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Fire lookout · Deschutes County, Oregon

Bachelor Butte Lookout Site

Deschutes National Forest summit lookout on Bachelor Butte, now Mount Bachelor: cupola cabin about 1922, replaced 1931, abandoned 1939; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab abandoned in 1939 and since removed, per the register and firelookout.com; the inventory gives no removal date. No source describes what remains on the summit.

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
Type
Ground-level cabD-6 cupola cabin (about 1922); replacement cab 1931 (sources differ on type)The design: D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1922
Height
Unknown
Elevation
9,065 ft (2,763 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Deschutes National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Deschutes County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.97891, −121.68747
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-bachelor-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.6 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. 1917 EventNewspaper announced a planned summit station; the Deschutes inventory lists a 1917 telephone and observation postSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, deschuteslookouts.blogspot.com
  2. 1922 BuiltD-6 cupola cabin; register says about 1922, firelookout.com about 1921; June 1922 newspaper reports lumber moving to the summitSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1922 First staffedJ.B. Gauldin, formerly at Pine Mountain, was to be lookout once the station was completeSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1930 EventIce and storm damage; a forest note called for replacing the buildingSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, deschuteslookouts.blogspot.com
  5. 1931 Replaced by a new structureCab replaced; inventory says 14 by 14 L-4-31 ground cabin; register says Region-5 cab; firelookout.com says L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1933 EventDamage blamed on climbers; snow and rain warped the floorSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1938 EventSupplies dropped by airplane to the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1939 AbandonedRegister and firelookout.com say abandoned 1939; a Bend paper said the summit was little usedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1939 StaffedLeland Maker on the summit for three days late in the seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1939 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: April 24, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  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.

Bachelor Butte is now called Mount Bachelor, a peak in Deschutes County, Oregon.1,2 The Deschutes National Forest put a lookout on its summit.1 The register gives the summit as 9,065 feet, or 2,763 meters.1 One firelookout.com page gives 4,273 feet, but a 1932 newspaper report gives 9,065 feet, so we follow the register.3,4

A new station on the summit was first reported in June 1917, when a paper said it would be set up as soon as men could be employed for the posts.4 The Deschutes inventory lists a 1917 telephone and observation post.5 Work on the cabin began in June 1922, when lumber started moving up to the summit.4 The register dates the cabin to about 1922, and firelookout.com says about 1921.1,3 They describe it as a D-6 cupola cabin.1,3,5 The 1922 paper said the cabin would have glass on every side, so a seated observer could scan the surrounding country.4

J.B. Gauldin, who had run the Pine Mountain lookout the year before, was to take charge of the new station once it was finished.4

Ice and storms were hard on the cabin.4,5 A 1930 note called for replacing the present building, which had been battered by storms for several years.4 The inventory says ice severely damaged the cabin in 1930, and a 14-by-14 ground cabin went up in 1931.5 A 1933 newspaper refers to the station as constructed in 1931.4 The sources disagree on the new cab's type. The register says it was a Region-5 cab, firelookout.com says an L-4 cab, and the inventory calls it an L-4-31 ground cabin.1,3,5

Henry Tiedman, a University of Oregon student, was hired for the summer to protect the forest from fires.4 Billy Catlow was the forest service lookout in 1932, when lightning bombarded the exposed summit and a bolt struck close by.4 In 1937 Bob Sharp looked out over central Oregon from the station.4 In 1938 a plane dropped supplies to the lookout, which the paper called the first time a plane had been used in the district for that.4

Damage and weather took their toll.4 A 1933 newspaper blamed climbers and said snow and rain had warped the floor.4 In 1939 a Bend paper said the summit was little used because visibility was poor and access was difficult.4 The register says the cab was abandoned that year.1

The register and firelookout.com both say the cab has since been removed.1,3 The inventory gives no date, only "Removed: ? Gone".5

Wikipedia lists the easiest route up the mountain as ski lifts.2 None of the sources we read describe what, if anything, remains of the lookout on the summit.

  1. Bachelor Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/bachelor-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Mount Bachelor, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Bachelor (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bachelor Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/bachelorbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Bachelor Butte, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/bachelor-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. An Inventory of Deschutes County Lookouts, Deschutes County Fire Lookouts blog, https://deschuteslookouts.blogspot.com/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bachelor Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cupola cab in August 1924
Cupola cab in August 1924 (1924)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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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