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Fire lookout · Siskiyou County, California

Cecil Point Lookout Site

Siskiyou County, CA lookout on the Klamath NF: a BC-301 cabin built 1934, replaced in 1954 by a mobile cupola trailer; removal date unknown, original foundation reported visible.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removal date unknown; the register says the original foundation remains visible today

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
Enclosed towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10-foot enclosed timber tower; 1954 replacement was an R1M Region 1 mobile cupola trailerThe design: BC-301
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,560 ft (1,695 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Klamath National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Siskiyou County, California
Coordinates
41.09093, −123.12798
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-cecil-point

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1934 BuiltBuild field on the register page reads 1934/1954; the first structure was a BC-301 cabin on a 10-foot timber towerSource: firetower.org
  2. 1935 StaffedWalter Carruthers was the lookout in July 1935; Ed Farnsworth replaced him that AugustSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1939 FireLookout Johnny Roff spotted a small blaze during a lightning storm on July 29 and directed a crew by radioSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1946 StaffedWilliam Campbell, lookout for several years, moved to the Blue Ridge station for the 1946 seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1951 StaffedPaul Farmer went to the Cecil Point lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1954 Replaced by a new structureOriginal structure replaced with an R1M Region 1 Mobile Cupola TrailerSource: firetower.org
  7. 1963 StaffedEileen Johnson had served as lookout there for the last four summersSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1963 and 2020
  9. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: April 15, 2020Source: FFLOS register entry
  10. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is 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.

The Cecil Point lookout stood in Siskiyou County, California, on land the Klamath National Forest administers.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register lists its build years as 1934 and 1954.1 Its first structure was a BC-301 cabin, a California Region 5 plan, on a 10-foot enclosed timber tower.1

The lookout was in use by July 1935.2 A diary entry from that month, quoted in the Klamath forest's chronological history, records plans to go into the lookout with Walter Carruthers and install a fire finder and map.2 That August, Carruthers resigned, and Ed Farnsworth took over the station.2

In 1939 the California Ranger reported that lookout Johnny Roff had spotted a small blaze during a lightning storm.2 Radio contact with the lookout guided a crew to it.2

William Campbell had been the Cecil Point lookout for several years before he moved to the Blue Ridge station for the 1946 season.2 The Siskiyou Daily News said the Cecil Point station was several miles off the road, reached by a trail it called extremely steep.2 Paul Farmer went to the lookout in 1951.2 In October 1963 the Blue Lake Advocate reported that Eileen Johnson had come down from the lookout after serving there for the last four summers.2

In 1954 the R1M, a Region 1 mobile cupola trailer, replaced the original cabin.1

The register gives no removal date, but notes that the original foundation is still visible.1 No source we read says whether anything else stands at the site now, or whether the public may visit it.1 Anyone curious should check with the Klamath National Forest before heading out.

  1. Cecil Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/cecil-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Cecil Point, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/cecil-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

R1M - Region 1 mobile cupola trailer - Circa 1954
R1M - Region 1 mobile cupola trailer - Circa 1954 (1954)Photo: Nancy Hood Collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1937
1937 (1937)Photo: Nancy Hood 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, 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) 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, 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.