FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Tehama County, California

Tomhead Mountain Lookout

Tehama County cabin on a 20 ft steel tower, dated 1939 but preceded by 1916-1920 lookouts on the peak; survived the 2019 South Fire and is listed 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
Cab on a towerCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin on a 20 ft steel towerThe design: BC-301
Built of
Steel
Built
1939
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
6,761 ft (2,061 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Shasta-Trinity National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Tehama County, California
Coordinates
40.13658, −122.81712
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-tomhead-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

  1. 1916 First staffedWilson Slater spent the summer as the Forest Service lookout; earlier than the 1939 build dateSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1920 StaffedAbbie Brownlee at Tomhead Lookout with a cabin (spelled Bromlee in one article)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1932 StaffedLee Braden became Forest Lookout in 1932 and served until 1942Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1933 StaffedG. H. McCausland went on duty as lookout, June 1Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1939 BuiltRegister 'Built' field: 1939 (present cabin and tower)Source: nhlr.org
  6. 1942 StaffedDolly Braden took over the duties in 1942 and continued during the war years' manpower shortageSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1942 and 1960
  8. 1960 EventSmoke from a missing man's campfire spotted from the lookout; he was traced to a canyon bottomSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1973 ClosedVisitor's register note: he was the lookout in summer 1973 and says the lookout was shut down after he left (one account, not an official record)Source: nhlr.org
  10. No record between 1973 and 2019
  11. 2019 FireLookout survived the September 2019 South Fire; building wrapped to prevent damageSource: nhlr.org
  12. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate Registered on NHLR page: October 28, 2019Source: nhlr.org
  13. 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.

Tomhead Mountain Lookout stands on Tomhead Mountain in Tehama County, California, at 2,061 meters, in land the Shasta-Trinity National Forest administers.1 The National Historic Lookout Register dates the present lookout to 1939 and describes a California Region 5 Plan BC-301 cabin built on a steel tower 20 feet tall.1

Lookouts were on this peak before that. A 1916 newspaper item says Wilson Slater spent the summer there as the Forest Service lookout.2 Two 1920 articles describe Abbie Brownlee, whose name is spelled two ways, at the lookout and near her cabin. One puts the lookout on a commanding spot near the Sacramento valley's edge.2 So 1939 most likely dates the building people see today, not the first lookout, though the sources do not say whether it replaced an earlier structure.

Staffing ran through the 1930s and 1940s. G. H. McCausland went on duty in June 1933.2 Lee Braden served from 1932 until 1942, and his wife Dolly took over the duties in 1942 and stayed on through the wartime staffing shortage.2 In 1960 a missing man was traced to a canyon bottom after the lookout spotted smoke from his campfire.2

The register also holds a 1973 visitor's note from a man who says he was the lookout that summer and that the post was shut down after he left.1 That is one person's recollection, not an official record.

The lookout came through the 2019 South Fire. The register says it survived that September, and that the building was wrapped to prevent damage.1 The FFLA California list still shows the lookout as standing.3 I did not find a current access or rental notice in the sources I checked, so this history is not a guide to visiting.

  1. Tomhead Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/tomhead-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Tomhead Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (Ron Kemnow), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/tomhead-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. California Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/ca/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Tomhead Mountain Lookout 2005
Tomhead Mountain Lookout 2005 (2005)Photo: www.peakbagging.com, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tomhead Mtn survived the 2019 South Fire
Tomhead Mtn survived the 2019 South Fire (2019)Photo: Stewart Turner, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2009
2009 (2009)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Tomhead Mountain Lookout
Photo: Harrison Gutch Ranger Station, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
South Fire image from Tomhead Lookout - September 2019
South Fire image from Tomhead Lookout - September 2019 (2019)Photo: Inciweb, via 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, 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, 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.