FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Otero County, New Mexico

Sacramento Lookout

Also known as Sacramento Peak

Aermotor LX-24 fire tower burned 1967; 67-ft steel tower replaced it 1968; staffed to 2010, then standby; NHLR US 1109 (2015); cabin rental planned in 2020.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Listed as a visitor site on recreation.gov. Check the listing for seasonal closures.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower67-foot steel tower with 14 by 14 foot CL100 series steel cab (erected 1968 to replace an Aermotor LX-24 that burned in 1967)The designs: CL-100, Aermotor LX-24 / LX-25
Built of
Steel
Height
67 ft (20.4 m)
Elevation
9,529 ft (2,904 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Otero County, New Mexico
Coordinates
32.74697, −105.76098
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-sacramento

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. 1924 EventMay 1924 newspaper: a sixty-foot steel fire tower being put up at the peak; the register dates the LX-24 to 1925Source: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1925 BuiltAermotor LX-24 tower built (register and 2020 report)Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org
  3. No record between 1925 and 1967
  4. 1967 BurnedWind-whipped fire in the Danley Canyon area; lookout evacuated and said probably destroyed; FBI and Forest Service investigationSources: nhlr.org, westlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.org
  5. 1968 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  6. 1968 Replaced by a new structure67-ft steel tower with CL100-series 14x14 cab erected to replace the LX-24Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.org
  7. 1968 First staffedLookout in operation from 1968Source: firelookout.org
  8. No record between 1968 and 2010
  9. 2010 Last staffedDesignated a standby lookoutSource: firelookout.org
  10. 2015 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 30, 2015 as US 1109, NM 35; nominated by Mark GutzmanSource: nhlr.org
  11. 2020 Event2020 report: interior to be slightly modified for a cabin rental program; National Register addendum plannedSource: firelookout.org
  12. 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 Sacramento Lookout stands on the Sacramento Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest, in Otero County, New Mexico.1

The tower that stood here before the current one was an Aermotor LX-24, which the register and the 2020 report date to 1925.1,2 A May 1924 newspaper describes a new sixty-foot steel fire tower being rushed up at the Sacramento site, and the sources do not say whether it is the same tower.3

The LX-24 burned in April 1967. During a wind-whipped fire in the Danley Canyon area, officials evacuated the lookout and said the structure was probably destroyed.1,3 A Forest Service ranger said the fire was probably set by a person, and the FBI and Forest Service are investigating.3

The replacement went up in 1968, a 67-foot steel tower with a 14-by-14-foot CL100-series cab.1,2 It was staffed from 1968 until 2010, when it became a standby lookout.2

The 2020 state report said the interior would be slightly modified so the lookout could join a cabin rental program, and that it would be nominated for the National Register as an addendum.2

Today the state index lists the tower as standing.4 We did not find a current rental listing, so whether the cabin can be rented now is unknown. The sources do not say whether the public can climb the tower. Check with the Sacramento Ranger District before planning a stay or a visit.

  1. Sacramento Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/sacramento-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. Sacramento Peak, West Lookouts (westlookouts.weebly.com), quoting 1924 and 1967 newspaper clippings, https://westlookouts.weebly.com/sacramento-peak.html (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 Sacramento Lookout
Photo: Mark Gutzman, via 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.

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 the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1968
    • recreation.gov: 1968
    • Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: 1925

    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, 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.