotor tower; log cabin living quarters burned in 1963 and were replaced by trailer quarters”
  • Turner Mountain GoneRecorded as: “65' steel Aermotor tower with a log cabin for living quarters”
New Jersey (2)
New York (4)
  • Beaver Lake Mountain Status unknown
  • Diamond Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Steel tower built in 1935 from the steel of the old Bear Mountain tower; 1966 replacement was an 80-foot Aermotor LS 40 with louvered aluminum windows in the cab”
  • Makomis Fire Tower Original Site Moved LS-25Recorded as: “40-foot steel Aermotor LS25 tower, replacing an enclosed wooden tower on the summit”
  • Moosehead Mountain Moved LS-25Recorded as: “Aermotor LS-25 steel tower, 40 feet, with external ladder access (erected 1916)”
North Carolina (1)
Ohio (1)
  • Keystone MovedRecorded as: “Aermotor Windmill Co. galvanized-steel tower with an internal staircase (the costliest of Aermotor's three climb styles)”
Oklahoma (2)
  • Jadie Status unknown
  • Jadie Tower Status unknownRecorded as: “110-foot galvanized steel tower (agency sheet); the registry says a 100-foot Aermotor with a 7x7-foot cab”
Oregon (16)
Pennsylvania (49)
Rhode Island (2)
  • Escoheag Tower Site Status unknownRecorded as: “80-foot modified Aermotor tower”
  • Washington Tower Site GoneRecorded as: “Steel tower: 65 ft per FFLOS for the original; NHLR gives 80 ft, modified Aermotor, for the moved Escoheag Hill structure”
South Carolina (1)
South Dakota (1)
  • Norris Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “35-foot Aermotor steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot enclosed cab and a small cabin with a porch”
Tennessee (3)
Texas (1)
  • Chireno Gone MC-40Recorded as: “Four-legged steel structure with a glass-enclosed cab (NGS station description); table lists model Aer MC-40”
Vermont (1)
  • Pico Peak GoneRecorded as: “Steel tower (1925) with Aermotor parts, replacing a wood tower condemned as unsafe”
Virginia (7)
Washington (5)
  • Domke Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor steel tower built in 1930 on a site first used in 1920; a 16x20 foot log cabin was built in 1942”
  • Elk Creek Lookout Site RuinsRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7x7-foot metal cab, plus a small rectangular wooden ground cabin”
  • First Thought Lookout Site MovedRecorded as: “40-foot steel Aermotor tower with L-4 cab (1947)”
  • Jennies Butte Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “First used 1920 with a limber pole tower and cabin; 3-legged 55 ft wooden tower with 8x8 ft cab (1935); 60 ft Aermotor steel tower (1942)”
  • Sherwood Mountain Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “83-foot steel Aermotor tower with an L-4 cab for living quarters”
West Virginia (1)
Wisconsin (6)
  • Chetek Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with an inside corner ladder”
  • Indian Lake Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with a US Forest Service-style stairway”
  • Matson (N) Lookout Status unknownRecorded as: “94-foot tower with an inside corner ladder that appears to be an Aermotor”
  • Meteor Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower with a US Forest Service-style stairway”
  • Park Falls Lookout MovedRecorded as: “Appears to be a standard 100-foot Aermotor tower with a US Forest Service-style stairway, per NHLR; the register says year and height are unknown”
  • Pembine Lookout Tower MovedRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower (NHLR); wall material metal and International Stacey Company named in the architect field (Wisconsin Historical Society)”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Aermotor LS-40

Also called LS40

Part of the Aermotor steel tower family

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • 1917–1965

Aermotor's inside-stairway tower, the model its sales booklet pushed hardest because anyone could climb it: a stair 2 ft wide zigzags up inside the frame with a landing at every level, to a 7 x 7 ft steel cab with a pyramid roof. Drawn in 1917 and still drawn in 1962, it is the most common Aermotor on the registers, especially in New York and the Southeast.

206 lookouts on Firefinder, 147 standing

Years in use
Drawn in January 1917 and redrawn in 1962; register examples were built from 1919 to the mid-1960s.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab, about 6 ft 9 in to the eaves, roof 8 ft square.
On what
22, 35, 47, 60, 73, 80, 93 and 100 ft (to the cab floor); an extra 20-ft base section turned a 60-ft tower into an 80-ft one.
Built of
Galvanized steel (dipped after fabrication), bolted; steel sheet lower walls and roof on the cab; wood stair treads on some.
Made by
Aermotor Company, Chicago
Models and plans
LS-40 (1917); LY-30 20-ft extension (1922); LS-40 (1962 redrawing)
Where
Nationwide; most register examples are in New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida.
How to recognise it
  • stairway inside the frame, 2 ft wide, with a landing at every girt
  • small 7 x 7 ft steel cab with two windows a side (the buyer supplied the glass)
  • galvanized pyramid roof
Plan versions

  1. 1917 drawing 1917

    The original drawing, with an anchor table for all eight heights and a 1922 sheet for the 20-ft extension.

  2. 1962 drawing 1962

    The same design redrawn at its full 100 ft height, with the same eight heights: still sold in the 1960s.

Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

147 standing, 43 gone, 10 moved, 6 status unknown. Show all 206 on the map

Standing today (147)
List all 147 standing, by state
Alabama (1)
  • Smith Mountain Fire Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 prefabricated galvanized steel tower with a small cab; CCC crew built a ranger station and outbuildings at its base”
Arizona (2)
  • Promontory Lookout StandingRecorded as: “110-foot Aermotor tower with 7-by-7-foot metal cab (LS-40 model per Forest Lookouts)”
  • Signal Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “35-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7-by-7-foot cab”
Arkansas (1)
Florida (11)
Georgia (6)
  • Fairwood Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab”
  • Girard Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor LS-40 type steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • McDuffie Lookout StandingRecorded as: “82-foot Aermotor LS-40 galvanized tower with 7 by 7 by 10 foot steel cab (register says it appears to be)”
  • Newton Firetower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor LS-40 galvanized steel tower with 7-by-7-foot cab”
  • Sylvania Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab”
  • Thomas (Thomasville) Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Register says it appears to be an Aermotor LS-40 or MC-39 (uncertain); 90 feet high with a 7-by-7-by-10-foot steel cab”
Iowa (1)
Kentucky (2)
  • Bald Knob Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab (LS-40 model per FFLOS)”
  • Hematite Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower, also known as Curry Hollow or Wildland Tower #1”
Louisiana (1)
Maine (1)
  • Stockholm Mountain StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor Company LS-40 model, built on windmill frames of a type widely used by forest services”
Mississippi (15)
Missouri (3)
New Jersey (3)
  • Catfish Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “7 x 7 ft cab on a 60-ft Aermotor LS-40 steel tower”
  • Green Pond Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “60-foot steel Aeromotor LS-40 tower with a catwalk around the cab”
  • Ramapo Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor tower with a 7'x7' cab (NHLR: LS-40; Pierson Ridge record: 60 ft LS-42)”
New Mexico (1)
New York (50)
North Carolina (1)
Oregon (1)
  • Yainax Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Steel Aermotor LS-40 tower with a 7 x 7 steel cab, plus a residence cabin added in 1936”
Pennsylvania (2)
South Carolina (19)
  • Appleton/Bramlett Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel tower, 80 ft, with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Atkins Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Galvanized Aermotor LS-40, 110 ft, with a 7 x 7 ft steel cab”
  • Barnwell Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Steel tower, appears to be an Aermotor LS-40 (per register), with a 10 x 7 x 7 ft steel cab”
  • Bennettsville Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel tower, 100 ft, with 7 by 7 foot steel cab”
  • Bonneau Tower StandingRecorded as: “100' Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with 7'x7' steel cab”
  • Cassatt Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with 7'x7' steel cab; formerly 100', reconstructed to 40'”
  • Eastover Tower StandingRecorded as: “120' Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with 7'x7' steel cab”
  • Gaston Firetower StandingRecorded as: “100' Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7'x7' cab”
  • Honey Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “LS-40 100-foot Aermotor tower with a 7 x 7 ft metal cab and hip roof.”
  • Leeds Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab and low hip roof”
  • Liberty Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot LS-40 Aermotor tower with 7 by 7 foot galvanized sheet metal cab and hip roof”
  • Long Mountain Tower StandingRecorded as: “54' Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7'x7' metal cab, low hip roof and atypical window configuration”
  • Parsons Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “73-foot LS-40 Aermotor tower with 7x7-foot galvanized metal cab and hip roof”
  • Timmonsville Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with a 7x7 foot steel cab; reconstructed to 40 feet on its original concrete footings (formerly 100 feet)”
  • Tip Top Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7x7-foot metal cab and low hip roof”
  • Weddell Tower StandingRecorded as: “90' Aermotor LS-40 steel tower, 7'x7' cab, on a prehistoric sand dune”
  • Whitmire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100' Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7'x7' metal cab and low hip roof”
  • Witherbee Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100' LS-40 Aermotor steel tower with 7' x 7' metal cab; original design and materials retained”
  • Woodlawn Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100' LS-40 Aermotor tower with 7'x7' galvanized sheet metal cab with hip roof”
Tennessee (21)
Virginia (1)
  • James City Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with a glass-enclosed cab”
West Virginia (2)
  • Ben's Knob Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 7x7 all-steel cab on a 60-foot tower”
  • Point Mountain Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 tower with a 7 by 7 foot cab, 60 feet originally and extended by 40 feet in 1965; concrete block observer's cabin added near the base in 1952”
Wisconsin (2)
  • Little Switzerland Lookout StandingRecorded as: “93-foot tower, most likely an Aermotor LS-40 with an internal stairway”
  • Mountain Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Galvanized steel Aermotor LS-40 tower on four concrete piers, about 100 ft tall, with a 7x7-ft cab”
Also 59 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Arkansas (1)
Delaware (4)
  • Dagsboro Tower Site GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with a 7-foot square cabin, upper half glass-enclosed”
  • Ellendale Tower Site GoneRecorded as: “100-foot steel Aermotor LS-40 with a seven-foot square cabin, upper half enclosed in glass”
  • Laurel Tower Site GoneRecorded as: “100-foot steel Aermotor LS-40 with a seven-foot square cabin, upper half enclosed in glass”
  • Smyrna Fire Tower GoneRecorded as: “120-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower (130 feet overall per the 1941 state report)”
Kentucky (1)
Louisiana (3)
Massachusetts (2)
New Jersey (1)
  • Windbeam Lookout Site MovedRecorded as: “Steel angle-iron tower with a one-room penthouse for the warden (1931 newspaper description); the moved tower is an Aermotor, LS-40 or LS-42 per the two registers, with a 7'x7' cab”
New York (36)
  • Ampersand Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS40 steel tower on four-leg truss construction”
  • Bald Mountain GoneRecorded as: “47-foot steel Aermotor LS40 tower, erected 1919 over a 1911 wood tower”
  • Bayshore Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel tower on concrete footings, with wood steps and landing platforms”
  • Boreas Mountain GoneRecorded as: “47-ft LS40 Aermotor steel fire lookout tower, built 1919 to replace a 1911 wooden tower”
  • Camp Upton GoneRecorded as: “Steel fire observation tower; the register names an Aermotor LS-40 with wood steps and landing platforms”
  • Camp Upton North Tower Site GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel tower with wood steps and landing platforms”
  • Castor Hill GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS40 steel fire lookout tower”
  • Catamount Mountain GoneRecorded as: “35-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower (1917), replacing a wooden log-framed pyramid tower (1911)”
  • Chapin Hill GoneRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower”
  • Cornell Hill MovedRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor fire tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab; model disputed (LS-40 per Starr and the Town of Wilton, LS-20 per NHLR)”
  • Crane Mountain GoneRecorded as: “35-ft steel Aermotor LS40 tower with an enclosed, glass-sided cab”
  • De Bar Mountain GoneRecorded as: “35-ft steel Aermotor LS40 tower, replacing a 1912 wood tower”
  • Dix Hill Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor LS-40 tower”
  • Fingerboard Mountain GoneRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower built 1928; a wooden pole tower stood at the site from 1915”
  • Flanders Hill Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel tower, 47 ft per NYSFFLA list and Starr list; the register gives 47 ft concrete footings, steel structure, wood steps and landing platforms”
  • Gallis Hill GoneRecorded as: “60-ft Aermotor LS40 steel tower”
  • Gilbert Lake (New Lisbon) GoneRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower”
  • Hartzfelt Hill GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel lookout tower with observer cabin”
  • High Point Mountain GoneRecorded as: “Steel Aermotor LS40 tower erected in 1919, replacing a 1912 wood tower”
  • Ingraham Hill GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel tower, 80 ft (Starr list); 1950 press: 91 ft overall, cab 80 ft to platform; plans called for a glass-enclosed cab and three-room observer cabin”
  • Kempshall Mountain MovedRecorded as: “35-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower, erected 1918, replacing a wooden tower from 1911”
  • Kings Park Lookout Site MovedRecorded as: “Aermotor LS40 steel tower with wood steps and landing platforms, 80 ft (register and NYSFFLA)”
  • Moose River Mountain GoneRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower (Forest Lookouts gives 47 ft)”
  • Nelson Mountain GoneRecorded as: “73-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower”
  • New Boston MovedRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor LS40 tower”
  • Number Seven Hill GoneRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor LS40 tower”
  • Pharoah Mountain GoneRecorded as: “35-foot steel tower (Aermotor LS40 per Wikipedia) with a wooden observer's cabin and outbuildings”
  • Prospect Mountain GoneRecorded as: “35 ft wooden lookout tower (1910); later 47 ft Aermotor LS40 steel tower with observer cabin (1932)”
  • Sand Hill GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 steel fire tower with observer's cabin”
  • Science Hill MovedRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower”
  • Stony Hill Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40, 73 ft tower per NYSFFLA list and Starr list; the register gives 73 ft concrete footings with steel structure, wood steps and landing platforms”
  • Telescope Hill Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40 with a second cab added during the war”
  • Tooley Pond Mountain MovedRecorded as: “47-foot Aermotor LS40 steel tower”
  • Washburn Mountain Tower Site GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor LS-40, 60 ft steel tower”
  • West Mountain GoneRecorded as: “47-foot Aermotor LS-40 steel tower (1920)”
  • Whites Hill GoneRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor LS40 steel fire lookout tower”
North Carolina (1)
Oregon (3)
South Carolina (5)
  • Appleton Status unknownRecorded as: “LS-40”
  • Bennettsville Status unknownRecorded as: “LS-40”
  • Bethera Tower Site MovedRecorded as: “100-foot LS-40 Aermotor steel tower with 7 x 7 ft metal cab (the structure later moved to Witherbee)”
  • Bonneau Status unknownRecorded as: “LS-40”
  • Cassatt Lookout Tower Status unknownRecorded as: “LS-40”
Washington (1)
  • Pierson Ridge Tower Site MovedRecorded as: “60' Aeromotor LS-42 tower with 7'x7' steel cab (Pierson Ridge entry); the Ramapo entry gives LS-40 with 7'x7' cab”
West Virginia (1)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Aermotor MC-39

