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Fire lookout · Siskiyou County, California

Ukonom Mountain Lookout

Revised CL-100 cab on a 14-ft block tower in Siskiyou County, built 1978 to replace a 1934 CCC lookout; the register says it is actively staffed.

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
Two-story buildingRevised CL-100 cabin design on a 14-ft block towerThe designs: CL-100, L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
14 ft (4.3 m)
Elevation
4,535 ft (1,382 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Klamath National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Siskiyou County, California
Coordinates
41.58402, −123.47599
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-ukonom-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 3.5 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. 1934 BuiltEarlier lookout, an L-4 cab on an enclosed timber tower, constructed by the Civilian Conservation CorpsSource: nhlr.org
  2. No record between 1934 and 1951
  3. 1951 First staffedJohn Thomas of Happy Camp returned as lookout at Ukonom (first named lookout in the sources read)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1961 StaffedIda Lake employed as lookout in the Ukonom DistrictSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1963 StaffedA 1963 item says Ida Lake had worked the post for a number of years and spent a fire season thereSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1971 StaffedForest Service introduced a lookout-at-home post; Edith Crawford served from her summer homeSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1978 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  8. 1978 Replaced by a new structureCurrent structure: revised CL-100 cabin design on a 14-ft block tower; cab moved from the Lower Devils lookoutSource: nhlr.org
  9. No record between 1978 and 2019
  10. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout RegisterSource: nhlr.org
  11. 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.

Ukonom Mountain Lookout is in Siskiyou County, at 4,535 feet, according to the National Historic Lookout Register.1 The register says the Civilian Conservation Corps completed an earlier lookout on the site in 1934, and that it had an L-4 cab on an enclosed timber tower.1

The present lookout dates from 1978.1 The register describes it as a modified version of the CL-100 cabin design, on a 14-foot block tower.1 The cab itself came from the Lower Devils lookout.1

Local papers name several people who worked the post.2 In 1951 John Thomas of Happy Camp went back to work as lookout at Ukonom.2 In 1961 Ida Lake was working as lookout in the Ukonom District, and a 1963 item said she had worked the post for a number of years.2 In 1971 the Forest Service introduced a lookout-at-home post, which Edith Crawford worked from her summer home.2

The register lists the Klamath National Forest as administrator.1 It says the Six Rivers National Forest actively staffs and manages the lookout.1 A 1971 item said the public was invited to visit, but the Forest Service warned that the lookout's duties must not be hampered.2 I found no current visiting rules or staffing schedule in the sources read, so this story does not suggest going up the tower.

  1. Ukonom Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/ukonom-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Ukonom Mountain, Forest Lookouts (californialookouts.weebly.com), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/ukonom-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Ukonom Mountain Lookout - 2009
Ukonom Mountain Lookout - 2009 (2009)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2008
2008 (2008)Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Ukonom Mountain Lookout
Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
L-4 type cabin on top of an enclosed timber tower - 1975
L-4 type cabin on top of an enclosed timber tower - 1975 (1975)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, 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. 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, height, 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.