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Fire lookout · Otero County, New Mexico

Wofford Lookout

CCC-era 1933 Aermotor MC-39 lookout near Cloudcroft, NM, with a restored cabin; NRHP-listed 1988. Tower closed to the public, reached on foot.

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. Tower closed to the public; site reached on foot. Cabin and shed restored in 2012 for a planned public rental, described as soon to open in the Feb 2025 Forest Service update

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Foot access to the site only; the tower itself is closed to the public
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor MC-39 steel tower, 80 ft, with a 7x7 ft steel cab; wood-frame observer's cabin (1933) and storage shed (1937)The design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
Steel
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
9,146 ft (2,788 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Otero County, New Mexico
Coordinates
32.99666, −105.71098
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-nm-wofford

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. 1932 Replaced by a new structureSeptember 1932 newspaper item reports new steel towers replacing worn-out wooden ones, Wofford among themSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 BuiltAermotor MC-39 steel tower erected with CCC help by June 1933; NHLR, Wikipedia and the Forest Service all give 1933Sources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org, fs.usda.gov
  3. 1933 EventFeb 9, 1933 shipment notice for an 80-ft steel tower for Wofford; Feb 16, 1933 notice that it had arrivedSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1937 BuiltWood-frame storage shed builtSources: nhlr.org, fs.usda.gov
  5. 1937 AlteredStorage shed added to the lookout complex.Source: firelookout.org
  6. 1938 AlteredTower and cabin remodeled and improved, per a notice that spells the name WoolfordSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1943 StaffedHenry Beebe moved up to the Wofford tower as fire-control work started early that seasonSource: westlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1943 and 1988
  9. 1988 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesAdded to the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 1988 as part of a thematic group of Southwestern Region lookoutsSource: en.wikipedia.org
  10. No record between 1988 and 2012
  11. 2012 RestoredObserver's cabin and storage shed restored in preparation for cabin rentalSource: fs.usda.gov
  12. 2013 RestoredFour window frames restored and four missing frames manufactured; report also lists cabin and shed restoration as completed; cab still under restoration.Source: firelookout.org
  13. 2014 RestoredCab restoration completed after long neglect, when all windows were broken out and the floor hatch was missing.Source: firelookout.org
  14. 2015 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 30, 2015 as US 1105, NM 31Source: nhlr.org
  15. 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 Wofford Lookout stands in the Lincoln National Forest, near Cloudcroft, New Mexico.1,2 Its 80-foot Aermotor steel tower replaced a worn-out wooden lookout.2 A September 1932 newspaper item described the new steel towers as already placed.2 A February 1933 notice reported that an 80-foot tower was being shipped to Wofford, and a second February notice said it had arrived.2 A June 1933 report says the tower had been erected, with help from Civilian Conservation Corps crews.2 The register and the Forest Service both date the tower to 1933.3,1 Newspaper notices from the time gave different distances from town, from two to five miles, so the exact spot is hard to pin down from these sources alone.2

The observer's cabin at the base of the tower also dates to 1933, and a wood-frame storage shed was added in 1937.3,1 Both buildings were restored in 2012.1

The tower was manned for fire control at least by 1943.2 A 1938 notice reports that the tower and cabin had been remodeled, though it spells the name "Woolford."2 In April 1943 a man named Henry Beebe moved up to the tower as fire-control work began early that season.2

The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 1988, as part of a group of Forest Service lookouts in the Southwest.4 It joined the National Historic Lookout Register on August 30, 2015.3

Today the tower itself is closed to the public, and the site is reached on foot.1 The Forest Service page, last updated February 19, 2025, said the restored cabin, to be offered as a rental, was soon to open for public use.1

  1. Wofford Lookout, Lincoln National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/lincoln/recreation/wofford-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Wofford, Forest Lookouts (compiled Alamogordo News items), https://westlookouts.weebly.com/wofford.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Wofford Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/nm/wofford-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Wofford Lookout Complex, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wofford_Lookout_Complex (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

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

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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: 1933
    • recreation.gov: 1937
    • Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports: 1933

    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: 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: register numbers, links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: design, 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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.