BlockBefore

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.

Lookout within Modoc County

Then and now

1886 to 1993

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Lookout, surveyed 1993
Topographic sheet of Lookout, surveyed 1886

Population over time

2 figures

Lookout 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.

YearPeople Change
201084
202068-16 (-19%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 21 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

44 since 1992

Regional 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
Natural15
Missing data/not specified/undetermined13
Debris and open burning6
Equipment and vehicle use6
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Recreation and ceremony1
Arson/incendiarism1

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
6 September 2017Natural1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protection3-4 BULL
6 September 2007Natural2.0 acresNorthern California DistrictUNNAMED FIRE 3738
3 September 1996Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresLassen-Modoc UnitCOMBINE
25 September 1994Natural1.0 acresLassen-Modoc UnitLIGHTNING #77
19 September 1992Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresLassen-Modoc UnitLOOKOUT
11 September 2002Equipment and vehicle use6.0 acresLassen-Modoc UnitCEDAR
24 August 1995Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreLassen-Modoc UnitCRAIG
23 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined29 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protection3-8 ROBBERS

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Modoc County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Kramer QuarryStoneProducer
Monchamp PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenOccurrence
Section 7 QuarryStone, DimensionUnknown

Every working recorded in Modoc County

Storms near this place

4 since 2017

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2025FloodLookout$1,000,000Nearly 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 2019FloodLookout-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 2017FloodLookout-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 2017FloodLookout-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.

Every storm recorded in Modoc County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Lookout Junction5.5 miles21
Demuth10.7 miles21
Adin11.2 miles22
Day11.6 miles21
Harper11.9 miles22
Dibble Place13.8 miles22
White Horse14.7 miles22
Scarface15.9 miles21

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 LookoutAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6646143The 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.