Also called MC39

Part of the Aermotor steel tower family

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • 1934–1971

Aermotor's version of the Forest Service's 1930s standard 7 x 7 ft stairway tower: the same heights, from 33 to 120 ft, an inside zigzag stair with up to eight landings, and a steel cab whose roof was put together on the ground and hoisted up. International Derrick built the same design. The drawing was kept up to date into the 1960s, and Alabama built many.

93 lookouts on Firefinder, 76 standing

Years in use
Drawn in December 1934 and revised until 1964; register examples run from 1933 to 1971.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab with sash windows, one hinged at the bottom to swing out.
On what
33, 45 ft 9 in, 59 ft 3 in, 72 ft 9 in, 79 ft 6 in, 99 ft 9 in and 120 ft.
Built of
Galvanized steel; aluminium sash noted on the later revisions.
Made by
Aermotor Company, Chicago
Models and plans
MC-39 (assembly drawing, with foundation MD-70 and parts list KT-19)
Where
Nationwide; most register examples are in Alabama, then Arizona, Arkansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
How to recognise it
  • inside zigzag stairway
  • roof ventilator and flagpole flanges
  • holes for a lightning rod and a telephone ground
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

A New York National Register nomination (cited under IDECO) calls the MC-39 essentially the same as International Derrick's 1933 model; the plans agree, since both use the heights of the Forest Service's 1932 standard 7 x 7 tower.

On Firefinder

76 standing, 8 gone, 2 moved, 7 status unknown. Show all 93 on the map

Standing today (76)
List all 76 standing, by state
Alabama (29)
  • Aldridge Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower”
  • Beauregard Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100' Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with 7'x7' steel cab”
  • Bibb Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Blackjack Tower StandingRecorded as: “100' Aermotor MC-39 model”
  • Bridge Creek Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel tower”
  • Brooks Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 tower with 7x7-foot cab, replacing an original 100-foot wooden tower”
  • Butler Mountain Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 tower with a 7x7 ft metal cab; OpenStreetMap tags tower:construction as lattice”
  • Cahaba Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100 ft Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with a 7 ft x 7 ft cab”
  • Carpenter Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “120-foot tower; NHLR says International Derrick with 7-by-7-foot cab, Forest Lookouts says Aermotor MC-39”
  • Carrollton Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100' Aermotor MC-39 with 7'x7' cab; a 1955 survey describes a four-legged steel structure with an enclosed top platform”
  • Crooked Oak Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100' Aermotor MC-39”
  • Daniel's Gap Tower StandingRecorded as: “100 ft Aermotor MC-39 with a 7 ft x 7 ft cab”
  • Evergreen Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Joyce Hill Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower with 7x7-foot cab”
  • Kennedy Hill Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with 7x7-foot cab”
  • Lookout Hill Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot MC-39 tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Luverne Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot MC-39 Aermotor tower with 7-by-7-foot cab”
  • Moreland Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot steel Aermotor tower, MC-39 model”
  • Mount Willing Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab, built by CCC Company 4434”
  • Oak Grove Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Orvin Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Perry Lakes Birding Tower StandingRecorded as: “100' Aermotor MC-39 steel tower, rebuilt without its 7'x7' cab as an open birding tower”
  • Pioneer Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower with 7-by-7-foot cab”
  • Sanders Hill Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot MC-39 Aermotor with a 7x7 ft cab”
  • Scott Mountain Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 model, 120 ft tall”
  • Simerly Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower that replaced a 91-foot creosote lookout”
  • Union Hill Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Wharton Tower (East Lake Tower) StandingRecorded as: “100-ft steel Aermotor MC-39 tower with a 7x7 ft cab and a rooftop observation platform, added originally to carry an aircraft beacon; the only lookout in Alabama built with this rooftop option”
  • Womack Hill Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
Arizona (8)
  • Bill Williams Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 tower with a 7' x 7' metal cab and a raised platform above the roof”
  • Fluted Rock Lookout StandingRecorded as: “41-foot MC-39 Aermotor tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab”
  • Heliograph Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower with a 7 x 7 ft steel cab, plus a log cabin ground house”
  • Maverick Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “80-ft steel tower with 7 x 7 ft cab (Aermotor MC-39), built 1934 to replace a 60-ft tower from 1925”
  • Odart Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with a 7 x 7 ft cab”
  • Piney Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 tower with a 7 x 7 ft metal cab”
  • PS Knoll Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor fire tower with a 7x7 ft cab (NHLR model MC-39), with a historic cabin on a nine-acre site”
  • Signal Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “59-foot MC-39 Aermotor tower with a metal 7 by 7 foot cab”
Arkansas (5)
Florida (2)
Georgia (1)
  • Thomas (Thomasville) Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Register says it appears to be an Aermotor LS-40 or MC-39 (uncertain); 90 feet high with a 7-by-7-by-10-foot steel cab”
Idaho (1)
Massachusetts (1)
  • Monterey Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-ft Aermotor MC-39 steel tower; original 7x7 wooden cab, new 10x10 cab and fence in 1966”
Mississippi (4)
Missouri (2)
  • Fairview Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot steel tower, possibly an Aermotor MC-39”
  • Marcoot Lookout Station StandingRecorded as: “Four-legged steel tower with a glassed-in lookout room and finial; register lists it as model MC-39”
Nebraska (2)
New Mexico (5)
  • Carrisa Lookout StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot steel cab, plus an observer's cabin and tool shed”
  • Encino Lookout StandingRecorded as: “59-ft Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with a 7x7 ft steel cab”
  • Gallinas Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “7x7 ft MC-39 cab on a 46-ft steel Aermotor tower, part of a complex with an observer's cabin and tool shed”
  • McGaffey Lookout StandingRecorded as: “MC-39”
  • Wofford Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 steel tower, 80 ft, with a 7x7 ft steel cab; wood-frame observer's cabin (1933) and storage shed (1937)”
Pennsylvania (1)
  • Mount Dunlap Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-ft steel lookout tower, Aermotor MC-39 per the register (1936)”
Tennessee (7)
  • Big Hill Fire Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 type; sixty-foot galvanized steel truss frame with a seven-by-seven-foot observation cab”
  • Burns (Bell) Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Steel International Derrick MC-39 tower, about 80 feet tall, with steel stair treads and wood landings”
  • Chickasaw Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-foot Aermotor MC-39 tower”
  • English Mountain Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-foot steel truss tower with seven-by-seven-foot cab; likely Aermotor MC-39 type; Carnegie Steel marker”
  • Kettlefoot Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-foot galvanized steel tower, Aermotor MC-39 standard plan”
  • Sewanee Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-ft steel truss tower with 7x7-ft cab; register says International Derrick, nomination says Aermotor MC-39 type”
  • Twinton Fire Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 standard plan; 80 ft steel truss tower with a 7 ft square cab”
Texas (2)
Virginia (1)
  • Smith Mountain Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 tower, 59 feet 4 inches from the ground to the floor of the cab; bottom two flights of stairs removed and radio equipment mounted, adding about 15 to 20 feet”
Washington (2)
Wisconsin (3)
  • Gordon Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor steel tower, likely an MC-39 model, with a Forest Service-style stairway whose treads and landings were upgraded to expanded steel”
  • Marengo Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot stair-type tower, likely an Aermotor MC-39 (present tower, erected 1987)”
  • Phelps Military Hill Veterans Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 tower; 120 ft including a 10-ft cab, 132 ft to roof peak; 153 steps”
Also 17 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Alabama (5)
Arizona (1)
  • Skinner Ridge GoneRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot steel cab”
Arkansas (1)
Florida (1)
  • Venetia MovedRecorded as: “Steel observation tower with 106 steps (1969 and 1988 newspapers); a 2019 project page calls it an MC-39 model”
Idaho (1)
  • Brown Creek #1 Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot steel tower (listed as an Aermotor, or as an MC-39 model)”
Massachusetts (1)
  • Ashburnham Tower Site GoneRecorded as: “Original tower of 40 or 48 ft with fire-escape stairs; steel Aermotor-style tower from 1939, replaced by an Aermotor MC-39 style tower in 1951”
Mississippi (1)
North Carolina (1)
Tennessee (2)
Texas (1)
Wisconsin (2)
  • Monahan Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Model MC-39 Aermotor steel tower with 7-by-7-foot cab and an inside stairway”
  • Rat Lake Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “Last lookout a steel stairway-style tower, likely an Aermotor MC-39 (FFLOS). The 1938 CCC tower was wooden, 101 ft 6 in tall (FFLOS).”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Aermotor LL-25

Also called LL25

Part of the Aermotor steel tower family

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • 1916–1929

An early, light Aermotor observation tower with a 7 ft square enclosed cab, climbed by a straight ladder to a landing under the cab. New York bought ten in 1916, its first steel fire towers; a 1929 sheet added an inside stairway for the shorter heights. The register knows of only two left in the Southwest.

