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Fire lookout · Siskiyou County, California

Slater Butte Lookout

1933 Klamath NF lookout on a 22-foot enclosed tower; abandoned during a 1966 fire, staffed again by 1967 and in 2019; camera sites now at the lookout.

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 2019)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Enclosed towerCalifornia Region 5 version of the L4 cabin with prop-up shutters on a 22-foot enclosed timber tower; may be rebuilt to the BC-1401 (1949) revision of the BC-301The designs: L-4, BC-301
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
22 ft (6.7 m)
Elevation
4,683 ft (1,427 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Klamath National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Siskiyou County, California
Coordinates
41.85807, −123.35354
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-slater-butte

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. 1933 BuiltOriginal cab and tower; CCC crew sent in October 1933 to complete tower and cab; new lookout house under CCC labor in November 1933Sources: nhlr.org, californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1933 and 1966
  3. 1966 AbandonedStation abandoned because it lay in the path of a 1,150-acre fire along the Klamath River (Modesto Bee item quoted on lookout history site)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1967 StaffedSubstitute operator (Mrs. Lawrence Young) working the station in June 1967Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1967 and 2012
  6. 2012 AlteredNew shutters installedSource: nhlr.org
  7. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered November 1, 2019Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2019 StaffedOperator Barbara Geidel completed her 11th season at the lookoutSource: 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.

Slater Butte Lookout sits in the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County, in the Happy Camp District.1,2 Crews were still finishing it in 1933.2 A Klamath National Forest chronology, quoted on a lookout history site, reports that Morford moved five Civilian Conservation Corps workers and two other carpenters to the butte to finish the tower and cab that October.2 A November 1933 newspaper item described a new lookout house under construction with CCC labor.2

The register says the original was a California Region 5 variant of the L4 cabin, with shutters that prop up, on a timber tower 22 feet high and enclosed.1 It may later have been rebuilt to the 1949 BC-1401 revision of the BC-301 design.1

A September 1966 newspaper item on a 1,150-acre fire along the Klamath River said the Slater Butte station had been abandoned because the fire lay in its way.2 By June 1967 a substitute, Mrs. Lawrence Young, was working the station while the regular operator, Mrs. Ann Wilson, was ill.2 The item says Mrs. Young had worked the lookout for years with her husband until his health ended his service.2 The sources read do not say exactly when the station reopened.

The register says the cabin got new shutters in 2012, and that the operator, Barbara Geidel, finished her 11th season there in 2019.1 It lists the lookout as registered on November 1, 2019.1 An ALERTCalifornia post says two camera sites were set up at the lookout in partnership with the Klamath National Forest, to help emergency managers see the area.3 The sources read do not say whether the lookout is staffed now or whether visitors may go up, so check with the Klamath National Forest before a trip.

  1. Slater Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/slater-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Slater Butte - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/slater-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. New cameras online: Slater Butte Lookout 1 & 2, ALERTCalifornia, LinkedIn post, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alertcalifornia_new-cameras-online-slater-butte-lookout-activity-7448435653102526465-wutg (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Slater Butte Lookout - 2009
Slater Butte Lookout - 2009 (2009)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2019
2019 (2019)Photo: Barbara Geidel, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Slater Butte Lookout
Photo: Barbara Geidel, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1936
1936 (1936)Photo: Siskiyou County Museum Collection, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Circa 1933
Circa 1933 (1933)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Slater Butte Lookout
Photo: Nancy Hood Collection, 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, 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: 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 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, height, 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

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