FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Shasta County, California

West Prospect Peak Lookout

Also known as Prospect Peak Fire Lookout

A 1935 BC-301 cab on a 10-ft timber tower in Lassen NF; the NRHP number on this record appears to belong to a different lookout inside Lassen Volcanic NP.

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 buildingCalifornia Region 5 Plan BC-301 cab on a 10-ft enclosed timber towerThe design: BC-301
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,164 ft (2,488 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Lassen National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Shasta County, California
Coordinates
40.59394, −121.37945
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-ca-west-prospect-peak

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 3.2 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. 1922 EventInferred from Gus Kramer's 17th year in June 1938; the earlier use of the peak is not named in the sources readSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1935 BuiltRegister: constructed 1935 as a Region 5 BC-301 cabSource: nhlr.org
  3. 1938 StaffedGus Kramer's 17th year as lookout, per a June 1938 newspaper itemSource: californialookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1938 and 1955
  5. 1955 StaffedArmando DelTorto occupied the post, per a January 1955 inspection (1955 GII Inspection, Hat Creek District)Source: californialookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1955 and 2019
  7. 2019 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 27, 2019 as US 1350, CA 173Source: nhlr.org
  8. 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.

West Prospect Peak Lookout stands on West Prospect Peak in the Lassen National Forest, in Shasta County, California.1 The National Historic Lookout Register describes a BC-301 cab, a California Region 5 plan, on a 10-foot enclosed timber tower. It says the cab was built in 1935 and has been staffed continually for fire detection.1 It was registered on October 27, 2019 as US 1350, nominated by Brad Eells.1

Older records suggest the post is older than the cab. A June 1938 newspaper item says Gus Kramer was in his 17th year as lookout at West Prospect, so someone was already on watch there more than a decade before 1935.2 The sources read do not say what stood on the peak then. In January 1955 an inspection of the post, quoted on the same site, described its observer, Armando DelTorto, as relatively new to the job.2

A National Register listing with a similar name appears to belong to a different structure. The Prospect Peak Fire Lookout is on the summit of Prospect Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park, near Mineral. Its 1977 nomination describes it as abandoned and says it was probably built in 1912 or soon after.3,4 It was added to the National Register on March 30, 1978.3,5 The listing therefore appears not to describe the 1935 cab on West Prospect Peak.4

The most recent source read is the 2019 register entry, which does not describe current access. The sources read do not confirm whether visitors may go up the cab, so check with the Lassen National Forest before any visit.1

  1. West Prospect Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/west-prospect-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. West Prospect Peak, Forest Lookouts (California Lookouts), https://californialookouts.weebly.com/west-prospect-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Prospect Peak Fire Lookout, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_Peak_Fire_Lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Prospect Peak Fire Lookout, National Register of Historic Places nomination form (Gordon Chappell, 1977), National Park Service, https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/179717a5-9a87-405c-99b0-f06882d4c5e3 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Prospect Peak Fire Lookout, NPGallery asset detail (NRIS 78000295), National Park Service, https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/78000295 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

West Prospect Peak Lookout - 2018
West Prospect Peak Lookout - 2018 (2018)Photo: Marceline Slack, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2008
2008 (2008)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2000
2000 (2000)Photo: Fred Johnson, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Circa 1940's
Circa 1940's (1940)Photo: Ron Kemnow 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.

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 year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1935
    • Wikidata: 1912

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

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. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: register numbers, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · 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, 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.