Digger Butte Lookout
US 398, CA 49
September 2009 photo

September 2009 photo - courtesy of Adam and Christine Wyman

Lookout Details

Registry Numbers US 398, CA 49 (view other lookouts in United States, California)
Date Registered January 12, 2002
Nominated by FFLA
Location Lassen National Forest
Tehama County, California
Coordinates N 40° 25.890' W 121° 47.076' (view using Google Maps)
N 40° 25' 53" W 121° 47' 05"
N 40.431500° W 121.784600°
Elevation 3,861 ft (1,177 m)
Built 1936
Removed 2009
Former Fire Lookout Sites Register US 1713, CA 19
Administered by U.S. Forest Service
Cooperators Almanor Ranger District

Description

Digger Butte Lookout was built in 1936 and underwent few modifications. The 20' L-401 tower was one of only two remaining in the state system. It supported a BC-301 wood frame cab. The lookout was removed in 2009. Its cab was placed in storage.

2012 Update: The Digger Butte lookout tower and cab will be preserved through relocation of the lookout to the CAL FIRE Mobile Equipment Facility in Davis where it will be restored and opened to the public. The garage and out-buildings will not be preserved. Due to the ongoing State budget crisis, a schedule for completion of actions can not be made with certainty but the
project has already begun with the intention of being completed by January 1, 2015.
Specific actions CAL FIRE intends to undertake to complete the tasks of preserve and maintain the
lookout tower and cab:

 Disassemble the remaining steel tower structure and relocate it to Davis, California.
 Prepare the new site location and pour a new tower footing.
 Reconstruct the steel tower.
 Rebuild the tower cab.

Once the lookout has been successfully relocated and reassembled, the CAL FIRE Tehama-Glenn Unit will place the historic fire-finder plotting device and a log book from the 1970’s to 1988 which contains many signatures from those who have visited the lookout when it was in operation. In addition, an old CAL FIRE historic weather station from another lookout (Eagle Peak Lookout also in Tehama County) has been saved so it too may be relocated and utilized there as another way of highlighting the history and
usage of fire lookouts in California. The fire-finder, logbook, and old weather station are presently being stored at the Tehama-Glenn Unit Headquarters. (First Ten-Year Update to theCalifornia Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Management Plan for Historic Buildings and Archaeological Sites - 2012)

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