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Fire lookout · Siskiyou County, California

Dry Lake Mountain Lookout Site

Klamath NF station staffed from 1914, cabin built 1925 on an enclosed timber tower; register says removed 1971 with only a foundation left.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1971; the register says only a foundation remains

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
Two-story buildingCalifornia Region 5 Plan 4AR cabin on an enclosed timber towerThe design: D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1925
Height
14 ft (4.3 m)
Elevation
6,780 ft (2,067 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Klamath National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Siskiyou County, California
Coordinates
41.90766, −122.94074
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-dry-lake-mountain

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 3.3 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. 1914 First staffedEverson T. Rider appointed lookout on Dry Lake mountain (1914 newspaper item)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1923 Condition assessmentInspection report: a standard lookout house should be built; the station is on Southern Pacific land leased by stockmenSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1924 StaffedPerry W. Fisher had spent 13 years as lookout at the Dry Lake station (1924 newspaper item)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1925 BuiltRegister: constructed in 1925, replacing a small shack used previouslySource: firetower.org
  5. 1929 StaffedAl Barnum succeeded E. L. Spencer as lookout operatorSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1930 EventForest Service road to the station completed for the Fourth of JulySource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1936 EventKlamath forest accepted title to 20 acres for the site, previously leased from the Southern Pacific Land CompanySource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1941 StaffedRegister note: the lookout was only manned three weeks; R.C. Gibson reporting on August 8Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1941 and 1971
  10. 1971 RemovedRegister and Forest Lookouts both give 1971; the register says only a foundation remainsSources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1971 and 2020
  12. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: April 16, 2020Source: FFLOS register entry
  13. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

Dry Lake Mountain stands at 6,780 feet in the Klamath National Forest, in Siskiyou County 1. The station was in use well before the present cabin 2. A 1914 newspaper item quoted on the Forest Lookouts page reports that Everson T. Rider had been named lookout on Dry Lake mountain and had taken up the post 2. A 1923 inspection report recommended a standard lookout house there and noted that the station sat on Southern Pacific land that stockmen lease 2.

The register dates the present cabin to 1925, when it replaced an earlier small shack 1. Its design is a California Region 5 Plan 4AR cabin on an enclosed timber tower 1.

Newspaper items name several people who worked the post 2. Perry W. Fisher had spent 13 years as a lookout at the Dry Lake station, a 1924 item said 2. In 1929 Al Barnum replaced E. L. Spencer as lookout operator 2. A 1941 item said the lookout was manned for only three weeks that year 2.

A Forest Service road to the station was completed for the Fourth of July in 1930 2. In 1936 the Klamath forest accepted title to 20 acres for the site, which had been leased from the Southern Pacific Land Company 2.

The lookout was removed in 1971 1,2. The register says only a foundation remains 1.

The register lists the Klamath National Forest as administrator 1. No source found describes road access today or whether visitors are welcome at the site.

  1. Dry Lake Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/dry-lake-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Dry Lake Mountain, California Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/dry-lake-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Dry Lake Mountain Lookout
Dry Lake Mountain LookoutPhoto: USFS - Siskiyou County Museum Collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Dry Lake Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: National Archives, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Dry Lake Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Nancy Hood 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, 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: height 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.