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Fire lookout · Newton County, Arkansas

Compton Lookout

A 1945 Arkansas Forestry Commission lookout in Newton County: an 85-foot Aermotor now privately owned by Ed Porter, whose restored ground house is a rental.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. Tower and land are privately owned by Ed Porter; the sources do not say whether the tower is open to climb.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor tower with 7 by 7 foot metal cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1945
Height
85 ft (25.9 m)
Elevation
2,410 ft (735 m)
Agency
Ed Porter (private owner)
Land
State land
Location
Newton County, Arkansas
Coordinates
36.05328, −93.37247
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ar-compton

View from the cab

What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

Downloads about 3.1 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1945 BuiltBuilt by the Arkansas Forestry Commission; 85-foot AermotorSources: nhlr.org, centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1945 and 2009
  3. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered November 27, 2009 as US 839, AR 10Source: nhlr.org
  4. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Arkansas Forestry Commission built the Compton Lookout in 1945.1,2 The register describes an 85-foot Aermotor tower topped by a metal cab measuring 7 by 7 feet.1 The commission had been set up in 1931, and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas says it went on to build many more towers.3

When the tower was surplused, Ed Porter bought it along with the ground house and the land.1 The ground house has been restored and is offered as a lookout rental, which the register calls rare in the eastern United States.1

A 1971 National Geodetic Survey description, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, says the tower was owned by the State of Arkansas and stood on property owned by a Mr. Permee.2 The sources do not say when Porter bought it, so the move from state ownership to a private owner cannot be dated from what was read.

The register lists the tower as US 839 and AR 10, registered on November 27, 2009, with Ed Porter as nominator and owner.1 The sources do not say whether the tower itself can be climbed. Because it stands on privately owned land, anyone interested should ask Ed Porter before visiting.1

  1. Compton Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ar/compton-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Compton, Forest Lookouts (centraluslookouts.weebly.com), https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/compton.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Forest Fire Lookouts, Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/Forest-Fire-Lookouts-7905 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Compton Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Compton Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Compton Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Compton Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, status, register numbers, agency, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- central US (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: type, what it is built of, design, height, ownership, links centraluslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, access, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

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