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Fire lookout · Otero County, New Mexico

Bluewater Lookout

A 1917 Weather Bureau lookout erected at this Lincoln National Forest site in 1937; NRHP-listed 1988; the tower itself is not open to the public.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Reached on foot. The Forest Service page, last updated February 19, 2025, says the tower itself is not available to the public and carries a 'Site Closed' label.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Access to the area is on foot only; the tower itself is not open to the public.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower45-foot steel tower with a 7 by 7 foot cab; the cab maker is disputed (Aermotor LX-24 or International Derrick per the register; the Forest Service page names Aermotor MC-40 as the alternative to International Derrick)The designs: Aermotor LX-24 / LX-25, IDECO
Built of
Steel
Height
45 ft (13.7 m)
Elevation
7,260 ft (2,213 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Otero County, New Mexico
Coordinates
32.74166, −105.46901
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-bluewater

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1917 BuiltBuilt for the United States Weather Bureau, per the Forest Service and the register's descriptionSources: nhlr.org, fs.usda.gov
  2. No record between 1917 and 1933
  3. 1933 StaffedMarch 16, 1933 newspaper item says a lookout had been stationed at Bluewater LookoutSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1937 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  5. 1937 MovedSold to the Forest Service and erected at the current siteSources: nhlr.org, fs.usda.gov
  6. No record between 1937 and 1988
  7. 1988 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesComplex listed on the National Register of Historic Places; 1/28/1988 in the 2020 report's tableSources: fs.usda.gov, firelookout.org
  8. No record between 1988 and 2013
  9. 2013 RestoredObserver's cabin and shed restoredSource: firelookout.org
  10. 2015 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 30, 2015 as US 1106, NM 32; nominated by Mark GutzmanSource: 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.

Bluewater Lookout stands on the Sacramento Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest in Otero County, New Mexico, at about 2,213 metres (7,260 feet).1 According to the Forest Service, the Weather Bureau had the tower built in 1917. The agency bought it and erected it on this site in 1937.2 The register repeats both dates, but its "Built" field lists only 1937.1

The steel tower stands 45 feet tall and carries a 7-by-7-foot cab.1,3 Sources disagree about who made the cab. The register says it is either an Aermotor LX-24 or an International Derrick Company tower.1 The Forest Service page says consensus leans toward International Derrick, but that it is unclear whether the cab is that type or an Aermotor MC-40.2 A 2020 report from the New Mexico chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association names an Aermotor LX-24.3

A newspaper item dated March 16, 1933, which the Forest Lookouts website reproduces, says a lookout had been stationed at Bluewater Lookout.4 If that report is right, a lookout worked from this spot before the 1937 erection date, so the early history may involve more than one structure. The Forest Service describes the observer's cabin and storage shed as Civilian Conservation Corps design and construction.2

The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 1988.2,3 The register added the lookout in August 2015, with Mark Gutzman as nominator.1 The observer's cabin and shed were restored in 2013.3

In its 2020 year-end report, the New Mexico chapter lists Bluewater as proposed for the New Mexico national forests' cabin rental program.3 I found no later source saying the rental has opened. I also found no record of a fire at the site, or of abandonment or a move after 1937.

Today, the Forest Service page, last updated February 19, 2025, says access to the area is on foot and that the tower itself is not available to the public.2 The page carries a "Site Closed" label.2 The tower is not open to visitors, so please keep off it.

  1. Bluewater Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/bluewater-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Bluewater Lookout, Lincoln National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/lincoln/recreation/bluewater-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. 2020 Year-End Report, New Mexico Chapter, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nm-2020.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Bluewater, Forest Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/bluewater.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bluewater Lookout
Photo: Mark Gutzman, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

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  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1937
    • recreation.gov: 1917

    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, 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. 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. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: design, dates, 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
  5. 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, access, visiting details, 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.