10 lookouts on Firefinder, 7 standing

Years in use
Drawn in the 1910s (the year is cut off the sheet); New York's ten arrived in 1916, and the stairway sheet is dated 1929.
Cab
7 x 7 ft enclosed cab with a hip roof, entered through a floor trap door.
On what
40, 50, 60 and 70 ft.
Built of
Galvanized angle steel with rod and angle bracing.
Made by
Aermotor Company, Chicago
Models and plans
LL-25; KV-84 inside stairway for the 40 and 50 ft towers (1929)
Where
New York; one each in Arizona and New Mexico on the register.
How to recognise it
  • straight vertical ladder up the middle of one face
  • later, in some, an inside stairway
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

7 standing, 3 gone. Show all 10 on the map

Standing today (7)
Arizona (1)
New Mexico (1)
  • Kiowa Lookout StandingRecorded as: “50-foot steel Aermotor LL-25 tower with LL-25 cab”
New York (5)
Also 3 gone, moved or unknown, by state
New York (3)
  • Fort Noble Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50-foot Aermotor LL25 steel tower (1916), which replaced a 30-foot wooden tower of 1910”
  • Hamilton Mountain GoneRecorded as: “18-foot wooden tower (1909); 50-foot steel Aermotor LL25 tower from 1916”
  • T-Lake Mountain GoneRecorded as: “50-foot Aermotor LL25 fire tower”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

IDECO (International Derrick & Equipment Co.)

Also called International Derrick Company

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • 1920–1944

A steel lattice tower built by an Ohio company that normally made oil-well derricks and diversified into fire lookout towers. IDECO towers look very similar to Aermotor's, since both were built to closely related Forest Service specifications, but IDECO was a separate company based in Columbus, Ohio.

62 lookouts on Firefinder, 50 standing

Years in use
The company was founded in 1920; dated fire-tower plans from 1933 and 1937 were found, and the company was acquired by Dresser Industries in 1944, after which its further involvement in fire-tower production is not covered by the sources reviewed.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab.
On what
Its 1933 erection drawing covers 45 ft 9 in, 59 ft 3 in, 72 ft 9 in, 79 ft 6 in, 86 ft 3 in and 99 ft 9 in, the heights of the Forest Service's 1932 standard 7 x 7 tower. A documented batch of five New York towers built in 1934 ranged from 59 to 79 ft; register pages give 100 and 120 ft for others.
Built of
Galvanized steel lattice tower and cab; one documented tower used structural steel produced by the Carnegie Steel Division of U.S. Steel.
Made by
International Derrick & Equipment Company (IDECO), Columbus, Ohio, founded 1920; primarily a steel oil-well-derrick manufacturer; acquired by Dresser Industries in 1944
Models and plans
1933 model tower (plan E-4898); L-1401 (1937 design, associated with an Aermotor MC-99 tower in Forest Service records)
Where
Documented in New Jersey, New York (Catskill and Adirondack regions) and Pennsylvania. Of nineteen IDECO towers recorded as erected in New York State, only eight remain on their original sites.
How to recognise it
  • steel lattice tower, visually very close to an Aermotor tower
  • 7x7 ft steel cab with eight windows, each with a nine-light steel sash
  • one pane on each face pivots open along a horizontal midline and is held by a notched steel catch bar
  • stairway typically zig-zags corner to corner up the tower
  • inside zigzag stairway with up to eight landings; roof of four sheets bolted to a centre plate, hoisted up in one piece
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

A New York National Register nomination states that Forest Service specifications for these towers were developed in coordination with 'the Aermotor Company of Texas,' and that the Aermotor MC-39 model is essentially identical to the 1933 IDECO model. As noted under the Aermotor entry, Aermotor did not relocate to Texas until decades after the 1930s, so that particular phrase in the source may be describing the company by its present-day location rather than its 1930s one. The same source also names two further companies -- Pacific Coast Steel and the Baker Manufacturing Company -- as having built towers to the same specifications, but gives no further detail on them.

On Firefinder

50 standing, 9 gone, 3 status unknown. Show all 62 on the map

Standing today (50)
List all 50 standing, by state
Alabama (10)
  • Allison Fire Tower (Rudder Hill Tower) StandingRecorded as: “100-foot International Derrick tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Bankhead Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot tower; the register's description says the writer believes it was made by International Derrick”
  • Blacksher Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick tower with 7x7-foot cab, described as one of a limited number of 120-foot fire towers”
  • Carpenter Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “120-foot tower; NHLR says International Derrick with 7-by-7-foot cab, Forest Lookouts says Aermotor MC-39”
  • Central Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick”
  • Chimney Peak Fire Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100' International Derrick tower with metal 7'x7' cab (NHLR); a 1949 newspaper gives 99 ft 9 in for the steel tower”
  • Fabius Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “120-foot International Derrick fire tower with a 7 ft x 7 ft metal cab”
  • Longleaf Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot International Derrick model Huxford fire tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Mountain Mills Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot International Derrick tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab”
  • Wildfork Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “120-foot International Derrick tower with sun visors on the cab”
Arizona (4)
  • Buckskin Lookout StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick brand tower with a 7' x 7' metal cab”
  • Kanabownitz Lookout StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick (IDEOC) 7x7 steel tower and cab, about 82 ft 6 in high”
  • Lee Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab and a ground house”
  • Oakridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick design tower; 83-ft tower with 7x7-ft metal cab”
Minnesota (2)
  • Height of Land Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Steel tower with exterior ladder; Clearwater County list gives an International Derrick design with a square cab”
  • Scenic StandingRecorded as: “100-foot steel stairway tower, International Derrick design (A-Z list)”
Mississippi (4)
  • Fairview Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot International Derrick tower”
  • Kincaid Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100 ft International Derrick tower”
  • Porterville Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “1937 International Derrick model with window shades, a 5-over-3 window layout and an opening six-pane section at the upper center”
  • University Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot International Derrick Co. steel tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab”
New Hampshire (4)
  • Craney Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “41-foot International Derrick tower with a 7 by 7 foot metal cab; a 10 by 10 foot wooden cab was later placed on top”
  • Pack Monadnock Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “41-foot International Derrick steel tower, 1939; replacement cab installed 2004”
  • Smarts Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “41-foot steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot cab, built from an International Derrick kit”
  • Warner Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Steel International Derrick tower, six tiers, with a cab added in 1979 that raised it; original height 41 feet”
New Jersey (2)
New Mexico (3)
  • Bluewater Lookout StandingRecorded as: “45-foot steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot cab; the cab maker is disputed (Aermotor LX-24 or International Derrick per the register; the Forest Service page names Aermotor MC-40 as the alternative to International Derrick)”
  • Tohnitsha Lookout StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick tower with 7x7 metal cab (NHLR description)”
  • Wells Lookout StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick”
New York (10)
  • Berry Hill Tower StandingRecorded as: “59-foot-3-inch International Derrick tower built by the Civilian Conservation Corps”
  • Gomer Hill Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “67 ft 6 in International Derrick steel lookout tower”
  • Mount Nimham Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick LS-40 steel tower, 82 ft 6 in, with a 7 x 7 ft metal cab”
  • Orangeburg Lookout (from South Carolina, now at Ferncliff Forest) StandingRecorded as: “1933 International Derrick fire tower made of Carnegie steel”
  • Page Pond Hill StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick steel fire lookout tower with an observer's cabin”
  • Rock Rift Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “72-foot-9-inch International Derrick E-4898 steel fire tower, 1933 model”
  • Salamanca StandingRecorded as: “Steel tower about 40 ft to its floor; maker unidentified (not Aermotor, International Derrick, Blaw-Knox or International Stacey, per the 2022 writer)”
  • Stissing Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick steel fire tower (register: Model 1933, 86 ft high; Wikipedia: E-4898, 79 ft 6 in)”
  • Sugar Hill Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “67 ft 6 in International Derrick steel fire tower with a 1941 observer's cabin”
  • Utsayantha Mountain Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “59-foot-3-inch steel International Derrick fire tower (the Register gives 60 feet and an Aermotor)”
Rhode Island (1)
South Dakota (1)
  • Rankin Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick CL100 steel tower with 14x14 live-in cab and catwalk”
Tennessee (6)
  • Burns (Bell) Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Steel International Derrick MC-39 tower, about 80 feet tall, with steel stair treads and wood landings”
  • McGlamery Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100 ft International Derrick, Model 1933 (steel tower)”
  • Mt. Roosevelt Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Five landing International Derrick and Equipment Company tower”
  • Natchez Trace Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick Model 1933 tower, 70 ft tall per NHLR”
  • Savannah Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-foot International Derrick tower”
  • Sewanee Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “60-ft steel truss tower with 7x7-ft cab; register says International Derrick, nomination says Aermotor MC-39 type”
Virginia (1)
  • Deer Head Lookout StandingRecorded as: “International Derrick, 1930 model, between 40 and 60 feet tall”
Washington (1)
Wisconsin (1)
  • Frederic Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “Metal tower; the state inventory names International Derrick and Equipment Company in its architect field”
Also 12 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Alabama (3)
  • Horn Mountain Fire Lookout Tower Status unknownRecorded as: “100-foot International Derrick tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
  • Pinnacle Lookout Tower Status unknownRecorded as: “100' International Derrick & Equipment Company steel tower with 7'x7' cab”
  • Wininger Lookout Tower Status unknownRecorded as: “120-foot International Derrick structure, identical to its neighbor Fabius Lookout”
Minnesota (1)
New York (8)
  • Chenango Lake GoneRecorded as: “79-foot-6-inch International Derrick tower, provided to New York State by the US Forest Service”
  • Dairy Hill GoneRecorded as: “79-foot-6-inch International Derrick steel tower provided to New York State by the US Forest Service, with an enclosed metal cab”
  • Georgetown Mountain GoneRecorded as: “67-foot-6 International Derrick tower”
  • Hooker Hill GoneRecorded as: “International Derrick (model 1933 per Starr) steel tower, 79 ft 6 in”
  • McCarty Hill GoneRecorded as: “International Derrick model 1937 steel lookout tower, 82 ft 6 in”
  • Morgan Hill GoneRecorded as: “International Derrick model 1937, 82 ft 6 in steel tower (Starr list)”
  • Petersburg Mountain GoneRecorded as: “67-foot-6-inch steel International Derrick tower (Wikipedia); a 1939 newspaper had announced a 65-foot tower”
  • Swancott Hill GoneRecorded as: “International Derrick model 1933 steel tower (Starr)”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

USFS 7 x 7 steel tower (1932 standard)

Also called Model 1933, 7' x 7' Lookout Tower

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • 1932–1938

The Forest Service's own standard steel tower of the early 1930s: a tapering four-legged galvanized frame with a 7 ft square steel cab, which steel companies built to the government's drawings. It could be ordered with an inside zigzag stairway, with ladders broken by landings, or with one straight ladder. International Derrick's 1933 model and Aermotor's MC-39 use its heights exactly.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Drawn in September 1932 and revised to 1935; the L-1400 series of 1937 followed it.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab (roof 8 x 8 ft), steel siding below metal sash, double wood floor, trap door.
On what
45 ft 9 in, 59 ft 3 in, 72 ft 9 in, 79 ft 6 in, 86 ft 3 in and 99 ft 9 in.
Built of
Galvanized steel; reinforced concrete piers.
Made by
USDA Forest Service design, built by steel companies (International Derrick, Aermotor)
Models and plans
T1001-A to T1010-A (10 sheets)
Where
National standard; the copy FFLA hosts is bound with Region 1 handbook pages.
How to recognise it
  • three ways up: inside stairs, platform ladder, or straight ladder
  • a complete 99 ft 9 in tower weighed 13,900 to 17,200 lb depending on the stair
  • steel towers were never to be guyed: designed for a 100 mph gale
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

Which manufacturer built which towers to this plan is rarely recorded; the register usually names the maker (Aermotor MC-39, International Derrick) instead.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources
Schematic, not to scale

USFS L-1400 steel tower (7 x 7 cab)

Also called L-1401, 1937 standard steel tower, Aermotor MC-99

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • Region 9
  • from 1937

The Eastern Region's 1937 standard steel tower, made the national standard in the 1938 plan book: seven heights from 30 to 120 ft, climbed by an inside zigzag stair, topped by a 7 x 7 ft steel cab with a copper roof. A flat-roofed cab with a railed observation deck on top was offered for tall eastern forests. FFLA's copy is labelled as built by International Derrick and as Aermotor's MC-99.

