Pomona in Los Angeles County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)

Johnstone Peak Fire Lookout

Life in a Lookout Tower

Photographed by Craig Baker, May 9, 2025

1. Johnstone Peak Fire Lookout Marker

Inscription.
For the people called "lookouts," life in a tower offered challenges beyond being responsible for detecting fire. It meant coping with confinement, few furnishings, long hours and dangerous weather conditions.
During a storm, lightning could strike the cabin, sending the lookout to safety atop a glass-legged stool. The glass worked as an insulator, protecting the lookout from the electricity which sizzled throughout the cabin.
This restored lookout tower was moved from Johnstone Peak in Angeles National Forest where it stood from 1934 to 1992.

National Historic Lookout Register
A national register recognizing fire lookout sites, structures and towers with historic and cultural significance to forest fire detection in order to promote their protection.
Maintained in cooperation with federal, state, and private forestry agencies and landowners throughout the United States.

Fire Finder
Long before lightning detectors and satellites, the fire finder was the most important tool in the lookout tower.
Combining a compass, vertical sights, tape measure

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and map, the fire finder helped plot the exact location of a fire.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Communications • Environment • Horticulture & Forestry • Parks & Recreational Areas. A significant historical year for this entry is 1934.

Location. 34° 4.959′ N, 117° 46.205′ W. Marker is in Pomona, California, in Los Angeles County. It can be reached from McKinley Avenue near Fairplex Drive. Located in the Pomona Fairgrounds. Open during the annual Los Angeles County Fair. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1445 W McKinley Ave, Pomona CA 91768, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Greater Los Angeles

and in the Transverse Ranges.

It is also on the American Pacific Coast.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Ring of Fire,

in the Pacific Rim,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain

and also Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within one mile of this marker, measured as the crow flies:

National Register Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Baker, May 9, 2025

2. National Register Marker

Santa Fe Station (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Steam Locomotives - How They Work (about 400 feet away); Santa Fe 3450 (about 400 feet away); Pomona Assembly Center (approx. ¼ mile away); Millard Sheets Gallery (approx. 0.3 miles away); The Big Round (approx. 0.3 miles away); La Casa Primera (approx. one mile away); La Casa Primera Dedication (approx. one mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Pomona.

Regarding Johnstone Peak Fire Lookout. The lookout structure was built in 1934 on Johnstone Peak. It was originally known as San Dimas Peak Lookout. The name was changed in June 1940, dedicated to the memory of W.A. Johnstone, pioneer conservationist who died in 1937.

The lookout cabin was dismantled and reconstructed at the Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona in 1992. The lookout is now used as an interpretive site.

The Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association volunteers operate the lookout every year during the Los Angeles County Fair for visitors to experience the fire detection program.

Original location: 34.160096°N, -117.799767°W, above San Dimas, California.

In the 1950s there

Fire Lookout and Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Baker, May 9, 2025

3. Fire Lookout and Marker

were 600 lookout towers in California, including 23 in the Angeles National Forest, of which there are only 2 remaining — Slide Mountain near Pyramid Lake, and Vetter Mountain near Charlton Flat. The Vetter Mountain Lookout was destroyed by the Station Fire in 2009 and was rebuilt.

The Johnstone Peak tower was originally 12 feet by 12 feet but it fell apart when moved. It was rebuilt to its present 8 feet by 8 feet dimensions. The present tower support is only the top portion of the original 30-foot frame. The furnishings and Osborne Fire Finder are from the South Mt. Hawkins lookout before it was refurbished in 1999, then lost in the Curve Fire in 2002.

Also see . . .
1. Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association. Organization of volunteers who staff this and other local fire lookouts. (Submitted on May 11, 2025.)

2. National Historic Lookout Register. (Submitted on May 11, 2025.)

Cabin Interior and Fire Finder image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Baker, May 9, 2025

4. Cabin Interior and Fire Finder

America’s Great Outdoors image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Baker, May 9, 2025

5. America’s Great Outdoors

This area is located at the southwest corner of the fair.

Nearby Attractions image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Baker, May 9, 2025

6. Nearby Attractions

Credits. This page was last revised on May 17, 2025. It was originally submitted on May 11, 2025, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California. This page has been viewed 214 times since then and 20 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on May 11, 2025, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California.