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Fire lookout · Grant Parish, Louisiana

Colfax Lookout Site

Grant Parish, LA: CCC-built 100' tower (1936), run by Forest Service from 1942; moved to a Bentley tourist attraction in 1993. No source describes it today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Moved in 1993 to a Bentley tourist attraction, per the Forest Lookouts site; no source we read describes the tower there today.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower100' Aermotor steel tower with LS-40 7'x7' cabThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1936
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
239 ft (73 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Grant Parish, Louisiana
Coordinates
31.55069, −92.56800
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-la-colfax

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

Downloads about 2.9 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. 1936 BuiltBuilt by the CCC, per the register descriptionSource: firetower.org
  2. 1942 StaffedCCC operation ended; Forest Service personnel took overSource: firetower.org
  3. No record between 1942 and 1983
  4. 1983 EventPlaced under a special use permit held by the Louisiana State Forestry Department; ran as a cooperative tower with the Forest ServiceSource: firetower.org
  5. 1988 EventPurchased by a Mr. ThorneSource: firetower.org
  6. 1993 MovedMoved to a Bentley tourist attraction, per the Forest Lookouts siteSource: centraluslookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1993 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 24, 2011 as US 856, LA 3, nominated by Mark H. GutzmanSource: firetower.org
  9. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Colfax lookout was a 100-foot Aermotor steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab, built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps in Grant Parish, Louisiana.1 The register places it inside Kisatchie National Forest.1 The CCC crews ran the tower until 1942, when Forest Service personnel took over.1

In 1983 the tower was placed under a special use permit held by the Louisiana State Forestry Department, and it ran as a cooperative tower with the Forest Service.1 In 1988 a Mr. Thorne bought it.1

The register lists the tower as a former lookout, registered on February 24, 2011, as US 856, LA 3.1

The Forest Lookouts site records a move in 1993 to a tourist attraction in Bentley, so the tower no longer stood in the forest.2 No source we read describes what stands at that attraction today, or whether visitors can climb the tower.

  1. Colfax Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/la/colfax-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Colfax, Forest Lookouts, https://centraluslookouts.weebly.com/colfax.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Photo of Colfax Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, elevation, what it is built of, status, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- central US (centraluslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: county, type, links centraluslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. 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.