FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Nevada County, California

Columbia Hill Lookout Site

Nevada County, CA Tahoe NF site: first structure before 1911, then a BC-301 cabin on a 16-foot tower from 1936; removal date unknown.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removal date unknown; no source we read describes the site 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 16-foot enclosed timber tower (1936 replacement)The design: BC-301
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,900 ft (1,189 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Tahoe National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Nevada County, California
Coordinates
39.39061, −120.96685
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-columbia-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1911 StaffedHarry Lillie stationed as lookout during the fire season (October 1911 Morning Union item quoted by Forest Lookouts)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1911 and 1936
  3. 1936 Built'Built' field on FFLOS detail pageSource: FFLOS register entry
  4. 1936 Replaced by a new structureOriginal structure replaced with a BC-301 cabin on a 16-foot enclosed timber tower; the register build field gives 1936Source: firetower.org
  5. No record between 1936 and 2020
  6. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 2, 2020 as US 1963, CA 113Source: firetower.org
  7. 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.

Columbia Hill is in Nevada County, California, on the Tahoe National Forest.1

The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register says the hill's first structure was finished before the 1911 fire season.1 A Morning Union item from October 1911, quoted by the Forest Lookouts site, reports that Harry Lillie had come back from Columbia Hill, where he had manned the lookout through the fire season.2

In 1936 the original structure gave way to a California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 16-foot enclosed timber tower.1 The register's build year, 1936, matches that replacement cabin.1

The register lists the removal date as unknown.1 No source we read says what, if anything, remains of the lookout today, or whether the public may visit the site.1

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

Photos

Columbia Hill Lookout
Columbia Hill LookoutPhoto: USFS Image - Mark Swift Collection, 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, 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.