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Fire lookout · Tuolumne County, California

Rushing Mountain (Big Hill) Lookout

Also known as Rushing Mountain, Rushing Mountain (Hill)

Rushing Mountain (Big Hill) lookout, Tuolumne County: tower erected by the state with county funds in 1931; Cal Fire TCU; NHLR-registered 2019; not open to the public.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. NHLR: the site is not open to the public and is 2 miles from a paved road

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
NHLR: site not open to the public; 2 miles from paved road.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerSteel Aermotor-built tower with a glass cab; CCC-built residence and garage, house based on the Forest Service BC-201 plan with the front entry alteredHouse: BC-201; tower: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
1,517 ft (462 m)
Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit (Cal Fire TCU)
Land
Unknown
Location
Tuolumne County, California
Coordinates
37.82863, −120.56866
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-rushing-mountain-big-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.

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. 1921 EventNHLR: Rushing Mountain became a fire detection site in 1921Source: nhlr.org
  2. 1931 BuiltNHLR gives 1931 as the build year; Peakbagging says probably built in 1931. The 1931 newspaper items describe the tower going up in April and May, paid for by Tuolumne and Stanislaus countiesSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com, peakbagging.com
  3. 1931 First staffedA May 14, 1931 item says Ed Tinney of Keystone is to be assigned as watchman; the June 26, 1931 Modesto News-Herald names Edward H. Tinnen as lookout on the newly constructed towerSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1936 StaffedJuly 8, 1936 Oakland Tribune item names Frank Tinney as lookout at Rushing MountainSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1936 and 1970
  6. 1970 Opened as a rentalNHLR: the east end has been enlarged to the full 19-foot width; this may have been done in 1970, when the facilities were rented out on a year-round basisSource: nhlr.org
  7. No record between 1970 and 2011
  8. 2011 Abandoned2011 visit: the residence appeared to have been an FM radio transmitter site and is now abandoned. The tower is noted only as looking about the same condition, with no comparison point givenSource: peakbagging.com
  9. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 30, 2019 as US 1371, CA 194Source: nhlr.org
  10. 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 Rushing Mountain lookout stands on a rounded peak in Tuolumne County, California.1 The peak was known as Big Hill before the lookout was founded.1 The National Historic Lookout Register says the spot became a fire detection site in 1921.1

Plans for a tower were under way by late 1930.2 A newspaper report described a proposed site on the W.H. Rushing ranch, west of Keystone.2 Tuolumne and Stanislaus counties each contributed $600, and the state erected the tower.2 Newspaper items disagree on who would maintain it: a February 1931 item said the Forest Service would maintain the lookout during the danger season, while a May 1931 item said the state would maintain it.2 The Register says the tower is an Aermotor product and gives 1931 as its build year.1 A 2011 photo page also dates it to 1931, though it says "probably."3

Sources do not agree on its height.2,3 One 1931 newspaper item says forty feet, another says thirty, and the 2011 photo page records 35 feet.2,3

A May 1931 item said Ed Tinney of Keystone was to be assigned as watchman in the tower.2 In June 1931 the lookout reported a twenty-acre grass fire on a ranch in the Don Pedro country, and that paper names him as Edward H. Tinnen.2 In October 1931 a blaze near Knights Ferry began as a permitted grass burn, and Ed Tinney at the lookout discovered it and sent in the alarm.2 A 1936 item names Frank Tinney as the lookout and says he had to leave his post when lightning threatened the station.2

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the residence and garage.1 The Register says the house follows a Forest Service plan, but its front entry was altered.1 It also says the east end has been enlarged to the full 19-foot width, and that this may have been done in 1970, when the facilities were rented out year round.1 A 2011 visit found the house abandoned, and it appeared to have once served as an FM radio transmitter site.3 The same visit said the tower looks about the same condition, without saying compared with what.3

The Register says the site is not open to the public, and it sits two miles from a paved road.1 Cal Fire's Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit administers it, and the 2011 photo page says the lookout may be staffed as needed during fire season.1,3 Do not plan a visit without checking with Cal Fire first.

  1. Rushing Mountain (Big Hill) Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/rushing-mountain-big-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Rushing Hill, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), quoting 1930 to 1936 newspapers, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/rushing-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Rushing Mountain Lookout, California, Peakbagging (peakbagging.com), http://peakbagging.com/CALookoutPhotos/RushingMtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Rushing Mountain (Big Hill) Lookout - 2011
Rushing Mountain (Big Hill) Lookout - 2011 (2011)Photo: www.peakbagging.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2007
2007 (2007)Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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, status, agency, access, visiting details, 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.