FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lassen County, California

Hayden Hill

Hayden Hill lookout: site set aside 1912, cab built 1940 to a Region 5 plan; only the cab went to the Bieber museum, and the move date is not in the sources.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at the Big Valley Museum

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Only the cab was reassembled at the Big Valley Museum grounds in Bieber; the register says the tower was not reassembled there

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
Moved
Type
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10 foot enclosed timber tower (NHLR)The design: BC-301
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1940
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Modoc National Forest (original site); Big Valley Historical Museum (cab today)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lassen County, California
Coordinates
40.99793, −120.87038 sources disagree
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-hayden-hill

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.6 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  1. 1912 EventSite set aside for administrative use (register: withdrawn; Forest Lookouts: approved)Sources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1915 EventRegister says a structure stood by 1915; a June 1915 newspaper item mentions the Forest Service lookout peakSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1923 EventJuly 1923 item mentions a visit to the new lookout house on Hayden Hill; not reconciled with the register's 1940 dateSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1923 and 1940
  5. 1940 BuiltCab built to Region 5 Plan BC-301, per the registerSource: nhlr.org
  6. 1943 StaffedJuly 1943 item refers to the Lookout Station at Hayden HillSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1946 Event13 first discoveries logged between 1942 and 1946Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1946 and 1991
  9. 1991 MovedSupervisors approved moving the tower to the Bieber Museum grounds in March 1991; the move date is not in these sources; the register says only the cab was reassembledSources: californialookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  10. No record between 1991 and 2019
  11. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the NHLR October 30, 2019Source: nhlr.org
  12. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to the Big Valley Museum.Source: FFLA
  13. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. 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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The site on Hayden Hill was set aside for administrative use in 1912, and the National Historic Lookout Register says a structure stood there by 1915.1,2 A June 1915 item from the Alturas New Era, quoted by Forest Lookouts, suggests that travelers stop at the old mining camp and look over the country from the Forest Service lookout peak.2

The two sources do not agree on when the surviving cab was built.1,2 A July 1923 California District News Letter item describes a visit to "the new lookout house on Hayden Hill."2 The register dates the cab to 1940. It calls the cab a California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 10-foot enclosed timber tower, and says the peaked roof looks more like another California plan, so the structure may be a hybrid.1 A 1991 newspaper item calls the tower two-story, which does not match the register's 10-foot figure.2

A July 1943 item from the Weekly Adin Argus says a man with mumps was being cared for by his wife at the Lookout Station at Hayden Hill.2 Forest Lookouts also credits the lookout with 13 "first discoveries" between 1942 and 1946.2

In March 1991 the Lassen County Times reported that the county supervisors had approved a request from museum board member Carl Parks to move the tower to the Bieber Museum grounds.2 The tower was still in operation then.2 A new tower had to be built first so that coverage would not lapse, and Amax Gold was to handle the dismantling and reassembly.2

The register says only the cab, not the tower, was reassembled at the museum, where it stands today.1 The Big Valley Historical Museum administers it, and the register recorded it on October 30, 2019.1 No source I read describes what, if anything, remains at the original lookout site on Hayden Hill now, and the sources read give no visiting hours for the museum.

  1. Hayden Hill Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/hayden-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Hayden Hill - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/hayden-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 920 m.

    • FFLA: 40.99793, −120.87038
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 40.99441, −120.88034

    The map uses the position from FFLA.

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: agency, ownership, 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
  3. 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.