FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Otero County, New Mexico

Alamo Lookout Site

Also known as Alamo Peak

Lincoln NF site at 9,270 ft: 1926 Aermotor LX cab on a 35-ft tower, now gone; a US Air Force telemetry antenna occupies the ground, with only a benchmark left.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The tower is gone. A US Air Force telemetry antenna occupies the site, and only a benchmark remains

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. The Forest Service page is labeled 'Site Open', but a US Air Force telemetry antenna occupies the site and no source describes public access to that facility today. The register says the site was accessible in 2015, when a telemetry station already occupied it

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor LX-25 type cab on a 35-foot tower (the register calls it LX-24)The design: Aermotor LX-24 / LX-25
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1926
Height
35 ft (10.7 m)
Elevation
9,270 ft (2,826 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, Lincoln National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Otero County, New Mexico
Coordinates
32.87238, −105.81258
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-alamo

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 3.0 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. 1925 Replaced by a new structureAlamogordo and Albuquerque papers report a new 35-foot all-steel tower replacing the old wooden tower; the register and Forest Service date the lookout to 1926Source: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1926 BuiltAermotor LX cab on a 35-foot tower; the register says built in 1926 as an LX-24, and the Forest Service says erected in 1926 as an LX-25Sources: firetower.org, fs.usda.gov
  3. 1933 StaffedMay 1933 Alamogordo News item: Alex Quick and family moved out to the tower to maintain a lookout for forest firesSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1933 and 2015
  5. 2015 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 30, 2015 as US 1604, NM 3; nominated by Mark GutzmanSource: firetower.org
  6. 2015 EventBy the 2015 register entry the site was occupied by a Holloman AFB telemetry station; the tower's removal date is not in these sourcesSources: firetower.org, fs.usda.gov
  7. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Alamo lookout site sits at 9,270 feet on Alamo Peak, east of Alamogordo in Otero County, in the Lincoln National Forest.1,2 A new tower was replacing the old one there in 1925.2

Papers from that summer describe a new all-steel tower, 35 feet tall, with an observation room glassed in on all sides.2 The register and the Forest Service both date the lookout to 1926.1,3 The register calls it an LX-24, while the Forest Service names an Aermotor LX-25 cab on a 35-foot tower.1,3 The sources do not reconcile the 1925 papers with the 1926 date, so we give both.

In May 1933 the Alamogordo News reported that Alex Quick and his family had moved out to the Alamo Lookout tower, where he would keep watch for forest fires.2 That is the only staffing detail we found.

Only a benchmark marks the lookout today, according to the Forest Service.3 The site now hosts a US Air Force telemetry antenna.3 The register's 2015 entry says a Holloman Air Force Base telemetry station was on the site at that time.1 The sources do not say when the tower came down.

The register lists the site as US 1604, NM 3. It was registered on August 30, 2015, on the nomination of Mark Gutzman.1

The register says the site was still accessible in 2015, when a telemetry station already occupied it.1 The Forest Service page is labeled "Site Open," but a federal telemetry facility now sits where the lookout stood, and we found no source describing public access to it today.3 Treat the site as restricted and keep off the telemetry grounds. There is no tower left to climb.3

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's New Mexico list also marks the tower as gone.4

  1. Alamo Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/nm/alamo-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Alamo Peak - FOREST LOOKOUTS, West Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/alamo-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Alamo Lookout, Lincoln National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/lincoln/recreation/alamo-lookout (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. New Mexico lookouts list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nm/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Alamo Lookout Site
Photo: USFS, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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 whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • recreation.gov: Standing

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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 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. Recreation Information Database (recreation.gov) Gave us: ownership, access Data source: ridb.recreation.gov · Public data from the US government · retrieved 19 Oct 2026
  4. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, 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.