Fire lookout · Plumas County, California
Mount Hough Lookout
Plumas County summit lookout: first station 1911 (a June 1910 item says 1910), rebuilt 1915, 1934 and 1986 with microwave relays; NHLR-registered 2019.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
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
- Staffed during fire season (as of undated)
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Three-story building1986 replacement building housing microwave relays; earlier 1934 BC-301 cabin; the 1915 building is a two-story building in one newspaper and a probable short tower in the RegisterThe design: BC-301
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1911
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 7,234 ft (2,205 m)
- Agency
- US Forest Service - Plumas National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Plumas County, California
- Coordinates
- 40.04433, −120.88620
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-mount-hough
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 3.5 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
- 1910 EventJune 1910 Plumas National Bulletin item says a lookout station had been established on the mountain; disputed against the Register's 1911Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1911 BuiltRegister: telephone-line lookout point in 1911 with a structure on site by July; newspaper July 1911: sheltered station erected this yearSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1915 Replaced by a new structureRegister: replaced in 1915, likely a short tower on a standard plan; 1915 newspaper: larger building of two storiesSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1929 Firebrush fire on the hill south of Quincy, spotted from the station by the lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1930 Eventlookout took down interior equipment and left the station until spring (seasonal closure)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1931 Eventlookout's register showed 917 visitors that summer (item dated November 5, 1931)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1934 Replaced by a new structureRegister: BC-301 cabin replaced the existing structureSource: nhlr.org
- No record between 1934 and 1950
- 1950 Firelightning fire; the regular lookout was on the mountain fighting it while his wife phoned from the stationSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1950 and 1965
- 1965 EventWanda Hanson to spend the summer at the lookout (item dated May 27, 1965)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1973 Firefire between the Indian Valley Railroad right-of-way and Spanish Creek reported from the lookout; three acres burned overSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1986 Replaced by a new structureRegister: replaced again and houses some microwave relays; compilation: new replacement structure constructedSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1986 and 2019
- 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 24, 2019 as US 1339, CA 162Source: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Mount Hough stands at 7,234 feet in Plumas County, and the Plumas National Forest administers its lookout.1 A 1915 newspaper placed the summit station 12 miles north of Quincy.2
The date of the first station is disputed.1,2 A June 1910 item in the Plumas National Bulletin said a lookout station had been established on the mountain.2 The Register dates the first structure to 1911, and a July 1911 report said the Forest Service had erected a sheltered station that year.1,2
The 1911 station gave way in 1915 to a larger building, which a newspaper described as two stories tall.2 The Register says the replacement was probably a short tower on a standard plan, so the sources disagree.1 A BC-301 cabin replaced it in 1934, and a building put up in 1986 now houses some microwave relays.1,2
Staffing was seasonal for a long stretch.2 In November 1930 the lookout took down his interior equipment and left the station until spring, and a 1931 item said the lookout's register showed 917 visitors that summer.2 Later entries name Walter Shockley in 1950 and Wanda Hanson in 1965.2 The Register adds that Wayne Pease has been an observer at the lookout for 30 of his 50 years.1
Fires reported from the station include a brush fire south of Quincy in 1929, a 1950 lightning fire that the regular lookout was fighting while his wife phoned from the station, and a September 1973 fire near Spanish Creek that burned three acres.2
The Register says the lookout is manned on a regular basis to spot fires.1 I could not find a dated staffing record, an access rule, or a rental listing in the pages I read, so current visiting arrangements remain unconfirmed.1,2 Because it is a working Forest Service station, check with the Plumas National Forest before planning a trip.1
- Mount Hough Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/mount-hough-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Mount Hough, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/mount-hough.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, staffing, 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
- NHLR register entry US 1339 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Mount Hough on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.