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Fire lookout · Plumas County, California

Harvey Mountain Lookout

1919 Lassen National Forest lookout cab in the 1918 4A design; a 1934 steel tower beside it was later removed. Staffed in fire season.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Staffed Forest Service lookout; the sources read do not describe public visiting rules.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cab4A lookout cab in the original 1918 design, with thick iron straps over the wood between the windowsThe designs: Plan 4-A, Aermotor
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1919
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,317 ft (2,230 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Lassen National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Plumas County, California
Coordinates
40.74100, −121.03608
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-harvey-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 3.8 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. 1915 StaffedLookout Luther S. York resigned; Earl Slater took over for the rest of the seasonSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1919 BuiltCab built to the 1918 4A designSources: nhlr.org, peakbagging.com
  3. No record between 1919 and 1934
  4. 1934 AlteredSteel Aermotor fire tower built beside the cab, which was used as quarters; the tower was later removedSources: nhlr.org, peakbagging.com
  5. 1937 FireLookout sighted a blaze in the Termo district about 30 miles away; equipment at the scene within 1 hour 20 minutesSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1937 and 1953
  7. 1953 Condition assessmentInspection note: lookout in good conditionSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1953 and 2003
  9. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered May 29, 2003 as US 517, CA 55Source: nhlr.org
  10. No record between 2003 and 2020
  11. 2020 EventFFLA $500 restoration grant for catwalk deck boards, top handrails and shutters; work postponed to the following yearSource: firelookout.org
  12. 2020 StaffedVickie Lamoureux staffed the lookoutSource: firelookout.org
  13. 2023 StaffedVickie Lamoureux staffing the lookout, her 42nd summer as a lookoutSource: fs.usda.gov
  14. 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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Harvey Mountain Lookout stands on the Lassen National Forest in Lassen County, California, and the Register lists its elevation as 7,317 feet.1,2

The Register says it is the only known surviving example of a 4A cab built to the original 1918 design. Heavy iron straps cover the wood between its windows.1 The cab was built in 1919.1,2

Lookouts were posted on the summit before 1919.3 A 1915 newspaper item, quoted on a California lookout history page, reports that Luther S. York had resigned from the station and that Earl Slater took over for the rest of the season.3

In 1934 a steel Aermotor fire tower went up beside the cab, and the cab served as quarters.1 The photo page says that tower was later removed, and the Register says fire watch moved back to the ground cabin.1,2

A 1937 report from the Lassen Advocate, quoted on the same history page, says the lookout spotted a blaze in the Termo district about 30 miles away. Equipment reached the scene within an hour and 20 minutes.3

The Register accepted the lookout on May 29, 2003 as US 517, CA 55.1 A Forest Fire Lookout Association list gives the number as US 516, CA 54, so the two lists disagree.4

In 2020 the Forest Fire Lookout Association gave a $500 grant for materials to replace the catwalk deck boards and top handrails and to refurbish the shutters. Fire season and COVID protocols pushed that work back a year.5 Vickie Lamoureux, a long-time FFLA member and former Northern California director, staffed the site that season.5

In October 2023 the Forest Service wrote that Lamoureux was staffing the Harvey Mountain tower that year, her 42nd summer as a lookout.6 An inspection note from 1953 also called the lookout in good condition.3

A photo page describes the cab as in good condition and staffed during the fire season.2 The sources read do not say whether the public may visit or climb to it. Because it is a working fire lookout, anyone planning a trip should check with the Lassen National Forest first.

  1. Harvey Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/harvey-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Harvey Mountain Lookout, Lassen County, California, Peakbagging, http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/HarveyMtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Harvey Mountain, Forest Lookouts California (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/harvey-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. California Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. 2020 Restoration Grant Annual Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-rest-2020.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Standing Watch: The Ongoing Tradition of Fire Lookouts, USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/newsroom/stories/standing-watch-ongoing-tradition-fire-lookouts (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Harvey Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Harvey Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Harvey Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Harvey Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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
  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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, 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

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