FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · San Diego County, California

Black Mountain (Black Hill) Tower Site

Also known as Black Mountain

Cleveland NF, San Diego County, CA 20-ft open timber tower with 14x14 live-in cab built 1935, last staffed 1975, torn down 1983 per register; now only a radio repeater site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Torn down in 1983 per the register; FFLA-SDRC says standing in 1979 and demolished or removed by 1986. Only a radio repeater site is at the location now.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

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

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower20-foot non-battered open timber tower with a Region 5 14x14-ft live-in wood cabThe designs: BC-301, C-3
Built of
Wood
Built
1935
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
3,168 ft (966 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
San Diego County, California
Coordinates
33.15992, −116.80808
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-black-mountain-black-hill

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.3 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. 1935 BuiltConstructed in 1935 per the register; FFLA-SDRC gives no build dateSource: firetower.org
  2. No record between 1935 and 1975
  3. 1975 Last staffedLast staffed in 1975Source: firetower.org
  4. 1979 EventSeen standing in 1979 (FFLA-SDRC)Source: ffla-sandiego.org
  5. 1983 RemovedTorn down in 1983 per the registerSource: firetower.org
  6. 1986 RemovedFFLA-SDRC: demolished or removed by 1986; this window conflicts with the register's 1983 dateSource: ffla-sandiego.org
  7. No record between 1986 and 2009
  8. 2009 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: February 17, 2009Source: FFLOS register entry
  9. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

Black Mountain, also identified as Black Hill on some forest maps, is a summit in the Cleveland National Forest in San Diego County, southwest of Lake Henshaw.1,2,3 The FFLA-SDRC page places it on the western edge of the Mesa Grande Indian Reservation.2

The tower was built in 1935. It was a 20-foot open timber design with a 14-by-14-foot live-in wood cab.1,2 Staffing ended in 1975.1

Sources disagree about its end. The register dates its demolition to 1983.1 The FFLA-SDRC page has it standing in 1979 and gone by 1986.2

According to the register, a radio repeater site is all that occupies the location now.1 Neither page describes public access, so check with the Forest Service before going.1,2 The elevation also differs between sources. The register lists 3,168 feet, while Wikipedia gives the summit as 4,048 feet.1,3

  1. Black Mountain (Black Hill) Tower Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/black-mountain-black-hill-tower-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Black Mountain, FFLA-SDRC, https://www.ffla-sandiego.org/fire-lookout/southern-california-towers/black-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Black Mountain (San Diego County, California), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mountain_(San_Diego_County,_California) (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Black Mountain (Black Hill) Tower Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1966
1966 (1966)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1942
1942 (1942)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
April 28, 1934
April 28, 1934 (1934)Photo: Los Angeles Times, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists 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
  3. FFLA San Diego-Riverside Chapter Gave us: design, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, San Diego-Riverside Chapter (ffla-sandiego.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, designs, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the chapter's page it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: 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
  5. FFLA chapters, affiliates and Friends groups: lookout pages FFLA chapters and Friends groups (each link names the group) · Links to the groups' own pages; facts only from the California-South chapter's tower table (register page, operator, condition). No text or photos reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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.