1 lookout on Firefinder, 1 standing

Years in use
Drawn in August and September 1937; revised in 1940 for lightning connectors.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab: copper hip roof, steel sash with hinged visors, trap door; or a flat roof with a railed deck reached by a ladder through a roof hatch.
On what
30, 41 ft 3 in, 54, 67 ft 6 in, 82 ft 6 in, 99 ft 9 in and 120 ft (base 11 ft 6 in to 25 ft wide).
Built of
Galvanized steel angles; copper roof; concrete piers; copper ground wire buried round the base.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 7 (Eastern), built by steel companies on contract
Models and plans
L-1401 to L-1407 (1937)
Where
A national standard from 1938.
How to recognise it
  • inside stair with up to nine landings (160 risers on the 120 ft tower)
  • optional observation deck on a flat cab roof
  • steel weight 5,600 lb (30 ft) to 22,900 lb (120 ft)
Plan versions

  1. Region 7 sheets, 1937 1937

    All seven sheets, including both flat-roof cab versions (steel or wood sash) that the 1938 book left out.

  2. 1938 plan book, Section I 1938

    The hip-roof version as the national standard.

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

The sheets themselves name no manufacturer; the International Derrick and Aermotor MC-99 attribution is FFLA's.

On Firefinder

1 standing. Show it on the map

Standing today (1)
New Mexico (1)
  • Dark Canyon Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-99 steel tower, 48 ft high (the top 48 ft of a 90 ft U.S. Army surplus tower), with a 7 x 7 ft steel cab; CCC observer's cabin and shed beside it”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

USFS L-1600 steel tower (14 x 14 cab)

Also called L-1600 series, 1600 series tower, K-brace steel tower

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • from 1937

The Forest Service's 1937 standard steel tower for a live-in cab: the same kind of tapered, galvanized steel tower as the L-1400, but with a 14 x 14 ft platform on top to carry the wooden 14 x 14 ft lookout house. Drawn by the Eastern Region and made a national standard in the 1938 plan book; register pages name it in California, some carrying later steel cabs.

8 lookouts on Firefinder, 5 standing

Years in use
Drawn in September 1937 (retraced July 1938); the CL-100 plan of the 1950s keeps its tower heights.
Cab
A 14 x 14 ft platform with a stair opening and a wooden trap door; the cab is the 14 x 14 ft wooden house from Region 6's plans, fitted with treated sills bolted to the steel.
On what
30, 41 ft 3 in, 54, 67 ft 6 in, 83 ft 1 1/2 in, 100 ft 4 1/2 in and 120 ft.
Built of
Hot-dip galvanized steel angles; concrete pier footings; wood stair treads.
Made by
USDA Forest Service design (Region 7, Eastern), built by steel companies on contract
Models and plans
L-1601 to L-1604-A (1937-38)
Where
A national standard; register pages name it mostly in California.
How to recognise it
  • stair flights zigzag up inside the four legs
  • square 14 x 14 ft platform at the top for a wooden live-in cab
  • copper ground wire buried around the base for lightning
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

5 standing, 2 gone, 1 moved. Show all 8 on the map

Standing today (5)
California (5)
  • Eagle Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “1600 series”
  • High Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “13x13-ft CL-30 steel cab on a 67-ft all-steel L-1600 tower”
  • Los Pinos Lookout StandingRecorded as: “13x13-ft CL-30 steel cab on a 30-ft L-1600 steel tower”
  • Lyons Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “13x13-ft CL-30 series steel cab on a 41-ft L-1600 series K-brace tower (chapter); NHLR gives a CL-160 cab”
  • North Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “54-foot steel K-brace tower with a 13 by 13 foot live-in cab; Forest Service standard designs (tower L-1600 series, cab CL-30) and a garage built in 1963”
Also 3 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (3)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

CL-100 (steel live-in cab)

Also called CL-100 series, CL-100 to CL-106, CL-30 (California), CL-16

  • Cab
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • Region 5
  • Region 3
  • 1951–1983

The Forest Service's 1950s standard for a live-in steel lookout: a steel house about 14 ft square with a flat roof, windows all round, a chain-link-fenced catwalk and storm shutters, fitted with a gas range, refrigerator, sink and bed around the central firefinder. The standard set puts it on a steel stair tower of 30 to 83 ft; many were set instead on short steel towers or concrete-block bases, and it replaced older wooden cabs across the Southwest and California.

84 lookouts on Firefinder, 76 standing

Years in use
Drawn in 1951 with house sheets redrawn in 1954; register examples were built from the early 1950s to 1983.
Cab
About 14 x 14 ft (13 ft 3 7/8 in between corner posts); California's CL-30 version is 13 x 13 ft.
On what
Standard steel towers of 30, 41 ft 3 in, 54, 67 ft 6 in and 83 ft 1 1/2 in; elsewhere on 10-ft concrete-block bases or short K-braced steel towers.
Built of
Steel frame with galvanized siding and ribbed roof, insulating wallboard, wood floor.
Made by
USDA Forest Service (designed in Region 7, national standard)
Models and plans
C-L-101 to C-L-109 (1951, house redrawn 1954); BC-16-01 furnished floor plan; CL-30 / CL-104 (California)
Where
Nationwide; most register examples are in California, Arizona and New Mexico.
How to recognise it
  • flat roof
  • catwalk fenced with chain link, with a ring bolt for a safety belt
  • LP-gas range and refrigerator, sink with pump
  • storm shutters
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

The first sheet's date reads 5-3-51 but its revision line reads January 1951, so one of the two is misread. Register pages use 'CL-100' for the cab alone, wherever it stands.

