Fire lookout · Siskiyou County, California
Ball Mountain Lookout
Wood enclosed lookout tower on Ball Mountain in the Klamath National Forest; a lookout since 1922 or earlier, rebuilt in 1940, and used for 2024 wildfire cameras.
- 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
- Staffed only in emergencies (as of 1928)
Facts
- Status
- Built of
- Wood
- Built
- 1940
- Height
- 30 ft (9.1 m)
- Elevation
- 7,789 ft (2,374 m)
- Agency
- US Forest Service - Klamath National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Siskiyou County, California
- Coordinates
- 41.79539, −122.15589
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-ball-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 3.6 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
- 1922 EventRegister says a lookout existed on the site from 1922 or earlier; June 29, 1922 item has Jack Hayes taking up duties on Goose Nest mountainSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1923 StaffedOctober 4, 1923 item: Jack Hayes at the Ball Mountain station; the station was closed for the winter seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1928 StaffedJuly 5, 1928 forest history entry: James Dysert listed to man the lookout in emergenciesSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1935 EventJuly 10, 1935: Ranger Kreischer surveyed the Ball Mountain Lookout site (Shasta Forest); old tower on leased landSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1936 EventShasta Forest bought the section for $500; deed dated September 26, 1936Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1940 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
- 1940 Replaced by a new structureOpen platform tower with BC-201 cabin replaced by a BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot enclosed timber tower; October 3, 1940 CCC camp report says the new tower was well along and expected to be 75 percent complete before the winter shutdownSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1952 Event1952 Coast and Geodetic Survey station description: lookout house is 14 feet square and about 25 feet highSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1960 EventOctober 31, 1960 recollection: box-like structure some 60 feet tall, with a Jacob's ladder as the fire escapeSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1960 and 2019
- 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered November 24, 2019 as US 1383, CA 206Source: nhlr.org
- 2024 EventForest Service decision signed June 28, 2024 for two wildfire cameras and a solar array on the communications tower at Ball Mountain; project status completedSource: fs.usda.gov
- 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.
Ball Mountain Lookout stands on Ball Mountain in Siskiyou County, on the Klamath National Forest, at 7,789 feet.1 The site falls within the Goosenest Ranger District.2
The register says a lookout stood on the site from 1922 or earlier.1 Newspaper items from that period do not agree on the name. A June 1922 notice says Jack Hayes was to take up his duties on "Goose Nest mountain," but an October 1923 item places him at the station on Ball Mountain, which was closed for the winter.3
Staffing was seasonal. A forest history entry for 1928 lists James Dysert to man the lookout only in emergencies.3
Land was a question too. A July 1935 survey found the old tower on leased land.3 The Shasta Forest later bought the whole section, under a deed dated September 26, 1936, for $500.3
The tower was replaced in 1940. An October 1940 Leaf CCC Camp report says work on a thirty-foot replacement tower was well advanced, with 75 percent expected to be finished before the winter shutdown.3 The register says an open platform tower with a BC-201 cabin was replaced that year by a Region 5 BC-301 cabin on a 30-foot enclosed timber tower.1
The heights do not agree. A 1960 recollection describes a boxy structure about 60 feet tall, with a Jacob's ladder as its fire escape.3 The register and the 1940 report both give 30 feet. A 1952 survey description gives the lookout house as 14 feet square, a width rather than a height.3
The register added the lookout on November 24, 2019.1 In June 2024 the Forest Service signed a decision to add two wildfire cameras and a solar array at its communications tower on Ball Mountain.2 The project record lists the work as completed, but does not say whether the historic cabin still stands.2
I found no public visiting information. Treat the site as Forest Service land with a communications tower, and do not climb anything there.
- Ball Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/ball-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Ball Mountain Wildfire Alert Cameras, USDA Forest Service Klamath National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/klamath/projects/archive/66266 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Ball Mountain, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/ball-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) Gave us: height, links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, staffing, 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 1383 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Ball Mountain Wildfire Alert Cameras, project summary (USDA Forest Service, Klamath National Forest) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Ball Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.