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Fire lookout · Butte County, California

Platte Mountain Lookout

Platte Mountain lookout, Butte County, Cal Fire: CCC-built tower moved from Lone Pine in 1956 (NHLR; 1955 per Peakbagging). Standing in 2017 photo; NHLR-registered 2019.

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
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerTower about 92 to 93 feet tall with a 7-foot square cab and catwalk; NHLR says 92 ft, Peakbagging says 93 ftThe designs: BC-201, Aermotor
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1956
Height
92 ft (28.0 m)
Elevation
3,473 ft (1,059 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire)
Land
Unknown
Location
Butte County, California
Coordinates
39.93521, −121.64787
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-platte-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 3.5 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

  1. 1920 EventFormer Fire Lookout Sites Register: the Lone Pine lookout was constructed as early as 1920. Not confirmed as the same tower the NHLR calls CCC-built, and no source read gives the CCC build yearSource: firetower.org
  2. 1924 EventNHLR: a lookout stood at Lone Pine as early as 1924. Not reconciled with the 1920 recordSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1924 and 1956
  4. 1956 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  5. 1956 MovedNHLR: CDF moved the CCC-built Lone Pine tower and house to Platte Mountain in 1956; the tower was extended to 92 ft and the cab remodeled for a catwalk in the same entry. Peakbagging gives 1955Sources: nhlr.org, peakbagging.com
  6. No record between 1956 and 2008
  7. 2008 StaffedCAL FIRE June 2008 list names the Platt Mountain Lookout among lookouts that may be staffed during the 2008 fire seasonSource: citlink.net
  8. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 16, 2019 as US 1309, CA 132Source: nhlr.org
  9. 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.

The Platte Mountain Lookout stands on Platte Mountain in Butte County, California.1 The National Historic Lookout Register lists Cal Fire as its administrator.1

The tower did not start on this hill.1 The Register says the Civilian Conservation Corps built it at the Lone Pine lookout site, and that the California Department of Forestry moved the tower and its house to Platte Mountain in 1956.1 A 2017 photo page gives 1955 for the move, so the two sources disagree by a year.2 The Register also says a lookout stood at Lone Pine as early as 1924.1 A separate site record gives 1920 as the earliest construction date for the Lone Pine lookout, and says its cabin may later have gone to nearby Pratt Mountain.3 The sources do not agree on the start date, and none gives the year the Corps built the tower.

The Register says the tower was extended to 92 feet and its cab was remodeled to take a catwalk.1 The 2017 photo page describes a 93-foot tower with a 7-foot square cab and catwalk.2

Cal Fire's June 2008 list of its lookouts includes the Platt Mountain Lookout among those that may be staffed that fire season.4 The document spells the name with one t.4 The 2017 photo page says the tower is staffed as needed during fire season.2 I found no source that names a fire it watched.

A photo taken in July 2017 shows the tower standing.2 The Register notes that the house has changed over time.1 At some point the porch came off, some windows were altered, and asbestos tile siding was applied.1

The Register lists the site as Butte County (Private Land Lease), so the tower sits on leased private land.1 Cal Fire's 2008 document says the agency does not rent lookouts, and for Forest Service rentals it refers people to the Forest Service's website.4 The sources I read do not say whether the public may visit the tower. Check with Cal Fire before going, and do not climb it without permission.

  1. Platte Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/platte-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Platte Mountain Lookout, Butte County, California, Peakbagging (peakbagging.com), http://www.peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/PlatteMtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Lone Pine Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/lone-pine-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. CAL FIRE Lookouts, CAL FIRE, June 2008, https://www.citlink.net/~dburnett/CAL%20FIRE%20DATA/Lookouts.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Platte Mountain Lookout - 2017
Platte Mountain Lookout - 2017 (2017)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.