On Firefinder

76 standing, 6 gone, 1 moved, 1 status unknown. Show all 84 on the map

Standing today (76)
List all 76 standing, by state
Arizona (16)
  • Apache Maid Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “14' x 14' metal CL-100 series cab on a 30' metal tower”
  • Aztec Peak Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Steel tower, flat roof steel 14' x 14' CL-100 cab, ~41 ft tower height”
  • Colcord Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “83-ft steel tower with 14x14 CL-100 cab (present); earlier towers were 50-ft (1925) and 35-ft (1928) Aermotors”
  • Escudilla Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 (1933); 54-ft steel K-Brace tower with CL-100 cab (1965 or early-1970s rebuild)”
  • Gentry Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “70-foot tower with 14 by 14 foot CL-100 series metal live-in cab and catwalk”
  • Humboldt Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 R-6 metal flattop cab with catwalk on a steel tower”
  • Juniper Ridge Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “54-foot metal tower with live-in 14 by 14 foot CL-100 cab and catwalk”
  • McFadden Peak Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “10 ft concrete blockhouse with 14x14 ft CL-100 series flat-top metal cab and catwalk”
  • Monte Vista Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “40-ft steel tower with USDA CL-100 metal cab, 14 ft by 14 ft (1966 replacement)”
  • Moqui Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “83-ft metal tower with 14x14 ft CL-100 live-in cab and catwalk (1952), replacing a 1930 Aermotor fire tower; Wikipedia calls the structure a groundhouse and fire lookout”
  • Mount Bigelow Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “53-ft Army CL-100 metal tower with a 14x14 ft cab; the 2013 summary calls the cab wood R-6, the register says metal; the cab was removed in 2013, leaving the platform”
  • Mount Ord Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “102-foot tower with a 14 by 14 foot metal CL-100 cab and catwalk, built 1983 to replace a 1936 Aermotor MC 39 tower”
  • O'Leary Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “14 x 14 ft CL-100 series live-in cab with catwalk on a metal tower (register); a 1959 build log says 30 ft”
  • Red Butte Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Modified USFS CL-100 plan; 14 by 14 foot cab with tinted windows, roof overhang, metal catwalk and two cisterns”
  • Reno Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “54-foot K-brace steel tower with CL-100 cab and catwalk (1965 replacement)”
  • Volunteer Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “14 by 14 foot metal CL-100 cab on a 30-foot metal tower with catwalk”
Arkansas (1)
California (29)
  • Bald Mountain Lookout (Eldorado NF) Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 14 by 14 foot metal live-in cab on a 30-foot steel tower”
  • Black Mountain Lookout (San Bernadino NF) Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 steel cab with flat corrugated metal roof and metal mesh catwalk on a solid rock outcrop (completed 1962); the earlier structure was a California Region 5 Plan 4AR cabin on a 10 ft open timber tower”
  • Blue Mountain Lookout (Modoc National Forest) Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Forest Service steel lookout tower (Region 5 4AR design, 1929); 14-foot-square glass cab; 1962 steel CL-100 house on the existing tower”
  • Bolivar Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 all-steel cab on a 9-foot block tower (1960); earlier cab a Region 5 BC-302 design”
  • Burney Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Plan CL-100 13x13 cab on a 10-foot block tower (1966 replacement of an earlier timber tower)”
  • Eagle Peak Lookout Standing CL-30Recorded as: “Steel cab based on USFS design CL-30 on a USFS 1600-series tower; earlier BC-301 cab on an enclosed timber tower”
  • Figueroa Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Current structure: 13 by 13 foot CL-100 metal cab on a 12 foot concrete block base, installed 1965”
  • Hayfork Bally Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “USFS National Plan CL-100 13x13 cabin on a 42-foot K-Brace steel tower (1965)”
  • Hi Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Steel CL-100 cab with catwalk and flat roof on a 10-foot concrete block base (1961)”
  • High Point Lookout Standing CL-30Recorded as: “13x13-ft CL-30 steel cab on a 67-ft all-steel L-1600 tower”
  • Hogback Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “California Region 5 Plan C16, a revision of the CL-100 all steel design; the cab sits on a 9-foot brick tower”
  • Iaqua Buttes Lookout Standing CL-30Recorded as: “CL-30”
  • Leek Spring Hill Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “1961 CL-100 cabin (National Plan, 1959 revision) on a 30-foot K-brace open steel tower”
  • Los Pinos Lookout Standing CL-100, CL-30Recorded as: “Live-in cab on a 30 ft steel tower. NHLR: 14 x 14 ft CL-100 cab; FFLA San Diego-Riverside chapter: 13 x 13 ft CL-30 series cab”
  • Lyons Peak Lookout Standing CL-30Recorded as: “13x13-ft CL-30 series steel cab on a 41-ft L-1600 series K-brace tower (chapter); NHLR gives a CL-160 cab”
  • Milk Ranch Peak Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “all-steel CL-100 plan 13x13 cab on a 20 ft K-brace open steel tower, built 1964”
  • Morton Peak Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “14x14-ft CL-100 metal cab (rebuilt 1960) on the existing steel tower”
  • Mount Elizabeth Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “USFS National Plan CL-100 cab on a 55-foot K-Brace steel tower (built 1961)”
  • North Mountain Lookout Standing CL-30Recorded as: “54-foot steel K-brace tower with a 13 by 13 foot live-in cab; Forest Service standard designs (tower L-1600 series, cab CL-30) and a garage built in 1963”
  • Park Ridge Lookout Standing CL-100
  • Pickett Peak Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “National Plan CL-100 13x13 cabin on a 55-foot K-Brace steel tower, built 1965 per NHLR”
  • Pike County Peak Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “National Plan CL-100 cab (13x13 cabin) on a 20-foot steel tower, moved here from Lexington Hill”
  • Pilot Peak Lookout (Stanislaus National Forest) Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 cabin (1959 National Plan revision) atop a 20-foot K-Brace open steel tower”
  • Shuteye Peak Lookout Standing CL-100
  • Sierra Buttes Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 metal live-in cab on a stair-climbed summit (NHLR)”
  • Slide Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100
  • Smith Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “10-foot block tower with 13 by 13 foot CL-100 metal cab, moved there in 1976”
  • Timber Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 cab on a 30-foot K-brace steel tower”
  • Ukonom Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Revised CL-100 cabin design on a 14-ft block tower”
Colorado (1)
  • Eightmile Mesa Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “30-foot steel tower with CL-100-series cab and catwalk”
Georgia (4)
Idaho (1)
  • Sheepeater Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Current cab: CL-100 14'x14' flat-roof cab with catwalk on a 6' stone base (NHLR); Keeping Watch lists an R-6 15x15 cabin”
Michigan (1)
New Mexico (16)
  • Barillas Lookout Standing CL-100, CL-106Recorded as: “54-foot steel tower with a 14-by-14-foot live-in CL-100 type cab and catwalk; the Register and the 2020 report call the tower an Aermotor”
  • Capilla Peak Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 all-steel cab on a block base about ten feet high, erected 1963; replaced an earlier frame cab similar to the L-4 design”
  • Cedro Peak Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “14x14 ft metal CL-100 series cab placed on the roof of an AT&T electronics building beside a transmission tower”
  • Cerro Pelado Lookout Standing CL-100, CL-106Recorded as: “CL-100 to CL-106 series 14x14-foot metal flat-top cab with metal catwalk on a 10-foot cinder block base with storage room (register)”
  • Davenport Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “14x14 ft cab of local R-3 design, described as CL-100 series in the 2020 chapter report, on a 10-ft concrete block base; catwalk added several years after 1954”
  • Eagle Peak Lookout Standing CL-100, CL-106Recorded as: “USDA Forest Service Standard Plan CL-100 to CL-106 series; 14 by 14 foot steel cab on a 10-foot concrete blockhouse base”
  • Fox Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100, CL-106Recorded as: “CL-100 series steel flat-top cab on a 10-foot block base with storage room”
  • Grassy Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “14-by-14-foot CL-100 series steel cab on a 10-foot block base”
  • La Mosca Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 series 14x14 ft metal cab with catwalk on a 10-ft concrete block base”
  • Lookout Mountain Lookout (Gila National Forest) Standing CL-100Recorded as: “30-ft Aermotor MC-24 steel tower; steel CL-100 series cab replaced the original 12x12 wooden cab in 1965”
  • McGaffey Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “54-foot steel tower with 14x14 ft CL-100 metal cab (1965)”
  • Oso Ridge Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 series steel cab, 14 by 14 feet per the 2020 report, on a 10-foot concrete block base”
  • Sacramento Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “67-foot steel tower with 14 by 14 foot CL100 series steel cab (erected 1968 to replace an Aermotor LX-24 that burned in 1967)”
  • Saddle Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 tower with a wooden cab; cab replaced in 1966 with a steel CL-100 series cab”
  • Signal Peak Lookout Standing CL-100, CL-106Recorded as: “30-foot Aermotor MC-24 steel tower; the original cab was replaced in 1966 with a cab built to a Forest Service standard plan in the CL-100 to CL-106 series”
  • St. Peter's Dome Lookout Standing CL-100, CL-106Recorded as: “CL-100 to CL-106 series metal 14x14-foot R6 flat-top cab with metal catwalk on a 10-foot cinder block base with storage room (register)”
Oregon (4)
  • King Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100
  • Madison Butte Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “13x13 Plan CL-100 cab on a 37-ft K-brace steel tower; replaced a 1923 D-6 cupola ground cab”
  • Mount Ireland Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 13x13 all-steel ground cab (built 1957) on the summit; replaced a 1916 cabin with a rooftop fire-finder and a later cupola”
  • Sugarpine Mountain Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “20-foot open steel X-brace tower with a 13x13 CL-100 cab”
South Dakota (2)
  • Rankin Ridge Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “International Derrick CL100 steel tower with 14x14 live-in cab and catwalk”
  • Seth Bullock Lookout Standing CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 cab on a steel tower (current); the 1939 structure had an L-4 cab”
West Virginia (1)
Also 8 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Arizona (1)
  • Red Hill Lookout Gone CL-100Recorded as: “Metal Cl-100 cab, 14 by 14 feet, with a flat corrugated roof, on a 10-foot concrete block base”
California (5)
  • Ash Peak Lookout Site Status unknown CL-100Recorded as: “1934 observation-only cabin on a 40 ft X-brace steel tower with a residence cabin; 1966 CL-100 plan 13x13 cabin on a steel K-brace tower”
  • Black Mountain Lookout (San Luis Obispo County) Gone CL-100Recorded as: “CL-100 cab on an 11-foot block tower”
  • Lexington Hill Lookout Site Moved CL-100Recorded as: “National Plan CL-100 cab on a 20-foot steel tower (replacement built 1961 or 1962); moved to Pike County Peak in 1983”
  • Rocky Butte Lookout Site Gone CL-30Recorded as: “CCC tower to USFS Plan No. L-701; original BC-301 cab replaced by a steel CL-30 cab in 1977”
  • Santa Margarita (Margarita Peak) Tower Site Gone CL-104Recorded as: “1935: 30-ft steel K-brace tower with 14x14-ft live-in wood cab (CCC); 1965: 30-ft steel tower with 13x13-ft steel CL-104 cab”
Idaho (1)
  • Lookout Mountain Lookout Gone CL-100Recorded as: “14-by-14-foot log cabin (1933), replaced in 1956 by a CL-100 metal cab on the ground”
Oregon (1)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Other steel tower makers

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Nationwide
  • 1922–1940

Several steel companies besides Aermotor and IDECO also supplied lookout towers, mostly in the 1920s and 1930s, to broadly similar specifications: an open steel lattice tower with a small square steel cab. Blaw-Knox, McClintic-Marshall and Pacific Coast Steel have entries of their own below; this one also covers makers with only a few towers on record, such as International-Stacey.

55 lookouts on Firefinder, 35 standing

In this family: Blaw-Knox 26 · McClintic-Marshall 15 · Pacific Coast Steel 7

Years in use
Register examples of these makers' towers date from 1922 to 1940.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab in all documented examples.
On what
Documented individual towers range from about 45 to 86 ft.
Built of
Galvanized or painted structural steel lattice construction, matching the general Aermotor/IDECO pattern.
Made by
Blaw-Knox, Pittsburgh (own entry); McClintic-Marshall, a Bethlehem Steel company (own entry); Pacific Coast Steel Company (own entry); International-Stacey (towers in Wisconsin, Georgia, Oregon and Pennsylvania); Baker Manufacturing Company (named only in passing as a builder to Forest Service tower specifications)
Where
Blaw-Knox and McClintic-Marshall towers are mostly in the East (Pennsylvania above all); Pacific Coast Steel in Arizona and California; International-Stacey towers in Wisconsin, Georgia, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
How to recognise it
  • steel lattice tower with a small square steel cab, visually similar to Aermotor and IDECO towers
  • often erected by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) crews in the 1930s
Where sources disagree

Facts here come mainly from individual register pages rather than company histories, so production totals and company dates are not available.

On Firefinder

35 standing, 17 gone, 2 moved, 1 status unknown. Show all 55 on the map

Listed below: the 7 whose records do not say which Other steel tower makers plan or model it is. The other 48 are listed under their own design.

Standing today (5)
Georgia (1)
  • Fargo Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot International Stacey steel tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab”
Pennsylvania (1)
  • Pohopoco Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot International-Stacey tower with 7 by 7 foot cab”
Wisconsin (3)
  • Iron River Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Steel tower by the International Stacey company with an internal corner leg ladder”
  • Jack Pine Lookout StandingRecorded as: “74-foot International Stacey tower with an internal leg ladder”
  • Pembine Lookout Tower (now at Paust) StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower (NHLR); the Historical Society record lists its wall material as metal and names International Stacey Company in the architect field”
Also 2 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Oregon (1)
Wisconsin (1)
  • Pembine Lookout Tower MovedRecorded as: “100-foot Aermotor tower (NHLR); wall material metal and International Stacey Company named in the architect field (Wisconsin Historical Society)”
Sources

Southwest (Region 3)

Schematic, not to scale

Aermotor LX-24 / LX-25

Also called LX-24, LX-25

Part of the Aermotor steel tower family

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Region 3
  • 1926–1935

Aermotor's ladder towers of the 1920s: a steel lattice tower and a 7 x 7 ft steel cab reached by a steel ladder rather than stairs (outside the frame on the LX-24, inside it on the LX-25). Many later had their ladders replaced by stairs.

22 lookouts on Firefinder, 14 standing

Years in use
Register examples were erected between 1926 and 1935.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab.
On what
About 45 to 70 ft for the LX-24; the LX-25 examples run from about 59 to 100 ft.
Built of
Galvanized steel.
Made by
Aermotor Company, Chicago
Models and plans
LX-24 (outside ladder); LX-25 (inside ladder)
Where
Mostly Arizona and New Mexico; LX-25 towers also stand in Arkansas and Louisiana.
How to recognise it
  • steel ladder instead of a stairway (often replaced by stairs later)
  • 7 x 7 ft steel cab
Where sources disagree

Which side of the frame the ladder runs on is taken from the existing Aermotor entry's sources; one register page says Forest Service records could not tell an LX-24 from an International Derrick tower.

