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Fire lookout · Lassen County, California

Blacks Ridge Lookout

Lassen County steel tower built in 1934, with a 1938 BC-201 cabin for the lookout operator; the Register is the main source and access is unknown.

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 towerAermotor 45-foot X-brace open steel tower with a 7x7-foot observation-only cab; BC-201 cabin for the lookout operator (1938)House: BC-201; tower: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
45 ft (13.7 m)
Elevation
6,045 ft (1,843 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Lassen National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lassen County, California
Coordinates
40.84015, −121.17598 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-blacks-ridge

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 3.5 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. 1934 BuiltAermotor 45-foot X-brace open steel tower with a 7x7 ft observation-only cabSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1938 BuiltCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-201 Fireman Lookout cabin built as a residence for the lookout operatorSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1938 and 2019
  4. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered November 27, 2019 as US 1388, CA 211Source: nhlr.org
  5. 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.

Blacks Ridge Lookout stands in Lassen County, in the Lassen National Forest, which the U.S. Forest Service administers.1,2

The Register says the tower was built in 1934. It describes an Aermotor, a 45-foot X-brace open steel tower topped by a 7-by-7-foot cab meant for observation only.1 In 1938 a California Region 5 Plan BC-201 Fireman Lookout cabin was built as a residence for the lookout operator, and the Register's 2008 photo is captioned as the cabin and tower together.1

Our second source is thin. The Forest Lookouts page gives the forest and a location code, 34N-7E-3, but no history.2

The Register recorded the lookout on November 27, 2019.1 The sources read do not say whether it is staffed, rented, or open to visitors, and we found no later record of its condition.1,2 Check with the Lassen National Forest before any trip, and do not climb the tower without first confirming its status.

  1. Blacks Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/blacks-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Blacks Ridge, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/blacks-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Blacks Ridge Lookout - 2008
Blacks Ridge Lookout - 2008 (2008)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
BC-201 Fireman Lookout Cabin & Tower - 2008
BC-201 Fireman Lookout Cabin & Tower - 2008 (2008)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 2.2 km (1.4 mi).

    • NHLR: 40.84015, −121.17598
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 40.82361, −121.16222

    The map uses the position from NHLR.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) 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
  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. 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
  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.