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Fire lookout · Plumas County, California

Kettle Rock Lookout Site

Plumas County, CA Forest Service lookout: first built 1912, replaced 1952-53, last staffing notice 1959; reported vandalized 2012, removed 2014-2017; a repeater vault stands on the site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed between 2014 and 2017; a repeater vault now occupies the site

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 sources disagree
Type
Two-story buildingCalifornia Region 5 BC-1401 design (a revision of the BC-301) on a 9-foot block towerThe designs: BC-301, D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1912
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,826 ft (2,385 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Plumas National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Plumas County, California
Coordinates
40.14654, −120.72034
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-kettle-rock

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 3.8 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. 1912 BuiltFirst lookout structure established on Kettle RockSources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1922 First staffedR.A. Thompson at the lookout station during the 1922 summer (November 1922 notice); earliest staffing notice foundSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1923 Replaced by a new structureRegister: a California Region 5 Plan 4AR structure replaced the original. A 1952 newspaper item instead gives reconstruction in 1920Sources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1932 StaffedBert Terrell on duty at the station during an October 1932 lightning stormSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1941 StaffedBert Terrill (also spelled Terrell) lookout at the Kettle Rock station, August 1941 noticeSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1952 Replaced by a new structureSeptember 1952 notice: the old structure dismantled, a new 14x14 lookout building under constructionSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1952 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Frank G. Clark named as the season's lookouts (Reno Evening Gazette item)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1953 BuiltRegister: California Region 5 BC-1401 building on a 9-foot block tower. Peakbagging gives 1952 for the mostly concrete structureSources: firetower.org, peakbagging.com
  9. 1958 StaffedViolet Hawson writing from Kettle Rock Lookout in July 1958Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1959 Last staffedLast staffing notice found (July 1959): Blanche Le Fluer on duty after Violet Hawson gave up the post. Not a confirmed end of staffingSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1959 and 2012
  12. 2012 EventReported vandalized, per the registerSource: firetower.org
  13. 2017 RemovedRegister says removed between 2014 and 2017; the year shown is the end of that windowSource: firetower.org
  14. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 28, 2019 as FFLOS US 1720Source: firetower.org
  15. 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.

The Kettle Rock lookout stood in Plumas County, California, inside the Plumas National Forest, and the U.S. Forest Service administered it.1 The first lookout structure went up in 1912.1,2 According to the Former Fire Lookout Sites register, a Plan 4AR building from California Region 5 took the original's place in 1923.1 A 1952 newspaper item instead says the first building was reconstructed in 1920, so the sources disagree on that date.2

The register dates the most recent building, a BC-1401 design from California Region 5, to 1953, when it sat on a nine-foot block tower.1 The 1952 item says the old structure had been dismantled and a new 14-by-14 building was under construction.2 A Peakbagging page gives 1952 for the largely concrete structure, so the sources do not fully agree on when it went up.3

Newspaper notices name people on duty at the station from 1922 to 1959.2 R.A. Thompson spent a summer there in 1922.2 Bert Terrell, also spelled Terrill, appears as the Plumas National Forest lookout in notices from the 1930s and early 1940s.2 In 1952 the Reno Evening Gazette named Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Clark as that season's lookouts.2 Violet Hawson wrote from the station in 1958, and in July 1959 she gave up the post because her husband had fallen ill.2 The last notice we found, from that July, names Blanche Le Fluer on duty.2

A Peakbagging page has photos from 2001 and 2009 and says the lookout was in poor shape and looked abandoned.3 The register says vandalism was reported in 2012 and places the removal sometime between 2014 and 2017.1

According to the register, a repeater vault has taken over the site.1 No source we read describes anything else left on the summit, and none says whether the public can reach it.

  1. Kettle Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/kettle-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Kettle Rock, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/kettle-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Kettle Rock Lookout, Plumas County, California, Peakbagging, http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/KettleRock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Kettle Rock Lookout - 1945
Kettle Rock Lookout - 1945 (1945)Photo: National Archives, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2009
2009 (2009)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2009
2009 (2009)Photo: Fred Johnson, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2001
2001 (2001)Photo: Fred Johnson, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1937
1937 (1937)Photo: Calisphere, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
The lookout structure was removed sometime after 2014
The lookout structure was removed sometime after 2014 (2014)Photo: Gary Weber - 2017, 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.

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 whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • OpenStreetMap: Standing

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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 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, 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

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