On Firefinder

14 standing, 6 gone, 1 moved, 1 status unknown. Show all 22 on the map

Standing today (14)
List all 14 standing, by state
Arizona (3)
  • Bear Mountain Lookout Standing LX-25Recorded as: “Aermotor LX-25 steel tower with a 7x7 metal cab”
  • Lake Mountain Lookout Standing LX-24Recorded as: “48-49 ft Aermotor LX-24 steel tower with lookout cab”
  • West Peak Lookout Standing LX-25Recorded as: “46-foot Aermotor LX-25 tower with a 7x7-foot cab”
Arkansas (1)
  • Push Mountain Firetower Standing LX-25Recorded as: “60-foot Aermotor LX-25 steel tower with a 7 by 7 metal cab; ladder-style steps between landings”
Louisiana (1)
  • Kisatchie Lookout Standing LX-25Recorded as: “Steel Aermotor LX-25 tower; original ladder replaced with stairs in 1952”
New Mexico (7)
  • Bearwallow Mountain Lookout Standing LX-24Recorded as: “Aermotor LX-24 tower with a 7'x7' wooden cab; the site includes two log cabins and a log shed”
  • Bluewater Lookout Standing LX-24Recorded as: “45-foot steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot cab; the cab maker is disputed (Aermotor LX-24 or International Derrick per the register; the Forest Service page names Aermotor MC-40 as the alternative to International Derrick)”
  • James Ridge Lookout Standing LX-24Recorded as: “62-foot steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot steel cab; the register calls the tower an Aermotor LX-24 type that has been remodeled”
  • Reeds Peak Lookout Standing LX-24Recorded as: “48-ft Aermotor LX-24 steel tower with a 7x7-ft metal cab”
  • Sacramento Lookout Standing LX-24Recorded as: “67-foot steel tower with 14 by 14 foot CL100 series steel cab (erected 1968 to replace an Aermotor LX-24 that burned in 1967)”
  • San Mateo Lookout Standing LX-25Recorded as: “59-foot-3-inch Aermotor LX-25 tower with 7-by-7-foot metal cab”
  • Weed Lookout Standing LX-24Recorded as: “Aermotor LX-24, 48-foot steel tower with a 7x7-foot steel cab”
New York (2)
Also 8 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Arizona (1)
  • Mormon Lake Lookout Gone LX-24Recorded as: “48' Aermotor LX-24 steel tower with 7'x7' metal cab, replacing a 1915 wooden tower”
Idaho (2)
  • Anderson Mountain Lookout Gone LX-24Recorded as: “50-ft Aermotor LX-24 tower with 7x7 ft cab and a cabin; a 1982 history gives 70 ft”
  • Lightning Peak Lookout Gone LX-24Recorded as: “80-foot Aermotor LX-24 steel tower with 7x7 cab”
New Mexico (2)
  • Alamo Lookout Site Gone LX-24, LX-25Recorded as: “Aermotor LX-25 type cab on a 35-foot tower (the register calls it LX-24)”
  • Mayhill Lookout Site Gone LX-24Recorded as: “Aeromotor LX-24 cab with 7x7 foot cab and wooden steps, as first built”
New York (1)
  • Number Four Fire Tower Moved LX-25Recorded as: “Aermotor LX25 steel tower with ladders between the landings at first, later stairs; glass-enclosed observatory”
Oregon (2)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Aermotor MC-24

Part of the Aermotor steel tower family

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Region 3
  • 1932–1936

A short Aermotor steel tower, about 30 feet high, found on the national forests of Arizona and New Mexico. Instead of Aermotor's own small steel cab, most carry a 12 x 12 ft wooden live-in cab of the Southwest's own design.

22 lookouts on Firefinder, 21 standing

Years in use
The examples on the register were erected between 1932 and 1936.
Cab
Usually a 12 x 12 ft wooden live-in cab of Region 3 design (some later replaced by 14 x 14 ft steel cabs).
On what
About 30 to 31.6 ft.
Built of
Galvanized steel tower; wooden cab.
Made by
Aermotor Company, Chicago
Models and plans
MC-24
Where
Arizona and New Mexico (Forest Service Region 3).
How to recognise it
  • short steel tower, about 30 ft
  • large wooden live-in cab instead of a small steel one
  • usually no catwalk
Where sources disagree

No Aermotor drawing of the MC-24 is among the plans FFLA hosts; these facts come from register descriptions of individual towers.

On Firefinder

21 standing, 1 gone. Show all 22 on the map

Standing today (21)
List all 21 standing, by state
Arizona (12)
  • Baker Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “12x12 wooden live-in cab without catwalk (steel catwalk added 2008) on a 30-foot Aermotor MC-24 metal tower”
  • Blue Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 lookout (1933), tower about 31 ft 6 in”
  • Diamond Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Region 3 variant of the L-4; 30-ft tower with 12x12 cab (sources describe the tower differently: Pacific Coast Steel vs MC-24)”
  • Escudilla Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 (1933); 54-ft steel K-Brace tower with CL-100 cab (1965 or early-1970s rebuild)”
  • Greens Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “54-ft metal tower with a 14 x 14 CL 100 live-in cab with catwalk (built 1962), replacing a 1933 Aermotor MC24 lookout”
  • Hutch Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “31 ft Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12 x 12 ft wooden R-3 cab; built without a catwalk, steel catwalk added 2008”
  • McKay Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 tower with a wooden 14-by-14-foot cab and the original ground house”
  • Mount Union Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-foot Aermotor Mc-24 tower with modified L-4 cab”
  • Rose Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 cab on a steel tower; cab replaced in 1981 with a 14x14 ft R-6 wood flat-top live-in cab with catwalk”
  • Springer Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “MC-24 tower, 30 ft (9.1 m), with 12x12-ft cab”
  • Spruce Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Modified L-4 cab on a 30 ft Aermotor MC-24 tower (register)”
  • Turkey Butte Lookout StandingRecorded as: “32-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 14 by 14 foot wood cab without catwalk, based on the L-4 design”
New Mexico (9)
  • Black Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12-by-12-foot wooden cab, erected 1934; all original windows replaced in 1978”
  • Dead Man's Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-ft Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12x12 ft cab; the 2020 chapter report says a steel cab replaced the wooden one in 2002, while the NHLR text still says wooden”
  • El Caso Lookout StandingRecorded as: “31.6-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower with a restored R3 12x12 low-sill cab (register)”
  • Glorieta Baldy Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 tower with an R-3 live-in 14'x14' wooden cab, no catwalk”
  • Lookout Mountain Lookout (Gila National Forest) StandingRecorded as: “30-ft Aermotor MC-24 steel tower; steel CL-100 series cab replaced the original 12x12 wooden cab in 1965”
  • Mangas Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12-by-12-foot wooden R3 low-sill cab and no catwalk”
  • Negrito Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-foot Aermotor MC-24 steel tower with 12 by 12 foot wood cab”
  • Saddle Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Aermotor MC-24 tower with a wooden cab; cab replaced in 1966 with a steel CL-100 series cab”
  • Signal Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-foot Aermotor MC-24 steel tower; the original cab was replaced in 1966 with a cab built to a Forest Service standard plan in the CL-100 to CL-106 series”
Also 1 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Arizona (1)
  • Big Lake Lookout GoneRecorded as: “32-foot Aermotor MC-24 tower with a 12-by-12-foot live-in cab”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Pacific Coast Steel

Part of the Other steel tower makers family

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Region 3
  • 1931–1936

Steel towers supplied by the Pacific Coast Steel Company in the early 1930s, mostly on the national forests of central Arizona. They look like an Aermotor LS-40 but use lighter steel; some carry the small 7 x 7 ft steel cab, others a wooden live-in cab.

7 lookouts on Firefinder, 6 standing

Years in use
Register examples were built between 1931 and 1936.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab, or a 12 x 12 ft or modified L-4 wooden cab.
On what
About 30 to 80 ft.
Built of
Steel.
Made by
Pacific Coast Steel Company
Where
Arizona and California.
How to recognise it
  • similar to an Aermotor LS-40, but of lighter steel
On Firefinder

6 standing, 1 gone. Show all 7 on the map

Standing today (6)
Arizona (5)
  • Diamond Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Region 3 variant of the L-4; 30-ft tower with 12x12 cab (sources describe the tower differently: Pacific Coast Steel vs MC-24)”
  • Horsethief Lookout StandingRecorded as: “40-foot Pacific Coast Steel tower with a modified L-4 live-in cab”
  • Mingus Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “60-ft Pacific Coast Steel tower (1935) with a 7x7 cab; the register says the cab is metal, Wikipedia says wooden”
  • Tower Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-foot D-2 style Pacific Coast Steel tower with a modified L-4 cab”
  • Woody Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “46 ft steel tower with 7x7 ft cab, provided by Pacific Coast Steel, one of relatively few towers that company supplied”
California (1)
  • Goat Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “14 by 14 foot L-4 cab with catwalk on a 20 foot H-braced steel tower; base replaced with a Pacific Coast Steel tower after 1935”
Also 1 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (1)
  • Baltic Peak Lookout GoneRecorded as: “80-foot tower with 7x7 foot cab; NHLR calls it a Pacific Coast Steel tower, FFLOS an X-Brace tower”
Sources

East and Lake States (Regions 7 and 9)

Schematic, not to scale

Blaw-Knox

Part of the Other steel tower makers family

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Region 9
  • 1922–1935

Steel towers from the Blaw-Knox Company of Pittsburgh, most of them put up in Pennsylvania in the early 1920s, with a 7 x 7 ft steel cab. Far fewer survive than Aermotors.

26 lookouts on Firefinder, 12 standing

Years in use
Most register examples were built between 1922 and 1925; a few in the 1930s.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab.
On what
About 45 to 100 ft.
Built of
Steel.
Made by
Blaw-Knox Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Where
Mostly Pennsylvania, also West Virginia and New Jersey.
How to recognise it
  • at Wheeler the legs slope until the top four sections, which are vertical
On Firefinder

12 standing, 12 gone, 1 moved, 1 status unknown. Show all 26 on the map

Standing today (12)
New Jersey (1)
  • Old Sentinel Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Blaw-Knox type steel tower with an inside stairway added later; the cab held a table and a dial telephone”
New York (1)
  • Salamanca StandingRecorded as: “Steel tower about 40 ft to its floor; maker unidentified (not Aermotor, International Derrick, Blaw-Knox or International Stacey, per the 2022 writer)”
Pennsylvania (8)
West Virginia (2)
Also 14 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Pennsylvania (13)
West Virginia (1)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

McClintic-Marshall

Also called McClintock-Marshall, Marshall-McClintock

Part of the Other steel tower makers family

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Region 9
  • 1933–1940

Steel stairway towers from McClintic-Marshall, a Bethlehem Steel subsidiary, put up in the 1930s, often by Civilian Conservation Corps crews.

15 lookouts on Firefinder, 12 standing

Years in use
Register examples were built between 1933 and 1940.
Cab
7 x 7 ft steel cab; one carries a 14 x 14 ft wooden cab.
On what
About 30 to 100 ft.
Built of
Steel.
Made by
McClintic-Marshall (Bethlehem Steel)
Where
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Carolina.
How to recognise it
  • stairway tower
Where sources disagree

Sources spell the name several ways (McClintock-Marshall, Marshall McClintock).

On Firefinder

12 standing, 3 gone. Show all 15 on the map

Standing today (12)
Minnesota (3)
  • Badoura Lookout Tower StandingRecorded as: “100-foot stairway tower with a metal cab; the Register says Aermotor, the Hubbard County list says McClintock Marshall”
  • Kabetogama Lookout StandingRecorded as: “McClintic Marshall”
  • Moose Lake StandingRecorded as: “80-foot McClintock Marshall Co. stairway tower”
New Jersey (3)
  • Bass River Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot steel tower, 7'x7' metal cab, McClintock-Marshall style with an Aermotor Co. nameplate”
  • Bearfort Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “68-foot steel tower, McClintock-Marshall design, possibly supplied by Aermotor”
  • Blue Anchor Station Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “McKlintock-Marshall 86-ft steel tower with 7'x7' metal cab (CCC, 1932)”
North Carolina (1)
  • Panther Top Lookout StandingRecorded as: “30-foot Marshall-McClintock tower with a wooden R-8 cab, about 14 by 14 feet, with a catwalk”
Ohio (1)
  • Brush Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “73-foot McClintock-Marshall metal tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cab”
Pennsylvania (4)
  • Hopewell Tower StandingRecorded as: “80-foot steel McClintic-Marshall tower with 7x7 foot cab”
  • Kooser Tower StandingRecorded as: “McClintock-Marshall”
  • Plumer Tower StandingRecorded as: “McClintock-Marshall”
  • Pondfield Fire Tower StandingRecorded as: “Constructed by the Marshal McClintock Company; erected by Civilian Conservation Corps crews (register)”
Also 3 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Minnesota (2)
  • Argus GoneRecorded as: “Stairway tower by McClintock Marshall Co.”
  • Glen GoneRecorded as: “100-ft stairway tower made by McClintock-Marshall Co.”
Wisconsin (1)
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

Wisconsin standard tower

  • Tower
  • Steel
  • Region 9
  • 1932–1951

The steel tower Wisconsin's state forest-protection service put up across the north of the state in the 1930s: 80 to 100 feet tall, climbed by a ladder on the outside of the frame inside a protective cage, with a small cab on top.

