Fire lookout · Shasta County, California
Soldier Mountain Lookout
Steel-column tower built 1974-75 to replace a CCC-era lookout; the site had 1930s-40s summer staffing, a 1947 discontinuation, and is open to the public by dirt road.
- Standing
- Open to the public
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Open to the public. Register says the site is open to the public, about 10 miles from paved road
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Yes, you can drive up
- Trail
- About 10 miles from paved road per the register; Wikipedia describes the tower as accessible via dirt road. No trail or climbing notes found.
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Enclosed towerSteel-column enclosed tower with angle iron and steel rod cross bracing; the register says only five lookouts use this planThe design: CDF 732-6A
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- 1934
- Height
- 20 ft (6.1 m)
- Elevation
- 5,454 ft (1,662 m)
- Agency
- California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection - Shasta-Trinity Unit (Cal Fire SHU)
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Shasta County, California
- Coordinates
- 41.07424, −121.56285
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-ca-soldier-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 3.4 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
- 1920 StaffedA 1920 district newsletter mentions a man stationed on Soldier Mountain as a lookoutSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1934 BuiltCamp Big Springs CCC crew built the Soldier Mountain Road and the Soldier Mountain Fire Lookout Station in spring 1934Source: archive.redding.com
- 1936 StaffedNewspaper notice says a man was employed at the lookout station for the summer by the Forest ServiceSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- 1947 ClosedOctober 1947 newspaper report says the Soldier Mountain and Bunch Grass lookouts were discontinued because of weather conditions; whether permanent is not statedSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1947 and 1974
- 1974 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
- 1974 Replaced by a new structureCurrent steel-column tower replaced a CCC-era lookout in 1974-75Source: nhlr.org
- 1977 Condition assessmentNational Geodetic Survey station description (1977) calls the enclosed metal lookout building about 20 feet high, from the concrete foundation to the top of the roofSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1977 and 2019
- 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 26, 2019 as US 1348, CA 171Source: 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.
Soldier Mountain sits in Shasta County, California, near the eastern edge of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.1 The register puts the lookout at 5,454 feet.1 Wikipedia gives the mountain itself as higher, at 5,531 feet.1,2
Someone was stationed on Soldier Mountain by 1920, when a district newsletter mentioned a lookout man there.3 In spring 1934 a Civilian Conservation Corps camp constructed the Soldier Mountain Road and a fire lookout station on the peak.4 Newspapers from the 1930s mention the station on the peak, and a 1936 item says a man had summer work there with the Forest Service.3
In October 1947 a local paper reported that weather had led to two lookouts, Soldier Mountain and Bunch Grass, being discontinued.3 The reports I found do not say whether that closure was permanent.
The tower standing today replaced a CCC-era lookout in 1974 and 1975.1 Its frame is braced with angle iron and steel rods, and the register counts only five lookouts based on this plan.1 Steel-column towers like it began with Fredonyer Peak.1 A 1977 survey description gives the lookout building a height of about 20 feet, from its concrete foundation to the top of the roof.3
The National Historic Lookout Register added the lookout on October 26, 2019, as US 1348, CA 171.1
Inside, the register says the walls are unfinished and the framing shows.1 The Cal Fire Shasta-Trinity Unit administers it, and the register says the site is open to visitors and about ten miles from a paved road.1 Wikipedia describes the tower as reachable by dirt road.2 I found no recent staffing or rental information, so check with Cal Fire or the Forest Service before you go.
- Soldier Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/soldier-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Soldier Mountain (California), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier_Mountain_(California) (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Soldier Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://californialookouts.weebly.com/soldier-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Travelin' in Time: Camp Big Springs CCC once a busy location, Redding Record Searchlight, https://archive.redding.com/lifestyle/travelin-in-time-camp-big-springs-ccc-once-a-busy-location-ep-375521473-354681411.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, 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
- 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
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) Gave us: height, 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, height, 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
- NHLR register entry US 1348 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Soldier Mountain (California) (Wikipedia) (opens another site)
- Travelin' in Time: Camp Big Springs CCC once a busy location (Redding Record Searchlight) (opens another site)
- FFLA California lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Soldier Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap way 989302116 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.