Fire lookout · Plumas County, California
Dixie Mountain Lookout
1928 Plan 4AR fire lookout on a 10-foot enclosed timber tower in Plumas NF; staffed in fire season; 2017 rehabilitation; NHLR-registered 2019.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
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
- Type
- Enclosed towerrare, surviving California Region 5 Plan 4AR design on an enclosed 10-foot timber towerThe design: D-5 (4-AR)
- Built of
- Wood
- Built
- 1928
- Height
- 10 ft (3.0 m)
- Elevation
- 8,070 ft (2,460 m)
- Agency
- US Forest Service - Plumas National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Plumas County, California
- Coordinates
- 39.93889, −120.28535
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-dixie-mountain
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
- 1928 BuiltRegister and 2017 report give 1928 as the build year; August 1928 newspaper says the station would be erected that fallSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com, sustainable-group.com
- 1929 BuiltJuly 18, 1929 newspaper: Forest Service has just completed the lookout; lumber packed 1.5 miles up the mountain (July 4, 1929)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1931 StaffedMyron Horn named as fire lookout for the 1931 season (June 5, 1931 item, forward-looking)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1932 FireLookout Horn sighted a fire that totally destroyed the old Burnham ranch house in Grizzly Valley; he alerted the Quincy dispatcherSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1936 StaffedJune 13, 1936 item: Clyde Robinson to be lookout man during fire seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1938 StaffedJune 25, 1938 item: Victor Johnson moved to the lookout station for the fire seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1940 StaffedClay Bailey ill and hospitalized in Susanville; Maynard Pattan relief lookout (spelled Maynerd in the July 25, 1940 item)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1940 and 2017
- 2017 RestoredOn-site rehabilitation by Sustainable Group, Inc.: roof replaced with sheathing and fire-treated cedar shingles; catwalk, stairway and handrail repaired; access trail and peripheral stairs and walkways reconstructedSource: sustainable-group.com
- 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 24, 2019 as US 1337, CA 160; nominated by Brad EellsSource: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Dixie Mountain is a fire lookout in the Plumas National Forest in Plumas County, California.1 The Register puts its elevation at 8,070 feet (2,460 meters), but a 2017 rehabilitation report and a photo page give 8,327 feet, so the sources disagree.1,2,3
The Forest Service started the work in 1928.4 Road crews started the access road to Dixie Peak that August, and the station was to go up that fall.4 The Register gives 1928 as the build year, but a July 1929 newspaper item reports that the Forest Service had just finished the lookout.1,4
The Register calls it one of the few surviving examples of a Region 5 design, Plan 4AR, built on a timber tower that is 10 feet tall and enclosed.1 A 1929 item said the lumber was carried 1.5 miles up the mountain.4
Newspapers name lookouts from the early 1930s on.4 Myron Horn was to be the lookout in 1931, and again in 1932.4 A 1936 item said Clyde Robinson would be the lookout that fire season, and in 1938 Victor Johnson moved to the lookout station for the fire season.4 In 1940 Clay Bailey fell ill and was taken to Susanville for treatment, and Maynard Pattan served as relief lookout.4
In August 1932 Horn saw a blaze that wiped out the old Burnham residence in Grizzly Valley, and he alerted the dispatcher at Quincy.4 A February 1944 Portola Reporter item said that Clay T. Bailey, a former lookout on Dixie Mountain, had been killed in action on the Italian front.4
A contractor, Sustainable Group, Inc., did the on-site rehabilitation of the lookout, and its 2017 report describes the work.2 The old roof came off and a new one went on, with fresh sheathing and cedar shingles treated for fire resistance, and the catwalk, stairs and railing were repaired.2
The Register says the lookout is still staffed when fire season is on.1 A photo page says it is normally staffed then.3
The sources do not describe public access to the site or whether visitors may climb the tower. Check with the Plumas National Forest before any visit, and stay off any tower that is closed or marked private.
- Dixie Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/dixie-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Rehabilitation of Dixie Mountain Lookout, Sustainable Group, Inc., Plumas National Forest, https://sustainable-group.com/assets/dixie-mountain-lookout---rehabilitation_20170313_v22.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Dixie Mountain Lookout, Plumas National Forest, Peakbagging.com, http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/Dixie.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Dixie Mountain, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/dixie-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- 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
- NHLR register entry US 1337 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Rehabilitation of Dixie Mountain Lookout (Sustainable Group, Inc., for U.S. Forest Service, Plumas National Forest) (opens another site)
- Dixie Mountain Lookout, Plumas National Forest (Peakbagging.com) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Dixie Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap node 9389630833 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.