FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Catron County, New Mexico

Negrito Mountain Lookout

1934 Aermotor MC-24 steel fire tower on the Gila National Forest in Catron County, New Mexico; NHLR-registered 2022; reported unstaffed in 2020.

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
Not staffed (as of 2020)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot Aermotor MC-24 steel tower with 12 by 12 foot wood cabThe design: Aermotor MC-24
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,598 ft (2,621 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Catron County, New Mexico
Coordinates
33.46312, −108.55867
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-negrito-mountain

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 3.1 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. 1934 BuiltRegister gives 1934 as the erection year; an April 1934 newspaper item already refers to the Negrito lookoutSources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 StaffedEmergency guard posted at the lookout in April 1934 because of dry conditionsSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1938 StaffedJune 1938 account names Jack Crutchfield as the Forest Service lookout at the towerSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1938 and 1984
  5. 1984 AlteredExtensively remodeled with new windows, steel siding and a new roofSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org
  6. 1988 Condition assessmentEvaluated for the 1988 thematic National Register nomination and found not eligibleSource: firelookout.org
  7. No record between 1988 and 2022
  8. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered May 22, 2022 as US 1584, NM 42; nominated by Mark GutzmanSource: nhlr.org
  9. 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.

The Negrito Mountain Lookout stands on the Reserve Ranger District of the Gila National Forest in Catron County, New Mexico, and the U.S. Forest Service administers it.1 The National Historic Lookout Register gives 1934 as the year it was erected.1 An April 1934 newspaper item, quoted on a lookout history site, already refers to the Negrito lookout, so a lookout was in use that spring. The sources read do not say whether an earlier structure stood on the site.2

The Register describes a steel Aermotor MC-24 tower, 30 feet high, with a 12-by-12-foot wood cab.1 In April 1934 the forest supervisor had an emergency guard posted at the lookout, because the country was dry and many sheep were lambing in open grassland.2 A June 1938 account names Jack Crutchfield as a Forest Service lookout at the tower. It says a fire nearby was checked after Crutchfield and the other lookouts called more men in, and it supposedly started with a careless fisherman.2

In 1984 the cab was extensively remodeled, with new windows, steel siding and a new roof.1,3 When the lookout was evaluated for a 1988 thematic National Register nomination, it was found not eligible because its original design, construction, materials and workmanship had been lost. The 2020 New Mexico chapter report says that in its current configuration the lookout will not become eligible for nomination until 2034.3 The Register listed the lookout on May 22, 2022, as US 1584, NM 42, nominated by Mark Gutzman.1

The Register and the 2020 report both say the lookout is not currently staffed.1,3 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's New Mexico list still shows it as a standing tower.4 The sources read do not describe a verified route to it. A Forest Service trail page lists the Reserve Ranger District office at (575) 533-6232, open Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.5 The association says nearly all Forest Service lookout rentals are managed through recreation.gov, but the sources read do not show whether Negrito is listed there.6

  1. Negrito Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/negrito-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Negrito Mountain, Forest Lookouts (westlookouts.weebly.com), quoting the Albuquerque Journal (1934) and the El Paso Herald-Post (1938), https://westlookouts.weebly.com/negrito-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. New Mexico Chapter lookout report, 2020 (cr-nm-2020.pdf), Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-nm-2020.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Lookouts in New Mexico, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nm/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Divide Trail #15, U.S. Forest Service Gila National Forest (fs.usda.gov), https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/gila/recreation/trails/divide-trail-15 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Lookout Rentals, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org), https://firelookout.org/resources/rentals/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

June 2010 photo
June 2010 photo (2010)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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, 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
  4. 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, 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.