18 lookouts on Firefinder, 13 standing

Years in use
Register examples were built between 1932 and about 1951, most of them in 1939.
Cab
An enclosed cab at the top (size not given in the sources read).
On what
About 80 to 100 ft.
Built of
Steel.
Made by
Built for the Wisconsin state forest-protection service (now the Department of Natural Resources)
Where
Northern Wisconsin.
How to recognise it
  • outside ladder in a protective cage, not stairs (Lookout Mountain is a stairway exception)
  • tall, 80 to 100 ft
Where sources disagree

The sources read do not name the steel company that built them.

On Firefinder

13 standing, 4 gone, 1 status unknown. Show all 18 on the map

Standing today (13)
List all 13 standing, by state
Wisconsin (13)
  • Bagley Lookout StandingRecorded as: “100-foot Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
  • Brule Lookout StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
  • Dyracuse (Dorro Couche) Lookout StandingRecorded as: “80 ft Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
  • Flannagan Lookout StandingRecorded as: “84-foot Wisconsin standard tower with external protected ladder”
  • Friendship (Skyline) Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Wisconsin standard tower, 100 ft, external protected ladder”
  • Glidden Lookout StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Wisconsin standard tower with external protected ladder”
  • Kolpack Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
  • Lake Tomahawk Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
  • Necedah Lookout StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
  • Ogema Lookout StandingRecorded as: “80-foot Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
  • Squirrel Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
  • Twin Mound Lookout StandingRecorded as: “82-foot Wisconsin standard tower with external cage-protected ladder”
  • Zenith Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
Also 5 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Wisconsin (5)
  • Danbury Lookout GoneRecorded as: “84-foot Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
  • Dunbar Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Wisconsin standard tower with external protected ladder”
  • Five Mile Lookout Status unknownRecorded as: “84-foot Wisconsin standard tower with external protected ladder”
  • Lookout Mountain Lookout Gone
  • Middle Inlet Lookout GoneRecorded as: “100-foot Wisconsin standard tower with an external protected ladder”
Sources

Stone lookouts

A handful of lookouts at well-visited summits were designed by architects in stone, as much monuments as fire lookouts.

Nationwide

Schematic, not to scale

Architect-designed stone lookouts

Also called architectural lookouts

  • Whole lookout
  • Stone
  • Nationwide
  • 1936–1940

For summits that drew visitors, the Forest Service had architects design lookouts in stone, with room for the public as well as the lookout. The 1938 plan book's preface shows four: High Knob in Virginia, Harney Peak in South Dakota, Point Monjeau in New Mexico, and a Region 6 sketch of a stone mountain lookout with a museum and bunk room.

4 lookouts on Firefinder, 3 standing

In this family: Chimney Rock Lookout plan (Region 2, 1940) 1

Years in use
The book's three built examples date from 1936 to 1940 (Monjeau 1936-40, Harney Peak 1938, High Knob 1939), the Civilian Conservation Corps era.
Cab
Varies; usually a small wooden or stone lookout room on a stone base.
On what
Stone towers and stone-based houses, each one designed for its site.
Built of
Native stone masonry, some with a wood-framed cab.
Made by
USDA Forest Service regional architects, often built by the Civilian Conservation Corps
Models and plans
Plan No. 939, Mountain Lookout (Region 6 sketch)
Where
Scattered: the book's examples are in Regions 2, 3, 6 and 7.
How to recognise it
  • stone masonry
  • observation room or platform for visitors
  • designed for one site, not a kit
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

3 standing, 1 gone. Show all 4 on the map

Listed below: the 3 whose records do not say which Architect-designed stone lookouts plan or model it is. The other 1 are listed under their own design.

Standing today (3)
New Mexico (1)
  • Monjeau Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Shown in the 1938 plan book as the Point Monjeau observation tower and lookout”
South Dakota (1)
Virginia (1)
Sources

Rocky Mountains (Region 2)

Schematic, not to scale

Chimney Rock Lookout plan (Region 2, 1940)

Part of the Architect-designed stone lookouts family

  • Whole lookout
  • Stone
  • Region 2
  • 1940–1940

A one-off 1940 design by the Rocky Mountain Region for Chimney Rock on the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado: a 10-ft base of tapering native-stone walls with a storage room inside, carrying a 14 x 14 ft cab with steel-sash windows, a low shingled hip roof and a catwalk on timber beams. A wooden stair climbs the outside of the stone to a trap door in the catwalk.

1 lookout on Firefinder, 0 standing

Years in use
Drawn in July 1940; the lookout is gone, the site is recorded on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register.
Cab
14 x 14 ft, wood-framed with steel sash and steel pipe corner columns.
On what
10-ft stone base (about 18 ft 4 in square at the foundation) with a storage room.
Built of
Native rubble stone on a concrete footing; wood-framed cab with steel sash and pipe columns; wood shingles; plywood shutters.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 2 (Denver)
Where
San Juan National Forest, Colorado.
How to recognise it
  • walls slope inward 1 in per 12 in
  • outside wooden stair to the catwalk
  • shutters hinged at the eave
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

1 gone. Show it on the map

None is recorded as standing today.

List 1 gone, moved or unknown, by state
Colorado (1)
Sources

Mixed construction

Plans that put a wooden lookout room on a stone, block or steel lower story, or that sources describe by style rather than one material.

Nationwide

Schematic, not to scale

National Park Service lookouts

Also called NPS rustic, NPS standard lookout (drawing PG-3040)

  • Whole lookout
  • Mixed
  • Nationwide
  • 1929–1941

Lookouts the National Park Service built for its own parks in the 1920s and 1930s, in its rustic style: in Glacier National Park a two-story frame building with the lookout room upstairs, elsewhere a wooden cab on a stone base. They were often built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

16 lookouts on Firefinder, 15 standing

Years in use
The register examples were built between 1929 and 1941.
On what
Two stories, or a cab on a stone basement.
Built of
Wood frame, often on stone.
Made by
National Park Service (often built by the Civilian Conservation Corps)
Models and plans
Two-story NPS frame cab (Glacier); NPS standard drawing PG-3040 (Bandelier)
Where
National parks and monuments; most register examples are in Glacier National Park, Montana.
How to recognise it
  • rustic park architecture
  • lookout room over a storage or living floor
Where sources disagree

This groups several Park Service plans that sources describe by style rather than by one plan number.

On Firefinder

15 standing, 1 gone. Show all 16 on the map

Standing today (15)
List all 15 standing, by state
Arizona (1)
California (1)
  • Henness Ridge Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Three-story NPS Rustic-style lookout: garage on the first floor, living quarters on the second, and a 13 x 13 ft cab with a catwalk on top”
Colorado (2)
  • Park Point Lookout StandingRecorded as: “National Park Service Rustic”
  • Shadow Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “NPS rustic L-4 cab with catwalk on a three-story stone and frame tower, San Francisco Landscape Architecture Division design”
Montana (5)
New Mexico (1)
  • Bandelier Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Two-story wood cab on a stone basement, NPS standardized lookout drawing PG-3040”
Oregon (1)
  • Watchman Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Two-story stone-and-frame structure, National Park Service rustic style”
Washington (4)
  • Gobblers Knob Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Two-story NPS rustic-style frame structure, about 14x14 feet, live-in cab with catwalk on the upper level, storage below, secured with cables to buried deadmen”
  • Mount Fremont Lookout StandingRecorded as: “two-story NPS rustic-style frame cab, 14x14 ft, balconied upper level with ground-floor storage”
  • Shriner Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “two-story NPS standard design, 14x14 ft cab with catwalk, ground-floor storage room”
  • Tolmie Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Two-story NPS rustic-style lookout, lookout room over ground-floor storage”
Also 1 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (1)
  • Mount Harkness Lookout GoneRecorded as: “15 by 15 ft cab with log catwalk and railings on a 15 ft stone tower; classic NPS rustic design”
Sources

Northern Rockies (Forest Service Region 1)

Schematic, not to scale

L-20 lookout cab (1946)

Also called Plan L-20

  • Cab
  • Mixed
  • Region 1
  • from 1946

Region 1's postwar cab of 1946, built from prefabricated panels to sit on a tower: a 14 x 14 ft live-in room with walls of outward-sloping plate glass in metal store-front sash over insulated transite panels, under a nearly flat built-up roof with wide eaves. Inside are a bed, stove, cabinets and the firefinder.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Drawn in September 1946.
Cab
14 x 14 ft (roof 21 x 21 ft).
On what
Bolted to a tower's legs and girder; the tower is not specified.
Built of
Plate glass in metal sash, transite panels with blanket insulation, built-up roof.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 1
Models and plans
L-20
Where
Northern Rockies.
How to recognise it
  • windows slope outward, like an airport control tower
  • nearly flat roof with wide overhangs
  • prefabricated panels
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources
  • Original drawings: Lookout Cab, Plan No. L-20 (1946)USDA Forest Service, scan hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Associationpublic domain (US government work); linked, not copied

Intermountain (Region 4)

Schematic, not to scale

Plan 86 (two-story lookout house)

Also called R-4 Plan 86, 86-A

  • Whole lookout
  • Mixed
  • Region 4
  • from 1940

An Intermountain Region two-story lookout of 1940: a stone lower floor used as kitchen and storage, and a wood-framed lookout room above whose windows and shutters slide down into pockets in the walls. The house stands in the middle of a 30 ft square concrete terrace with stone piers.

0 lookouts on Firefinder

Years in use
Drawn in June 1940; a Forest Service note of 2006 shows a later 86-A version.
Cab
About 16 x 16 ft on both floors.
On what
Two stories; no tower.
Built of
Stone masonry lower story with a concrete floor; wood-framed upper story with steel angle corners; shake and shingle roof.
Made by
USDA Forest Service, Region 4 (Ogden)
Models and plans
R-4 Plan 86
Where
Intermountain Region.
How to recognise it
  • inside stair between the floors
  • windows and shutters that drop into wall pockets
  • 30 ft square terrace around the house
Original drawings

Scans of the original drawings, hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

Where sources disagree

Only two of seven sheets are in the scan, so the upper floor plan is not shown.

On Firefinder

No lookout on Firefinder is recorded as this design yet. Know one? Use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

Sources

California (Region 5)

Schematic, not to scale

CDF 809R

Also called 809RA

  • Whole lookout
  • Mixed
  • Region 5
  • 1950–1966

A lookout station designed by the California Division of Forestry (CDF, now Cal Fire) for its own towers after the Second World War: a 15 x 15 ft live-in wooden cab on a short, enclosed steel tower. A revised version has angled plate-glass windows and aluminum sheeting.

13 lookouts on Firefinder, 9 standing

Years in use
Register examples were built between 1950 and 1966; the revised version appeared by 1952.
Cab
15 x 15 ft live-in cab.
On what
Enclosed steel tower of about 29 to 30 ft; one single-story variant (809RA).
Built of
Wood cab on a steel tower; the revision adds aluminum sheeting and steel window mullions.
Made by
California Division of Forestry (state design)
Models and plans
809R; 809RA (single-story variant); revised 809R (angled windows)
Where
California, on state (CDF) lookouts.
How to recognise it
  • enclosed steel tower
  • revised version: windows set on an angle
Where sources disagree

The HABS report behind the California (Region 5) entry calls Plan 809R a 1947 octagonal cab; the register pages describe 15 x 15 ft cabs. Both may be right for different versions.

