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Fire lookout · Raleigh County, West Virginia

Tams Mountain Tower

Raleigh County tower erected by CCC crews in early 1935; NHLR-registered 1998; now used only in emergencies, on Beaver Coal Company land.

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
Cab on a tower80-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7 by 7 foot cab; CCC built a log observer's cabinThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
2,637 ft (804 m)
Agency
West Virginia Division of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Raleigh County, West Virginia
Coordinates
37.69803, −81.30156
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wv-tams-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 3.4 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. 1933 EventFirst road and trail built under a federal forest-work program during the DepressionSource: nhlr.org
  2. 1935 BuiltErected by CCC Camp Wyoming Company 1538 in about ten days, late January 1935; the register gives 1934Sources: nhlr.org, easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1935 and 1951
  4. 1951 StaffedApproximate: a November 1953 item says the observer was on the tower two years earlierSource: easternuslookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1951 and 1998
  6. 1998 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 1, 1998; nominated by Jim Circle, District ForesterSource: nhlr.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.

Tams Mountain stands in Raleigh County, about ten miles from Beckley.1 The first road and trail up the mountain went in during 1933, built under a federal law that aimed to give people forest work during the Great Depression.2 The tower came next. Enrollees of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from Camp Wyoming, Company 1538, raised an 80-foot steel tower from the ground to the cab floor in ten days, working through bitter cold in late January 1935.1 The register describes it as an 80-foot Aermotor with a 7-by-7-foot cab, and says the CCC also built a log cabin for the observer.2

The sources disagree on the year. The register gives 1934, the year after the road, while February 1935 newspaper reports describe the tower as just erected.2,1

Work went on that winter. A forester's cabin was under construction on top of the mountain, and a CCC detail was erecting a telephone line to the new tower by late February.1 A November 1953 item recalls that an observer on the tower two years before had spared a huge hickory that was obstructing his line of sight, trimming its limbs rather than felling it.1

The register says the state Division of Forestry now uses the tower only in emergencies. It stands on Beaver Coal Company land, and the register's photographs from June 2013 include the watchman's cabin.2

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's West Virginia list shows the tower as standing.3 I found no public visiting information. Please don't try to climb it, and check with the West Virginia Division of Forestry before going near the site.2

  1. Tams Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://easternuslookouts.weebly.com/tams-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Tams Mountain Tower, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wv/tams-mountain-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. West Virginia lookout list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wv/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

June 2013 photo
June 2013 photo (2013)Photo: Brian Powell, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Watchman's Cabin in June 2013
Watchman's Cabin in June 2013 (2013)Photo: Brian Powell, 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.

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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- eastern US (easternuslookouts.weebly.com) Gave us: height, links easternuslookouts.weebly.com · No licence stated; facts only (county, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, status, height, design hints, register links). The site's own historical quotes, newspaper citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. 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.