FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · San Miguel County, New Mexico

Barillas Lookout

Current 54-ft steel tower and CL-100 cab built 1959 on Barillas Peak; earlier lookouts date from before 1920; on the Register since 2007; standing, staffing undated.

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. No current public-access rule in the sources read; Zinn says a road reached the summit by late 1958

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Not staffed (as of undated)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower54-foot steel tower with a 14-by-14-foot live-in CL-100 type cab and catwalk; the Register and the 2020 report call the tower an AermotorCab: CL-100; tower: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1920
Height
54 ft (16.5 m)
Elevation
9,300 ft (2,835 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
San Miguel County, New Mexico
Coordinates
35.57087, −105.47335
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-barillas

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. 1920 BuiltEarliest tower on the peak was an old U.S. Weather Bureau tower erected prior to 1920 (Zinn); NHLR instead says the first lookout was a 7x7 ft metal cab built in the 1930sSources: npshistory.com, nhlr.org
  2. 1925 FireFire began April 15, 1925 at the Reid Sawmill below Barillas, burned over the peak; the tower was apparently savedSource: npshistory.com
  3. 1926 BuiltLookout cabin completed in 1926 after the Forest budgeted for it in 1925; 2015 tree-ring dating of logs fits the late 1920sSource: npshistory.com
  4. 1928 BuiltEnclosed metal cab, only about 4 by 4 feet, on a 30-foot metal tower by 1928 (Zinn)Source: npshistory.com
  5. No record between 1928 and 1949
  6. 1949 AbandonedRegional Office decided to abandon Barillas in 1949 instead of building a road and new tower; old tower had been condemned in the late 1940sSource: npshistory.com
  7. 1950 FireCommissary Fire started June 6, 1950 below the abandoned lookout; Board of Review said a guard on the peak might have held it downSource: npshistory.com
  8. 1950 EventBarillas reopened as an emergency lookout using the old cabin and three map boardsSource: npshistory.com
  9. 1958 EventForest completed the road from Lower Colonias to the summit by late 1958Source: npshistory.com
  10. 1959 BuiltCurrent 54-ft steel tower with 14x14 CL-100 type cab completed November 1959; NHLR and the 2020 report also date it to 1959Sources: nhlr.org, npshistory.com, firelookout.org
  11. 1959 Replaced by a new structureOld tower dismantled when the new one was built; its cab was left on the groundSource: npshistory.com
  12. 1959 First staffedTony Vigil was the first to staff the new lookoutSource: npshistory.com
  13. 1971 FireCat and Dog Fire burned through the Barillas area; lookout had to be evacuatedSource: npshistory.com
  14. 1971 RemovedCab left on the ground removed for scrap after the 1971 fire, then became a playhouse in East Pecos (Zinn); Zinn also places the original cab on private land west of BarillasSource: npshistory.com
  15. 1974 StaffedGail Roos and Rich Rydin were the Barillas lookoutsSource: npshistory.com
  16. 1982 StaffedRichard Martinez staffed Barillas full-time during the summers of 1982 and 1983Source: npshistory.com
  17. 1988 Condition assessmentEvaluated for the 1988 thematic National Register nomination and found not eligible due to ageSource: firelookout.org
  18. 2000 StaffedPolly Mullen worked at Barillas for part of the extreme fire season; crew remodeled the interior with donated materials later that seasonSource: npshistory.com
  19. 2007 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterPlaced on the National Historic Lookout Register on December 7, 2007Sources: nhlr.org, npshistory.com
  20. 2015 FireManaged Commissary Fire burned 2,500 acres just south of the lookoutSource: npshistory.com
  21. 2020 Condition assessment2020 New Mexico chapter report recommends the lookout be re-evaluated for the National RegisterSource: firelookout.org
  22. 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.

Barillas Peak has carried a lookout since before 1920, when the earliest tower on the summit was an old Weather Bureau tower.1 The Forest completed a cabin there in 1926, and by 1928 a small enclosed metal cab sat on a 30-foot tower.1 The National Historic Lookout Register instead describes the first lookout as a 7-by-7-foot cab built in the 1930s, which does not match the dates and size in Zinn's history.2,1

The tower standing today is 54 feet tall and carries a 14-by-14-foot live-in cab.2 It was completed in November 1959.1 The Register and a 2020 Forest Fire Lookout Association report both call it an Aermotor.2,3

Esther Harbison, whose husband was a ranger, staffed the lookout in 1920 and 1921, and Zinn knows of no other woman who worked a Forest lookout before World War II.1 Tony Vigil was the first person to work the 1959 tower.1 Gail Roos and Rich Rydin were the lookouts in 1974.1 After the late 1970s staffing became patchy, and Richard Martinez worked the summers of 1982 and 1983.1 The Register says the lookout is not staffed, though it gives no date for that.2

A fire that started at a sawmill below the peak in April 1925 swept over the summit, but the tower appears to have survived.1 In June 1950 the Commissary Fire started below the abandoned lookout.1 A review board said a guard on the peak might have held it down, and the lookout was reopened as an emergency station.1 The Cat and Dog Fire of 1971 forced the lookout's evacuation.1

The 1959 tower replaced an older one.1 Zinn says the cab left on the ground was scrapped after 1971 and later became a playhouse in East Pecos.1 In the same chapter she places the original cab on private land west of the peak, so the two accounts do not match.1 The old cabin was demolished in the late 1960s.1 The Register listed the tower on December 7, 2007.2,1 In 1988 a thematic National Register review found the lookout not eligible because it was too young, and the 2020 report says it should be reviewed again.3

The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the tower as standing, and the Register rates its condition as good.4,2 The sources read do not say whether the public may drive to the summit or climb the tower. A road reached the peak by 1958, but that is history, not a current rule.1 Check with the Santa Fe National Forest's Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District before you go, and do not climb a tower that is closed or posted.3

  1. Barbara Zinn, Fire Lookout History of the Santa Fe National Forest, Santa Fe National Forest (npshistory.com), https://npshistory.com/publications/usfs/region/3/santa-fe/fire-lookout-history.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Barillas Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/barillas-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. New Mexico Chapter 2020 Year-End Report, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nm-2020.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. New Mexico Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nm/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Barillas Lookout
Photo: 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, 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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: what it is built of, design, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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.