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Photograph of Barfoot Lookout Complex
Photograph by Justin Meissen, CC BY-SA 2.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Barfoot Lookout Complex

Built in 1935. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

From the record

“Barfoot Lookout Complex was a forest lookout situated on Buena Vista Peak in the Douglas Ranger District in the Chiricahua Mountains in Cochise County, Arizona. It is hypothesized to have been built by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps.”

Wikipedia article Barfoot Lookout Complex, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 76 National Register listings published here for Cochise County · listed in 1988 · category: Building · built in 1935.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 3 buildingss, 2 structuress as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Buena Vista Peak, Portal, 85632
  • When was it listed? January 1988
  • Category. building
  • Also known as. National Forest Fire Lookouts in the Southwestern Region TR
  • Census division. Elfrida
  • When was it built? 1935
  • National Register reference number. 87002463 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

96 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 96 fires within 5 miles of Barfoot Lookout Complex between 1992 and 2020, burning about 30,320 acres in total. 76 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Natural76
Recreation and ceremony11
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Arson/incendiarism2
Smoking2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 2009Naturalunder an acreCoronado National ForestONION CREEK
6 September 2009Naturalunder an acreCoronado National ForestTURKEY PARK
23 September 1992Natural5.0 acresCoronado National ForestMETHODIST
2 September 2007Natural1.0 acresCoronado National ForestBARFOOT
2 September 2006Naturalunder an acreCoronado National ForestLONG PARK
5 August 1993Naturalunder an acreCoronado National ForestIDA
4 August 1998Naturalunder an acreCoronado National ForestNORTH FORK
3 August 1993Naturalunder an acreCoronado National ForestRASPBERRY

Every fire recorded in Cochise County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 44 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 44 workings within 5 miles of Barfoot Lookout Complex: 29 past producers, 10 prospects, 4 producers, 1 occurrence. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Silver, Tungsten, Lead, Zinc, Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Badger Hall GroupCopper, Gold, Lead, SilverProspect
Bermoudy MineCopper, Lead, Silver, Gold, ZincPast Producer
Bernoudy MineLead, Copper, Silver, Zinc, GoldPast ProducerReplacement
Chiricahua MineCopper, Lead, Silver, Zinc, TungstenPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Copper, Galena, Lead
Columbia MineLead, Copper, Zinc, Tungsten, Silver, BismuthPast ProducerContact Metamorphic
Columbia MineZinc, Lead, Silver, Tungsten, Copper, BismuthPast Producer
El Tigre MineLead, Silver, Copper, GoldProducer1937, 1947
El Tigre MineSilica, Silver, Gold, CopperPast Producer
Galeyville MinesLead, Silver, Tungsten, CopperPast Producer1878, 1945
HandLead, Silver, Zinc, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Copper, Gold, CadmiumPast Producer1881

Every working recorded in Cochise County

Storms near this property

6 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Portal, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 3 flash flood, 2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2021Flash FloodPortal1 hurt, $7,000Two to four inches of rain in 3 hours in the southern Chiricahua Mountains caused flash flooding of streams over and west of the mountains. Two motorists in one vehicle were stuck in floodwaters east of McNeal on Davis Rd. near milepost 30. An elderly man attempted to drive through waters to rescue them when his vehicle was swept downstream. He was rescued but not before suffering hypothermia from being in the cold water.
August 2025HailPortal-A strong thunderstorm formed over Portal, AZ and produced penny sized with no injury or damage to property.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindPortal-Estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of 60 mph occurred southeast of Portal. A Desert Research Institute sensor at Rodeo, NM observed a gust to 60 mph at 1900MST.
July 1999Flash FloodPortal-Three inches of rain in themountains near Portal caused creeks in the area to rise rapidly. A campground became flooded forcing the evacuation of several campers.
October 2021HailPortal-no account filed
August 2002Flash FloodPortal-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cochise County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

5 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Rustler Park Fire Guard Station1.0 miles1993
Cima Park Fire Guard Station3.8 miles1993
Silver Peak Lookout Complex4.4 miles1988
Portal Ranger Station6.7 miles1993
Monte Vista Lookout Cabin6.8 miles1988

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 87002463 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Cochise CountyAll 76 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.