Crane Flat Fire Lookout

Built in 1931 (National Park Service rustic). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. 13 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1897.

From the record

“The Crane Flat Fire Lookout in Yosemite National Park was built in 1931. An example of the National Park Service Rustic style, the lookout is a two-story structure with a lower storage or garage level and an upper observation level, with an overhanging roof.”
Wikipedia article Crane Flat Fire Lookout, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 44 National Register listings published here for Mariposa County · listed in 1996 · category: Building · built in 1931, National Park Service rustic, by John Wosky, National Park Service.

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 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. N of Big Oak Flat Rd., near Crane Cr., Yosemite National Park, Aspen Valley, 95389
When was it listed? April 1996
Category. building
Also known as. Historic Park Landscapes in National and State Parks MPS
Census division. Yosemite Valley
When was it built? 1931
Architectural style. National Park Service rustic
Architect. John Wosky, National Park Service
National Register reference number. 96000354 - 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

139 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 139 fires within 5 miles of Crane Flat Fire Lookout between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,410 acres in total. 85 started naturally. 3 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
Natural	85
Recreation and ceremony	16
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	13
Equipment and vehicle use	10
Smoking	5
Debris and open burning	4
Arson/incendiarism	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	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
7 September 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	15 acres	Yosemite National Park	RATTKESNAKE
6 September 1993	Smoking	under an acre	Yosemite National Park	TAMARACK
5 September 2008	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Yosemite National Park	CENTURY
5 September 2004	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Yosemite National Park	LOOP 300
5 September 2004	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Yosemite National Park	LOG
27 September 2005	Natural	under an acre	Yosemite National Park	PW3
26 September 2007	Natural	1.0 acres	Stanislaus National Forest	CROCKER
25 September 2001	Natural	under an acre	Stanislaus National Forest	TRUMBULL

Every fire recorded in Mariposa County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Crane Flat Fire Lookout: 12 occurrences, 4 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Tungsten, Gold, Stone, Zinc, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Grizzly Quarry	Stone	Producer
Williams Brothers	Gold, Zinc, Lead	Past Producer	Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite
Big Bonanza	Gold	Occurrence
Deer Flat Group	Gold	Occurrence
New Discovery	Gold	Occurrence
New Discovery, Buzzard, Dreadnaught, Star King	Gold	Occurrence
P and L	Gold	Past Producer
Pine Grove	Gold	Past Producer
Unknown	Gold	Occurrence
Anita No 1	Tungsten	Occurrence

Every working recorded in Mariposa County

Maps showing this location

13 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1897 USGS Yosemite quadrangle1:125000
1900 USGS Yosemite quadrangle1:125000
1903 USGS Yosemite quadrangle1:125000 - 2 printings
1909 USGS Yosemite quadrangle1:125000 - 7 printings
1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1948 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
1956 USGS Lake Eleanor quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
1957 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1963 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
1976 USGS Yosemite Valley quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
1990 USGS Ackerson Mountain quadrangle1:24000
1992 USGS Ackerson Mountain quadrangle1:24000
2001 USGS Ackerson Mountain quadrangle1:24000

Listed places nearby

6 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.

Property	Distance	Listed
Merced Grove Ranger Station	1.3 miles	1978
McCauley and Meyer Barns	5.4 miles	1978
El Portal Old Schoolhouse	6.0 miles	2011
Hetch Hetchy Railroad Engine No.6	6.2 miles	1978
Track Bus No. 19	6.2 miles	1978
Yosemite Valley Railroad Caboose No. 15	6.2 miles	1978

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 96000354 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Mariposa County	All 44 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.