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Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Applegate Butte Lookout

Winema-area Aermotor tower on Applegate Butte, built 1935-36 for the Klamath Indian Agency, abandoned as a lookout and removed in 2016; the site is now a communications site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower dismantled and removed in 2016; the site is now used for communications

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot steel Aermotor LS-40 tower with a cabinThe design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Steel
Built
1935
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
6,040 ft (1,841 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service; built for the Klamath Indian Agency and run by the Oregon Department of Forestry from 1961
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.70788, −121.71753
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-applegate-butte

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.4 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1935 BuiltBuilt by a CCC-ID crew for the Klamath Indian Agency, per the Forest Lookouts (Oregon) history; its buildings were completed by May 31. Register and FFLOS give 1936.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1936 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  3. 1949 StaffedNamed lookout Norman Doty quit in August 1949Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1961 EventResponsibility passed to the Oregon Department of Forestry under the termination actSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1963 AlteredRadio shack announced in a May 7, 1963 Herald and News item as to be built near the lookout; completion not confirmedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1967 RestoredRepairs to a concrete foundation block; new deck on the cabin porchSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1967 and 2003
  8. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 31, 2003 as US 479, OR 72Source: nhlr.org
  9. 2016 EventSite taken over by the Oregon Department of Transportation for a communications towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 2016 RemovedTower dismantled and removed in early winter 2016; living quarters destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 30, 2019 as US 1772, OR 512Source: firetower.org
  12. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Applegate Butte lookout stood near the top of the butte on the Winema National Forest, in Klamath County, Oregon.1,2 The sources do not agree on its first year. The National Historic Lookout Register and the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register both give 1936.3,2 The Forest Lookouts (Oregon) history, which quotes Klamath Agency reports, says a CCC-ID crew built an 80-foot Aermotor tower for the Klamath Indian Agency in 1935, with the buildings completed by May 31.4

The same history names one staff member, Norman Doty, who quit on August 2, 1949, because he disliked the work he had been given.4

In 1961 the lookout passed to the Oregon Department of Forestry under the termination act.4 A May 7, 1963, Herald and News item announced a radio shack to be built near the lookout, to rebroadcast radio messages.4 Records from 1967 show repairs to a concrete foundation block and a new deck on the cabin porch.4 The register says the tower was abandoned in the 1960s, yet its 2003 entry calls the tower sound.3 The 1963 and 1967 records do not fit a clean end in the 1960s, and the sources do not say when the lookout stopped being used.

Most sources give the height as 80 feet.2,4 firelookout.com says 100 feet.5 A 1967 survey note quoted on the Forest Lookouts page gives 90 feet.4

The lookout was removed in 2016.2,5 The Forest Lookouts history says the tower was dismantled in early winter 2016, the living quarters were destroyed, and the Oregon Department of Transportation took over the site for a communications tower.4

A Forest Service project page for an Oregon State Radio Project at the Applegate Butte Communication Site lists removing the old lookout tower among its proposed actions. The project is marked cancelled. Its milestones show a scoping start on 01/06/2012 and estimated decision and implementation dates in 2014, and the page was last updated 2/26/2014.1 The same proposal would also remove an existing trailer and communication building at the site.1 We found no source saying what remains of the lookout's base or whether the public may visit.

The lookout was registered twice: as US 479, OR 72, on March 31, 2003, in the National Historic Lookout Register,3 and as US 1772, OR 512, on October 30, 2019, in the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register.2

  1. Oregon State Radio Project, Applegate Butte Communication Site (project 38016), USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/fremont-winema/projects/38016 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Applegate Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/applegate-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Applegate Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/applegate-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Applegate Butte, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/applegate-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Applegate Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/applegate.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Applegate Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Applegate Butte Lookout 2001
Applegate Butte Lookout 2001 (2001)Photo: Rex Kamstra, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Applegate Butte Lookout 2015
Applegate Butte Lookout 2015 (2015)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Applegate Butte Lookout 1937
Applegate Butte Lookout 1937 (1937)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered. firelookout.com lists it, but not on its map of standing lookouts.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: register numbers, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  3. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  4. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: design, height, links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

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