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Fire lookout · Del Norte County, California

Ship Mountain (Four Brothers) Lookout

Also known as Ship Mountain, Ship Mt.

Four Brothers lookout in Del Norte County: a tower around 1922, a portable trailer from the 1960s or 1973, and a two-story cab built in 2008 that the FFLA lists as standing.

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
Two-story buildingTwo-story cab built in 2008; the earlier timber tower used a Region 5 Plan 4AR cabThe design: D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Also served as
Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
Built
1914
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,320 ft (1,622 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, Six Rivers National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Del Norte County, California
Coordinates
41.72813, −123.79548 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-ship-mountain-four-brothers

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 3.8 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. 1914 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  2. 1914 First staffedA guard was working from a station on Ship Mt. in July 1914 (Siskiyou Bulletin, quoted by Forest Lookouts); the Register says a lookout may have been there as early as 1914Sources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1922 BuiltTimber tower with a Region 5 Plan 4AR cab erected circa 1922 (Register); a standard cabin was packed 26 miles in (1939 forest history, quoted by Forest Lookouts)Sources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1922 StaffedAl Gastman took over the lookout station in August 1922 (Blue Lake Advocate, quoted by Forest Lookouts)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1924 EventDuring a lightning storm one lookout reported lightning strikes in 2648 places in his territorySource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1924 and 1943
  7. 1943 EventAWS Station 'Mike 8-1' (Aircraft Warning Service) placed on inactive status, October 17, 1943Sources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1943 and 1973
  9. 1973 EventPortable trailer lookout in use at the site since 1973 (FFLA 2008 report); the Register dates the trailer replacement to the 1960sSources: firelookout.org, nhlr.org
  10. No record between 1973 and 2007
  11. 2007 Condition assessmentSurveyed to see whether it could be moved from California to Oregon for restoration; waiting on transfer of ownership.Source: firelookout.org
  12. 2007 RemovedPortable lookout trailer removed and the road to the top of the mountain improvedSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  13. 2008 Replaced by a new structureNew two-story lookout station built, replacing the portable trailerSources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.org
  14. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 17, 2019 as US 1313, CA 136; nominated by Brad EellsSource: nhlr.org
  15. 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.

Ship Mountain, also called Four Brothers, is a peak in Del Norte County, California.1 The Register lists the US Forest Service as administrator, in the Six Rivers National Forest.1 The Register says the peak was once part of the Siskiyou National Forest, and that a lookout may have been there as early as 1914.1 A 1914 Siskiyou Bulletin item, quoted on a lookout history site, names a guard working from a station on the peak that summer.2

A timber tower went up around 1922.1 The Register dates it to about that year and describes a Region 5 Plan 4AR cab.1 A 1939 forest history, quoted on the same site, says a standard cabin was carried 26 miles in and put together on the peak.2 Newspaper items name lookouts in 1922 and 1924.2 One lookout reported that lightning struck 2,648 times in his territory during a single night in 1924.2 During the Second World War the peak hosted Aircraft Warning Service Station 'Mike 8-1', which was placed on inactive status in October 1943.1,2

The tower was later replaced by a portable trailer, and the sources disagree on when.1,3 The Register puts that change in the 1960s.1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's 2008 western region report says the trailer had been used at the site since 1973.3 The trailer was removed in 2007, the road to the top was improved, and a new two-story station was built in 2008.2,3

The names also disagree. The Register calls the site Four Brothers #3, while a 1941 survey placed a station on peak 3. A later note says the current house is on Peak #4, the southernmost of the four.1,2

The FFLA lookout list shows the two-story cab as standing.4 I found no visit reports or statement on whether visitors can go up, so check with the Six Rivers National Forest before planning a trip.

  1. Ship Mountain (Four Brothers) Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/ship-mountain-four-brothers-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Ship Mountain, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/ship-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Western Region Annual Report 2008, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-wdep-2008.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. California lookout list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Ship Mountain Lookout
Ship Mountain LookoutPhoto: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Ship Mountain (Four Brothers) Lookout
Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Under construction - 2008
Under construction - 2008 (2008)Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Ship Mountain (Four Brothers) Lookout
Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Portable Trailer Lookout - Dates to the 1960's - 1991 Photo
Portable Trailer Lookout - Dates to the 1960's - 1991 Photo (1960)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Stored Trailer Lookout
Stored Trailer LookoutPhoto: Ron Kemnow, 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.

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 the location by 860 m.

    • FFLA: 41.72813, −123.79548
    • NHLR: 41.73561, −123.79298
    • Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: 41.73561, −123.79298

    They share a register number.

    The map uses the position from FFLA.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, county, elevation, what it is built of, wartime use, 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
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: location, 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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 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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