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Fire lookout · Siskiyou County, California

Medicine Mountain Lookout Site

Klamath NF ground cabin in the Marble Mountain Wilderness, built 1934 per the register (a 1935 CCC date is also given), dismantled 1979; nothing remains at the site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Dismantled in 1979; the register says nothing remains at the site

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Inside the Marble Mountain Wilderness; the Six Rivers National Forest page says no wilderness permit is needed to enter

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabGround cabin to California Region 5 Plan BC-301; a 1952 survey describes a standard Forest Service single-story lookout house about 14 feet squareThe design: BC-301
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
15 ft (4.6 m)
Elevation
6,835 ft (2,083 m)
Agency
Klamath National Forest, US Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Siskiyou County, California
Coordinates
41.49494, −123.31875
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-medicine-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 3.4 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

  1. 1932 EventSite selected as a lookout site, replacing Marble MountainSource: firetower.org
  2. 1934 BuiltGround cabin built to Plan BC-301; a June 1934 paper says work was to start the next week; a Klamath chronology quoted by Forest Lookouts gives 1935 for CCC constructionSources: firetower.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1955
  4. 1955 StaffedStaffed full time 1955-60; otherwise staffed as neededSource: firetower.org
  5. 1964 StaffedBlue Lake Advocate, June 1964: a man had been lookout the last two summersSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1964 and 1979
  7. 1979 RemovedDismantled in 1979; nothing remains at the siteSource: firetower.org
  8. No record between 1979 and 2020
  9. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 22, 2020; nominated by Brad EellsSource: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Medicine Mountain sits in Siskiyou County, inside what is now the Marble Mountain Wilderness.1 The register says the site was chosen in 1932 to replace Marble Mountain, and that a ground cabin built to California Region 5 Plan BC-301 went up in 1934.1

The Siskiyou News reported in June 1934 that a lookout house would be started the next week, with materials brought in by pack train on a two-day trip.2 The Forest Lookouts page also quotes a Klamath National Forest chronology saying a CCC crew from Orleans Camp built it in 1935, so the 1934 date and that account differ.1,2

A 1952 survey description, quoted on the same page, calls the house a standard Forest Service single-story type, about 14 feet on a side and about 15 feet tall.2

The register says the lookout was manned as required, apart from 1955 to 1960, when it had full-time staff.1 In June 1964 the Blue Lake Advocate said one man had been its lookout for the last two summers.2

The register dates the lookout's dismantling to 1979 and says nothing is left on the site.1

The Six Rivers National Forest page says entry into the Marble Mountain Wilderness needs no wilderness permit, though state campfire permits are required.3 No source read describes the summit after the 1979 removal.

  1. Medicine Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/medicine-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Medicine Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/medicine-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Marble Mountains Wilderness Area, Six Rivers National Forest, US Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/sixrivers/recreation/marble-mountains-wilderness-area (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Medicine Mountain Lookout
Medicine Mountain LookoutPhoto: Nancy Hood Collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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, height, status, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.