{"nrhp_refnum":"78000295","name":"Prospect Peak Fire Lookout","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE of Mineral","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mineral","county":"Shasta County","state":"CA","lat":40.573309315000074,"lon":-121.34606496599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-03-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Conservation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small square wood-frame fire lookout building with a pyramidal roof on the summit of Prospect Peak, northeast of Mineral in Lassen Volcanic National Park, Shasta County, California. It was probably built around 1912 for the U.S. Forest Service.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant in the field of conservation as one of the oldest surviving U.S. Forest Service fire lookouts in the United States, and possibly the last of its type. It appears to represent a first-generation standard design for Forest Service lookouts. Despite deterioration, it keeps its structure and essential interior furnishings.","narrative":"On the summit of Prospect Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park stands a small fire lookout, a square wood-frame building about 14 feet on a side with a pyramidal roof. A belt of tall windows once encircled it, set between bands of horizontal ship-lap siding, and guy wires anchored it against the wind. It was probably built in 1912 or soon after, before the national park replaced the national forest in 1916. Its design appears to match the first lookout houses made in Red Bluff in the winter of 1911-12 for the Lassen National Forest. The building is now abandoned and weathered. The shingles, window glass and paint are gone, and some roof planks are missing, yet the structure and its built-in siting table remain. It is considered significant for conservation history as one of the oldest surviving Forest Service fire lookouts, and possibly the last of its type. Steel towers largely replaced such wooden lookouts by the 1920s.","period_of_significance":"c.1912(?)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Deteriorated but still intact: roof shingles, most corner metal sheathing and all window glass are gone, and the paint has weathered off. The building is listed as unoccupied.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.832501-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000295.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"75000222","name":"Nobles Emigrant Trail","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/california/nobles-emigrant-trail-75000222/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861942","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_Peak_Fire_Lookout","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14683716"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/shasta-county/prospect-peak-fire-lookout-78000295/"}