On Firefinder

9 standing, 4 gone. Show all 13 on the map

Standing today (9)
California (9)
  • Blue Mountain Fire Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Single-story CDF Plan 809RA cab, a variation of the 809R plans”
  • Boucher Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “CDF 809R design: 30-ft enclosed K-brace tower with a 15x15 ft octagonal cab (FFLA gives a 16x16 ft base)”
  • Chalone Peak Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Octagonal 16 by 16 foot wood cab on a 20 foot steel tower enclosed in aluminum siding; revised CDF 809R design”
  • Cold Spring Mountain Lookout StandingRecorded as: “CDF 809R cab on an enclosed 29 ft steel tower; post-1950 cabin design with angled windows”
  • Pilot Hill Lookout StandingRecorded as: “Enclosed tower based on the revised 809R plan, with a few deviations; aluminum sheeting, angled cab windows and steel mullions”
  • Red Mountain Lookout (Del Norte County) StandingRecorded as: “Late-style 809R enclosed tower, 30 ft to the cab floor; the register says only six such towers exist”
  • Shadequarter Lookout StandingRecorded as: “809R building design with a 30 foot steel tower of three floors and a working cab”
  • Sid Ormsbee Lookout StandingRecorded as: “16 by 16 ft octagonal cab on a 30 ft enclosed tower (NHLR); a lookout history site names it an 809R observation cab on a 30 ft enclosed tower”
  • Two Rock Lookout StandingRecorded as: “809R lookout station on an enclosed 30-ft steel tower”
Also 4 gone, moved or unknown, by state
California (4)
  • Berryessa Peak Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “CDF 809R design, 30-foot K-brace enclosed steel tower”
  • Mount Jackson Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “809R-type lookout station, per the register”
  • Mount Saint Helena Lookout Site GoneRecorded as: “1935 lookout on a 30-foot enclosed tower, similar to a USFS BC-301 cabin plan; 1950 replacement tower conformed closely to the 809R plan”
  • Mount Woodson Tower Site GoneRecorded as: “1950 California Department of Forestry Standard Plan 809R 15-by-15-foot wood cab on a 30-foot enclosed steel K-brace tower”
Sources
Schematic, not to scale

CDF 732-6A

Also called Plesha cab

  • Cab
  • Mixed
  • Region 5
  • 1969–1988

The standard cab of the California Division of Forestry from about 1970, drawn by CDF architect Mike Plesha. It replaced worn-out 1930s Forest Service cabs on many state lookouts and topped the new steel towers CDF built in the 1970s and 1980s, some made from surplus steel columns.

17 lookouts on Firefinder, 17 standing

Years in use
A reduced-size prototype was tested at Likely Mountain before the first full-size cab went up at Sawmill Peak in 1969; the newest was built in 1987-88.
Cab
About 14 x 14 ft (196 square feet).
On what
Used on many towers: old CCC-era timber towers and new steel towers of about 29 to 41 ft.
Built of
The sources read do not give the cab's own materials; the newer towers under it are steel, some sided in corrugated aluminum.
Made by
California Division of Forestry (state design, Mike Plesha)
Models and plans
732-6A, built under individual remodel plan numbers
Where
California state (CDF / Cal Fire) lookouts.
How to recognise it
  • often replaces an earlier BC-301 cab on an older tower
Where sources disagree

Material is recorded as mixed because the sources describe the towers under these cabs, not the cabs themselves.

On Firefinder

17 standing. Show all 17 on the map

Standing today (17)
List all 17 standing, by state
California (17)
Sources

Structure types

Before the plan comes the shape. Firefinder sorts every lookout site into one of these kinds from what its sources say, and the marker shape on the map shows which.

Lookout structures 7,824

Towers and buildings that a lookout observer worked in: everything from a 100-foot steel tower to a one-room cabin on a summit.

  • Cab on a tower

    The classic fire lookout: a small room with windows on every side, the cab, raised on a tower so the observer can see over the trees. The tower may be a short timber frame or a 100-foot steel one. Many eastern states put a 7-by-7-foot cab on a tall steel tower; in the West a 14-by-14-foot cab the observer lived in often sat on a shorter tower, or on none at all.

    Sources write: “Tower”, “Obs Tower”, “Stone Tower”, “Tower/Ground”, “Stone Obs Tower”, “Radio Tower”, “Windmill Tower”, “Log Crib”

    5,616 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Enclosed tower

    A tower closed in from the ground up, so it looks like a tall, narrow building with the cab on top instead of an open frame. The stairs run up inside.

    Sources write: “Encl. Tower”

    110 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Open platform tower

    An open tower or raised platform with no cab: the observer stood out in the open, sometimes under a small roof. This includes open observation towers and the crow's nests of the early years, small platforms high on a pole or a tall tree, reached by ladder. A crow's nest is counted here when a source calls it a crow's nest, and with lookout trees when it calls it a tree.

    Sources write: “Crowsnest”, “Platform”, “Platform Tower”, “Open Tower”, “Crows Nest”, “Platfrom”, “Platforms”, “Obs Deck”

    236 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Ground-level cab

    A lookout house or cab built on the ground, usually on a summit with a clear view all round, so it needs no tower. Most are one-room cabins with windows on every side, where the observer both lived and worked through the fire season. Stone huts and shelters on summits are counted here too.

    Sources write: “Ground”, “Cabin”, “G.S.”, “Shelter”, “Rock Shelter”, “House”, “Tram House”, “Stone Hut”

    1,056 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Two-story building

    A two-story lookout building: the observer worked in the glassed-in upper room and often lived on the floor below. Many early Forest Service cupola houses, such as the D-6, are of this kind.

    Sources write: “2-Story cab”, “2-StoryCab”, “2-Story”

    267 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Three-story building

    A three-story lookout building with the observation room on top, usually of stone or heavy timber. These are rare. Some, like the stone lookouts in the Black Hills of South Dakota, were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

    Sources write: “3-Story cab”, “3-Story Stone”, “3-story”

    29 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Cab on a rooftop

    A lookout cab or platform on the roof of another building: a ranger station, a hotel, an office block, a grain elevator, even a clock tower. Towns and ranger stations sometimes used the tallest roof around instead of building a tower.

    Sources write: “Rooftop”, “Roof Top”, “Grain Elevator”, “Hotel”, “Rooftop Cab”, “Rooftop Tower”, “Clock Tower”, “Office Building”

    17 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Trailer or portable cab

    A lookout that could be moved: a trailer or a converted bus parked on a high point, or a portable cab hauled up for the fire season. They were cheap stand-ins where a permanent lookout was not worth building.

    Sources write: “Trailer”, “Portable”, “Bus/cupola”

    12 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Type unknown

    No source we use says what kind of structure stood here. It is still a lookout site; we just do not know yet whether it was a tower, a cabin or something else. If you know, use “Suggest an edit” on its page.

    481 lookout sites · Show on the map

Sites with no structure 571

Places where fire lookouts kept watch without a tower or building: summit camps, lookout trees and bare lookout points. They are part of the history of fire detection, so Firefinder lists them, but the map leaves them off until you switch them on.

To see them, open Filters on the map and tick “Show sites with no structure”. Until you do, they are left out of the map's counts, including “Lookouts standing” in a year.

  • Summit camp

    A summit camp: the observer kept watch from a high point and lived in a tent nearby, with no lookout building. Many lookout sites started this way before a cab was built.

    Sources write: “Camp”

    469 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Lookout tree

    A lookout tree: a tall tree with a ladder or spikes up the trunk and a small seat or platform near the top. Trees were used in the early years, before towers were built.

    Sources write: “Tree”, “Tree cab”, “Tree Platform”

    66 lookout sites · Show on the map

  • Bare lookout point

    A bare lookout point: the observer stood on the summit itself, often with only a firefinder, a map board or a sighting device on a post to take bearings with. Nothing was built to stand in.

    Sources write: “Firefinder”, “Map Board”, “Obs Pt”, “Map Table”, “Alidade”, “Obs. Point”, “High Point”, “Open Site”

    36 lookout sites · Show on the map

What they are built of

For a tower, the tower itself; for a building, its walls. It comes from the sources' own words (“Stone Tower”, “a 100-foot steel tower”, OpenStreetMap's material tags) or, failing those, from a recognised design: an Aermotor is a steel tower and an L-4 ground cab is wood. So far that gives a material for 2,397 of the 7,824 towers and buildings.

  • Steel 1,068A steel or iron frame, usually galvanized.
  • Wood 1,254Timber, poles or a wood frame.
  • Logs 26Logs, as in a log cabin or a log crib under the cab.
  • Stone 34Stone or rock walls.
  • Concrete 1Poured concrete.
  • Brick or block 2Brick, cinder block or concrete block.
  • Mixed 12A source names two main materials, such as stone and logs.

Not a kind of building

Aircraft Warning Service post. During the Second World War the Aircraft Warning Service staffed many lookouts, and some purpose-built posts, to spot and report aircraft. It was a job the site did, not a kind of building, so Firefinder records it separately.

Equipment and reference

Not lookout designs, but on the same Forest Fire Lookout Association page: the instruments a lookout worked with, how lookouts were protected from lightning, and the plan books the drawings above come from.

Firefinders

Lightning protection

  • Forest Service Lightning Protection Handbook

    The Forest Service handbook (FSH 7309.12) on grounding lookouts and other buildings against lightning; the copy FFLA hosts carries a 1969 amendment and is marked obsolete. The 1938 plan book points to its 1940 edition, which replaced a 1932 publication.

  • Evaluating Lightning Protection on Lookouts (2008)

    A 2008 Forest Service technology report on checking the lightning protection of lookouts and communication sites, for crews who maintain them.

  • Kuefler Lightning Protection

    A lightning protection company FFLA lists beside the handbooks.

Plan books and reference documents

  • Lookout Cab Styles (Mark A. Swift, 2003)

    Notes by Mark A. Swift on telling the 14 x 14 ft wooden cabs apart (4-A, D-5 or 4-AR, L-4 gable and hip, C-3, R-6 Flat) by window count, panes per window, door position and roof pitch, and on regional variations of the L-4.

  • Region 6 lookout tower drawings (Forest Service)

    The Forest Service's own online set of historic Region 6 lookout drawings (Oregon and Washington, 1936 to 1965), one PDF per tower, that FFLA links as 'More Region 6 Plans'. The site refused Firefinder's crawler, so the plans there are not covered by this guide.

  • Standard Lookout Structure Plans (Forest Service, 1938)

    The Forest Service's national book of standard lookout plans, put together by its Division of Engineering from the best regional designs (revised 1941). Section I has Region 7's steel towers of 30 to 120 ft (the L-1400 series with a 7 x 7 ft steel cab and the L-1600 series for a 14 x 14 ft wooden cab); Section II Region 6's timber towers (CT-1 to CT-5 and RT-1) and a Region 9 pole tower; Section III Region 6's 1936 wooden cabs (7 x 7 and 14 x 14 ft); Section IV guy-cable tables; Section V lightning protection; Section VI model specifications for buying towers and cabs. Its preface shows architect-designed stone lookouts such as High Knob, Harney Peak and Point Monjeau.

  • Specifications and Plans for Lookout Towers (Forest Service, about 1924)

    A Forest Service booklet from the early 1920s on buying and putting up lookout towers. It takes Aermotor's LX-24 (outside ladder) and LX-25 (inside ladder) as the approved steel designs, with a sample bid specification, foundation and anchor plates, and advice on concrete, erection, snow and guying; a short last section gives two wooden pole towers from Districts 1 and 3.

  • Hoisting a Region 1 log tower (1932)

    Not a tower design but Region 1's erection guide for its taller log towers: lay out one side of the tower flat on crib logs, then raise it with two gin poles and a hand winch, leaving temporary braces in until the tower stands. A 48-ft tower is the worked example.

More about lookout designs

Facts gathered from the sources listed under each design and written in Firefinder's own words; where sources disagree, each design says so under 'Where sources disagree'. Plan drawings linked here are scans of Forest Service, state and manufacturer plans hosted by the Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org/resources/plans/); Firefinder links to them and does not copy them. Which lookouts are listed under a design comes from the plan names their sources use (pipeline/designs.py).