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Fire lookout · Rio Arriba County, New Mexico

Wells Lookout

Rio Arriba County, NM lookout on the Jicarilla Reservation: a 60-ft steel tower put up in June 1932, registered 1999 and listed as standing; BIA-administered, no public access described.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. Located on the Jicarilla Reservation and administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The sources read describe no public access; ask the tribal government before visiting.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower60-foot steel tower with 7-by-7-foot cabThe design: IDECO
Built of
Steel
Built
1932
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
8,120 ft (2,475 m)
Agency
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Land
Unknown
Location
Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
Coordinates
36.86746, −107.06948
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-wells

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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History

Then and now

  1. 1930 EventFirst used as a lookout point, per the registerSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1932 Built60' steel tower with 7' x 7' cab erected in June 1932 at a reported cost of $92Source: nhlr.org
  3. 1933 First staffedStaffed by a lookout-fireman the year after the tower went up (first staffing the register records)Source: nhlr.org
  4. No record between 1933 and 1999
  5. 1999 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 1, 1999 as US 319, NM 7Source: nhlr.org
  6. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Wells Lookout stands on the Jicarilla Reservation in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, at an elevation of 8,120 feet.1 The site first served as a lookout in 1930, and International Derrick Co. supplied parts for it in 1931.1

In June 1932 a 60-foot steel tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab went up. The register gives its reported cost as $92 and marks that figure with an exclamation point.1

The following year the site was staffed by a "lookout-fireman."1 According to the register, that label referred to a towerman who would respond first to any smoke he reported that lay close by.1

Our sources do not say who staffed the tower after that, or name any fire it watched.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's New Mexico list shows the tower as standing.2 The register added it on September 1, 1999, as US 319 and NM 7.1

The Bureau of Indian Affairs administers the site.1 Our sources describe no public access, so anyone interested should ask the tribal government before going near it.

  1. Wells Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/wells-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. New Mexico Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/nm/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Wells Lookout - 2022
Wells Lookout - 2022 (2022)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, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, access, 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

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