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Fire lookout · Dallas County, Arkansas

Key Hill Lookout Tower

Also known as Key Hill (Tower 35)

Dallas County, Arkansas, Forestry Commission Tower 35; a steel tower described in 1941 and NHLR-registered in 2023. No staffing or fire history found.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot Aermotor MC-39 steel tower with an enclosed cabin at the topThe design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
Unknown
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
395 ft (120 m)
Agency
Arkansas Forestry Commission
Land
State land
Location
Dallas County, Arkansas
Coordinates
33.93025, −92.77212
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ar-key-hill

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 3.0 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. 1941 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey station described on a Forestry Commission lookout tower about 100 feet high; build date not in the sourcesSources: centraluslookouts.weebly.com, ngs.noaa.gov
  2. No record between 1941 and 1964
  3. 1964 Condition assessmentSurvey recovery found the station in good condition; the note gives an overall height of about 110 feetSource: ngs.noaa.gov
  4. No record between 1964 and 2021
  5. 2021 Condition assessmentRegister records a site visit dated 1/24/21Source: nhlr.org
  6. 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 2, 2023 as US 1748, AR 23; nominated by Jason JohnsSource: nhlr.org
  7. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

Old maps of this spot

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

Story

Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Key Hill Lookout Tower, also called Tower 35, is in Dallas County, Arkansas, a few miles east of Sparkman.1,2,3 The Register lists the Arkansas Forestry Commission as its administrator.1

The Register gives no build date. A Coast and Geodetic Survey description from 1941 already describes a Forestry Commission steel lookout of roughly 100 feet, topped by a closed-in cabin, so the tower was standing by 1941.2,3 The Register names the design as a 100-foot Aermotor MC-39.1

A 1964 survey recovery found the station in good condition. Its note describes a gray, four-legged steel tower with a cabin at the top and gives an overall height of about 110 feet.3 That is about ten feet taller than the 100-foot figure in the other sources, and the 1964 note does not explain the difference.1,2,3

We found no record of who staffed Key Hill or of any fire it watched. The Register records a site visit dated January 24, 2021, and registered the tower on August 2, 2023 as US 1748, AR 23.1

Nothing we read says the tower has been moved, closed or removed. The sources also do not say whether the public may visit or climb it. The 1964 directions, which follow a graveled road east from a state highway, are more than sixty years old and do not show current conditions.3

  1. Key Hill Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ar/key-hill-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Key Hill (Tower 35), Forest Lookouts (centraluslookouts.weebly.com), https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/key-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Station DL1419, National Geodetic Survey data sheet (ngs.noaa.gov), https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=DL1419 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Key Hill Lookout Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Key Hill Lookout Tower
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, what it is built of, 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: 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: type, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

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