FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Polk County, Arkansas

Rich Mountain Fire Tower

1952 steel fire tower with a 14-foot metal cab on the Talimena Scenic Highway; used for fire detection until 1975, now an observation tower. Heights disagree.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Observation tower beside the Talimena Scenic Highway, with a Forest Service placard at the site

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerCl-100 metal cab on a steel towerThe design: CL-100
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1952
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,646 ft (807 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Ouachita National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Polk County, Arkansas
Coordinates
34.67388, −94.32867
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ar-rich-mountain

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. 1952 BuiltRegister and Encyclopedia of Arkansas both give 1952; a hiking group page gives 1954 (see notes)Sources: nhlr.org, encyclopediaofarkansas.net
  2. 1954 EventDisputed: a hiking group page dates the 14 by 14 foot cab to 1954; the register and Encyclopedia say 1952Source: takahik.com
  3. No record between 1954 and 1975
  4. 1975 Last staffedUsed for fire detection until 1975Sources: nhlr.org, encyclopediaofarkansas.net, takahik.com
  5. No record between 1975 and 2004
  6. 2004 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered per NHLR detail page: June 1, 2004Source: NHLR register entry
  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.

Rich Mountain Fire Tower stands at the highest point of the Talimena Scenic Highway, in the Ouachita National Forest in Polk County, Arkansas.1

The steel tower and its 14-by-14-foot metal cab were built in 1952. They replaced an unusual wooden cab on a 20-foot log tower.1,2

The sources do not agree on height. The register gives 42 feet, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas says 58 feet, and a hiking group's page says the tower stood 65 feet.1,2,3 That page also dates the tower to 1954, not 1952.3

The tower was used for fire detection until 1975.1,2

Today it works as an observation tower beside the road. A Forest Service placard at the site tells the story of the family that first lived in the tower.2

A hiking group's history describes earlier towers on the summit. It says a wooden fire tower replaced a pine-tree platform in 1910. The register gives no date for the wooden cab it describes, so I cannot check the 1910 date against it and have not used that date in this timeline.1,3

Nothing I read gives current opening hours or says whether visitors may climb the tower, so check with the Ouachita National Forest before you go.1,2

  1. Rich Mountain Fire Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ar/rich-mountain-fire-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Rich Mountain, Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/rich-mountain-15331/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Rich Mountain Fire Tower, TAKAHIK River Valley Hikers, http://www.takahik.com/travelingarkansas/18richtower/richtower.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Rich Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Rich Mountain Fire Tower
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author or not provided, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, status, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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: 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. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: type, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, visiting details, 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.