FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Catron County, New Mexico

Davenport Lookout

A 1954 Cibola National Forest lookout with a 14x14 ft cab on a 10-ft concrete base; NHLR-registered 2006; standing, but current staffing and access are unconfirmed.

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
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story building14x14 ft cab of local R-3 design, described as CL-100 series in the 2020 chapter report, on a 10-ft concrete block base; catwalk added several years after 1954The designs: Region 3 cab, CL-100
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1954
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
9,251 ft (2,820 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Catron County, New Mexico
Coordinates
34.28362, −107.91383
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-davenport

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 3.3 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. 1954 BuiltBuilt in 1954 on the Cibola National Forest; 14x14 ft cab on a 10-ft concrete block base. Westlookouts adds that a storage room was constructed the same year.Sources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.org
  2. No record between 1954 and 1988
  3. 1988 Condition assessmentEvaluated for the NRHP thematic Lookouts of the Southwest Region nomination; not eligible at that time because of its ageSource: firelookout.org
  4. No record between 1988 and 2006
  5. 2006 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 30, 2006; nominated by Dave LorenzSource: nhlr.org
  6. 2020 Condition assessmentThe 2020 chapter report says it should be re-evaluated and nominated if eligibleSource: firelookout.org
  7. 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.

Davenport Lookout stands in the Cibola National Forest in Catron County, New Mexico, at 9,251 feet, according to the National Historic Lookout Register.1 The lookout was built in 1954.1 Its 14-by-14-foot cab sits on a 10-foot concrete block base, and the register calls the cab a local R-3 design.1 A catwalk went up several years after construction.1

The sources describe the cab differently. The 2020 chapter report calls it a CL-100 series design with a wooden catwalk.2 A westlookouts page describes an all-steel CL-100 series cab and says a storage room was built the same year.3

I found no fire, rebuild or staffing record for Davenport in the sources I read. The 1988 National Register thematic study found the lookout not eligible because of its age.2 The 2020 report says it should be re-examined and considered for nomination if it qualifies.2 The register recorded it on April 30, 2006, on a nomination by Dave Lorenz.1

Today I could not confirm whether the public may enter the cab. The register names the Magdalena Ranger District as a cooperator, so that office is a likely place to ask about access.1 The 2020 chapter report lists Davenport among the Cibola towers without the (C) mark it uses for proposed cabin rentals, and it describes the New Mexico cabin rental process as slow but just getting under way.2

  1. Davenport Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/davenport-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. 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). ↩
  3. Davenport, Forest Lookouts, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/davenport.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Davenport 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: 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. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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.