Fire lookout · Union County, Arkansas
Nick Springs Lookout Tower
Arkansas Forestry Commission tower in Union County, NHLR-registered in 2023; the Register describes a 100-foot Aermotor MC-39 but gives no build date or fire history.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
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
- Type
- Cab on a towerAermotor MC-39The 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
- 331 ft (101 m)
- Agency
- Arkansas Forestry Commission
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Union County, Arkansas
- Coordinates
- 33.21074, −92.55324
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ar-nick-springs
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
- 2021 Condition assessmentSite visit dated 1/24/21 recorded on the Register page; no condition statedSource: nhlr.org
- 2023 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 2, 2023 as US 1749, AR 24; nominated by Jason JohnsSource: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The Nick Springs Lookout Tower stands in Union County, Arkansas, and the Arkansas Forestry Commission administers it.1 The Register describes it as a 100-foot Aermotor MC-39 and lists its elevation as 331 feet (101 meters). The elevation is a separate figure from the tower's height.1
The Register's entry lists no build year. The Forest Lookouts index names the tower only as an entry in Union County, with no further detail.1,2 Neither source names a watch crew, a staffing period, or a fire the tower reported.
Statewide background is better documented than this tower's history. The Arkansas Forestry Commission was created by Act 234 in 1931, and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas says it built many more towers.3 The sources disagree on how many survive. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas counts forty-six still standing in 2023, while Preserve Arkansas puts the surviving number at about 40.3,4
The Register added the tower on August 2, 2023, on a nomination by Jason Johns. Its only dated visit note is from 1/24/21. The entry does not state the tower's current condition or whether visitors may go up it.1
Check with the Arkansas Forestry Commission before going, and do not climb a tower that is closed or private.
- Nick Springs Lookout Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ar/nick-springs-lookout-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Nick Springs - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts index, https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/nick-springs.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Forest Fire Lookouts, Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/forest-fire-lookouts-7905/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Forest Fire Lookout Stations, Preserve Arkansas, https://preservearkansas.org/forest-fire-lookout-stations (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- central US (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site) Gave us: links centraluslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: type, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- 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
- NHLR register entry US 1749 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookouts (Encyclopedia of Arkansas) (opens another site)
- Forest Fire Lookout Stations (Preserve Arkansas) (opens another site)
- Nick Springs (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap node 358988735 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.