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Fire lookout · Butte County, California

Bloomer Hill Lookout

Butte County tower built 1925 by the state, county and Forest Service; still listed standing; NHLR-registered 2019; current access not confirmed.

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 tower60-foot steel Aermotor Company tower; cab modified 1959The designs: Aermotor, BC-201
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1925
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
3,005 ft (916 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
Land
Unknown
Location
Butte County, California
Coordinates
39.65191, −121.46311
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-bloomer-hill

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 3.4 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. 1925 BuiltCompleted June 1925 and dedicated in June 1925 (State Forester M.B. Pratt gave the dedicatory speech), built under a co-operative agreementSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1926 EventTelephone link to the Great Western Power Company at Las Plumas completedSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1929 StaffedGeorge Cunha named as forest service lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1930 StaffedRoy Fox back on duty at the lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1931 Event22-mile telephone line to Oroville completedSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1932 StaffedCunha lookout man for the summer monthsSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1933 StaffedCunha lookout man againSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1939 EventCCC crews building a telephone line from Brush Creek ranger station to the lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1939 and 1959
  10. 1959 AlteredCab modificationSource: nhlr.org
  11. 1973 Replaced by a new structureCCC-era BC-201 residence replaced by the CDFSource: nhlr.org
  12. No record between 1973 and 2019
  13. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 15, 2019 as NHLR US 1308Source: nhlr.org
  14. 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.

Bloomer Hill is in Butte County.1 Newspapers put it 14 miles northeast of Oroville in 1924 and 20 miles from Oroville in 1925.2 A July 1924 report planned a 70-foot station on the crest, but the 1925 reports describe a 60-foot steel tower, built under a co-operative agreement between Butte County, the state forester and the U.S. Forest Service.2 The National Historic Lookout Register calls it an Aermotor Company product, believed erected in 1925, and says the agencies cooperated to finance and build it.1 A July 1925 county contract covered the cost of erecting a $1,300 lookout.2 State Forester M.B. Pratt gave the dedication speech at the station in June 1925.2 Sources disagree on the summit height: a June 1925 paper gave 3,040 feet, while the NHLR gives 3,005 feet.1,2

Lookout staff appear in the local papers. George Cunha was the forest service lookout in 1929, and Roy Fox was back on duty in 1930.2 Cunha was on the hill again in 1932 and 1933.2 Telephone lines reached the station in stages: a link to the Great Western Power Company at Las Plumas by 1926, and a 22-mile line to Oroville in 1931.2 In 1939 CCC crews were building a line from the Brush Creek ranger station up to the lookout.2 The newspaper transcripts focus on upkeep, phone lines and small incidents, such as a thief who made an improvised bed in the tower in 1932.2

The cab was modified in 1959, and in 1973 the CDF replaced the CCC-era residence.1 The NHLR notes that the agency's Aermotor cabs all received catwalks, new windows and access doors.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's California list still shows the tower as standing.3 The NHLR registered it on October 15, 2019, and lists the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as its administrator.1

No current access or rental notice turned up in these sources, so check with the administering agency before any visit, and never climb a tower that is closed or private.

  1. Bloomer Hill Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/bloomer-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Bloomer Hill, Forest Lookouts (newspaper transcriptions), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/bloomer-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. California Lookouts (by County), Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ca-co/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Bloomer Hill Lookout
Bloomer Hill LookoutPhoto: Brad Eells, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Bloomer Hill Lookout
Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Bloomer Hill Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1939 Newspaper Article
1939 Newspaper Article (1939)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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
  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: 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
  4. 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.