Lookout, California
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1993. It stands in the Adin-Lookout census division. It lies in ZIP code area 96054. It stands on Three Corner Slough. The Survey maps it on the Lookout quadrangle. 68 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,144 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1886 to 1993The same ground, surveyed 107 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Population over time
2 figuresLookout fell from 84 to 68 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 84 | |
| 2020 | 68 | -16 (-19%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 21 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1886 USGS Modoc Lava Bed quadrangle1:250000
- 1892 USGS Modoc Lava Bed quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1892 USGS Modoc Lava-Bed quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Alturas quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Alturas quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Bieber quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Alturas quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Alturas quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS McArthur quadrangle1:100000
- 1990 USGS Lookout quadrangle1:24000
- 1993 USGS Lookout quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
44 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 44 fires within 5 miles of Lookout between 1992 and 2020, burning about 112 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 1 was 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 15 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2017 | Natural | 1.0 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | 3-4 BULL |
| 6 September 2007 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Northern California District | UNNAMED FIRE 3738 |
| 3 September 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Lassen-Modoc Unit | COMBINE |
| 25 September 1994 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Lassen-Modoc Unit | LIGHTNING #77 |
| 19 September 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Lassen-Modoc Unit | LOOKOUT |
| 11 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6.0 acres | Lassen-Modoc Unit | CEDAR |
| 24 August 1995 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Lassen-Modoc Unit | CRAIG |
| 23 August 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 acres | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | 3-8 ROBBERS |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
4 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Lookout: 2 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 unknown. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kramer Quarry | Stone | Producer | ||
| Monchamp Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Section 7 Quarry | Stone, Dimension | Unknown |
Storms near this place
4 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lookout in 4 storm reports between 2017 and 2025: 4 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2025 | Flood | Lookout | $1,000,000 | Nearly two days of heavy rain, with amounts of around 1.50 to 2.50 inches, combined with snow melt caused the Pit River near Canby to rise to a peak above major flood stage. This was the fourth highest peak since records began in 1904, and the highest peak in the past 28 years. The river rose above minor flood stage of 8.5 ft. at 03/1445 PST, peaked in major flood stage at 04/2330 PST at 11.13 ft. It then fell slowly, dropping below minor flood stage at 08/0130 PST. |
| April 2019 | Flood | Lookout | - | The river rose above minor flood stage (8.5 feet) at 10/1115 PST. The river crested at 8.64 feet several times between 10/1715 and 10/1915 PST. The river fell below minor flood stage at 11/0215 PST. |
| February 2017 | Flood | Lookout | - | The Pit River at Canby exceeded flood stage (8.5 feet) at 07/1145 PST. It exceeded moderate flood stage (9.0 feet) at 08/1515 PST and major flood stage (10.0 feet) at 09/1400 PST. The river crested at 10.61 feet from 10/0130 to 01/0230 PST. The river fell below major flood stage at 11/0300 PST, below moderate flood stage at 12/0045 PST and flood stage at 12/1000 PST. |
| February 2017 | Flood | Lookout | - | The Pit River near Canby rose above flood stage (8.5 feet) at 21/1615 PST and above moderate flood stage at 22/0415 PST. The river crested at 9.25 feet between 22/1730 PST and 22/1745 PST. The river fell below moderate flood stage at 23/0230 PST and below flood stage at 23/1300 PST. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lookout Junction | 5.5 miles | 21 | |
| Demuth | 10.7 miles | 21 | |
| Adin | 11.2 miles | 22 | |
| Day | 11.6 miles | 21 | |
| Harper | 11.9 miles | 22 | |
| Dibble Place | 13.8 miles | 22 | |
| White Horse | 14.7 miles | 22 | |
| Scarface | 15.9 miles | 21 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Lookout | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6646143 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 262896. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.










