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Fire lookout · Madera County, California

Castle Peak Lookout Site

Also known as Castle Peak (Oat Mountain)

Sierra NF lookout on Castle Peak, Madera County; built 1930 per register; a 1913 item places a lookout on 'Castle Peak or Oat Mountain' without showing the two names are one place; only six tower piers described as remaining; no source describes the site today.

Ruins: Only footings or remains are left. Register says only six tower piers remain; removal date unknown

Visit & stay

Ruins: footings or remains only. There is no structure 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
Ruins
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan 4AR, 20-foot H-brace open steel towerThe design: D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
Steel
Built
1930
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
4,030 ft (1,228 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Sierra National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Madera County, California
Coordinates
37.18505, −119.44261
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-castle-peak

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 3.5 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. 1913 StaffedFresno Morning Republican item (Sept 7, 1913): a fourth lookout is stationed on Castle Peak or Oat Mountain. Predates the 1930 build dateSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1913 and 1930
  3. 1930 BuiltRegister build year; tower described as a California Region 5 Plan 4AR, 20-foot H-brace steelSource: firetower.org
  4. No record between 1930 and 1986
  5. 1986 EventThornton's 1986 survey suggests the structure could have been relocated to or from Oat Mountain; register says no evidence existsSource: firetower.org
  6. No record between 1986 and 2020
  7. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 1, 2020; nominated by Brad EellsSource: firetower.org
  8. TodayRuinsOnly footings or remains are left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Castle Peak Lookout stood on Castle Peak in Madera County, California, within the Sierra National Forest.1 A September 1913 item in the Fresno Morning Republican, quoted on a lookout history page, places a lookout on 'Castle Peak or Oat Mountain,' a phrase that does not say whether the two names refer to one place.2

The register gives 1930 as the build year.1 It describes the tower as a California Region 5 Plan 4AR design, 20 feet tall, with an H-brace open steel frame.1 The 1913 item came seventeen years before that build date, and neither source says whether the 1930 tower replaced an earlier station.1,2

The register gives no removal date.1 It cites a 1986 survey by Thornton that raised the possibility the structure was moved to or from Oat Mountain, though it adds that no evidence supports this.1 The register describes six tower piers as the only remains on site.1 The site was registered on February 1, 2020.1

No source we read describes the site today.

  1. Castle Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/castle-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Castle Peak, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/castle-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Castle Peak Lookout
Castle Peak LookoutPhoto: Mark Swift Collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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. 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, 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.