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Fire lookout · Columbia County, Oregon

Baker Point Lookout Site

Columbia County lookout: 1912 tree platform, 1941 99-ft wooden L-6 tower, destroyed in the October 1962 Columbus Day storm. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in the October 12, 1962 Columbus Day storm; remaining buildings salvaged in 1966. No source describes what remains on the site.

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
Cab on a tower99' wooden L-6 tower (1941) replacing a 135' tree platform; cab 8x8 per Forest Lookouts' 1941 entry, 7x7 per its May 1942 inspection reportThe design: L-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1912
Height
99 ft (30.2 m)
Elevation
1,876 ft (572 m)
Agency
Columbia County FPA
Land
Unknown
Location
Columbia County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.90551, −123.10474
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-baker-point

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 3.7 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. 1912 BuiltTree platform and camp with telephone set up (before the tower; not a tower)Source: firetower.org
  2. No record between 1912 and 1938
  3. 1938 FireKeasey Fire report: a speeder crew reported the blaze; the report calls the lookout's watch a definite laxitySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1941 Replaced by a new structure99-ft wooden L-6 tower replaced the 135-ft tree platformSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  5. 1942 EventActivated March 9, 1942; listed under the Portland Filter CenterSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1942 StaffedObservers Mr. and Mrs. David McMullen at the May 12, 1942 inspection visitSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1943 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Barns in charge of the lookout (October 1943 local paper)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1954 StaffedYoung woman starting her second year at the post (Corvallis Gazette-Times profile); not named hereSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1956 EventLocks broken and remote radio unit stolen; reported by the assistant district wardenSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1962 DestroyedDestroyed in the Columbus Day storm, October 12, 1962Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  11. 1966 RemovedRemaining buildings salvagedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. No record between 1966 and 2010
  13. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 22, 2010; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  14. 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 Baker Point lookout stood in Columbia County, about five miles northeast of Vernonia, and the Columbia County FPA administered it.1,2

The register's history starts in 1912, when a tree platform with a camp and a telephone was set up on the point.1 In the 1930s that gave way to a 135-foot tree platform, and in 1941 a 99-foot wooden L-6 tower replaced it.1,2

The Forest Lookouts page gives two cab sizes. It gives an 8-by-8 cab for the 1941 tower, but the May 1942 inspection report it quotes describes a 7-by-7 cab on the same 99-foot tower.3 The same page says the old tree lookout's steel ladder was taken to Damewood Point in Douglas County, where it went into a new tree lookout.3

The post was activated on March 9, 1942, and the page lists it under the Portland Filter Center.3 When an inspector visited on May 12, 1942, the people on duty were Mr. and Mrs. David McMullen.3 In October 1943 a local paper reported that Mr. and Mrs. Barns had charge of the lookout.3 In 1954 a Corvallis paper profiled a young woman starting her second year at the post, and it said the post was on one of Crown Zellerbach's large timber tracts.3

A 1938 report on the Keasey Fire, which burned along a railroad right-of-way, says a speeder crew reported the blaze, and it faults the lookout for "a definite laxity."3 In 1956 an assistant district warden found the locks broken and the remote radio unit stolen.3

The Columbus Day storm destroyed the lookout on October 12, 1962.1,3 The buildings that were left were salvaged in 1966.3

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains of the site, or whether the public may visit it. Ask the Columbia County FPA before going to the point, since no source says the ground is open to visitors.

  1. Baker Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/baker-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Baker Point Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/bakerpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Baker Point, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/baker-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Baker Point Lookout 1961
Baker Point Lookout 1961 (1961)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Baker Point Lookout 1912 - 1930's
Baker Point Lookout 1912 - 1930's (1912)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via 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, 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: 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
  5. 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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