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Fire lookout · Grant County, Oregon

Baldy Mountain Lookout Site

Grant County, OR lookout on Malheur NF, 14 mi WSW of Unity; cupola cabin 1915/1916, L-4 cab 1933; removed or destroyed 1968; no current site description found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed (Register) or destroyed (firelookout.com) in 1968; Forest Lookouts marks it Removed; no source describes what remains

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 cabCupola cabin (1916), replaced in 1933 by an L-4 cab; 1946 survey description calls the house a standard square Forest Service designThe designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1915
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,605 ft (2,318 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Malheur National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Grant County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.39352, −118.44682
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-baldy-mountain

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 4.1 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. 1911 First staffedA lookout was maintained on Baldy Mountain this season and connected by telephone to the central officeSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1915 BuiltJuly 23, 1915 La Grande Observer item: Forest Service had just finished a building on the topmost peak, anchored against wind. Conflicts with the 1916 date.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1916 BuiltCupola cabin built on the site; Register and firelookout.com date it to 1916Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  4. 1925 StaffedDan W. Fisk reported a fire from Baldy Mtn. Lookout on June 29; a search on June 30 found no fireSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1927 StaffedLookout John Tucker reported elephants and camels from Honest Bill's Circus coming up the trail near the towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1933 Replaced by a new structureL-4 cab replaced the cupola cabinSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. 1939 FireFire reached the Baldy Mountain area in late August; Derrick of Unity driven from his lookout post Sunday night (The Record-Courier, August 31, 1939). Fire not named in source.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1939 StaffedDalton Derrick stationed on Baldy Mountain (The Record-Courier, August 24, 1939)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1945 StaffedMarie Seburn and Grace Foster worked the lookout for about two months in summer 1945 (Nyssa Gate City Journal)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1946 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey station description: station is the center of the lookout house, a standard square Forest Service design on a high bare peakSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1946 and 1968
  12. 1968 Destroyedfirelookout.com: 'It was destroyed in 1968.' Conflicts with Register's removed.Source: firelookout.com
  13. 1968 RemovedRegister says the cab was removed in 1968; firelookout.com says destroyed; Forest Lookouts marks it RemovedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  14. No record between 1968 and 2010
  15. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 3, 2010 as US 622, OR 63; nominated by Irene PotterSource: firetower.org
  16. 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.

Baldy Mountain rises in Grant County, Oregon, about 14 miles west-southwest of Unity, inside the Malheur National Forest.1,2 The Register gives its elevation as 7,605 feet and firelookout.com gives 7,613 feet, so we round to about 7,600.1,2

The earliest mention we found is from 1911, when Forest Lookouts quotes a note that a lookout was maintained on the mountain that season and connected by telephone to the central office.3 A July 1915 La Grande Observer item, also quoted there, describes a building the Forest Service had just finished on the top of the peak, anchored down because the winds there could sweep it away.3 The Register and firelookout.com date the first cupola cabin to 1916.1,2 We could not settle that gap, so this story reports both. In 1933 an L-4 cab replaced the cupola cabin.1,2

Several people worked the lookout. In June 1925 Dan W. Fisk reported a fire from there, but a search the next day found none.3 A 1927 item quotes lookout John Tucker describing a circus's elephants and camels coming up the trail near the tower on their way from Unity to Prairie.3 In August 1939 Dalton Derrick was stationed on Baldy Mountain, and when fire reached the area that month, The Record-Courier reported that he was driven from his post and had to leave his car behind and run on foot.3 In the summer of 1945 Marie Seburn and Grace Foster also staffed the lookout, and a newspaper said they had been there for about two months.3

The Register says the cab was removed in 1968, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1,2 Forest Lookouts marks the site "Removed" with no further detail.3 The Register added the site on September 3, 2010, as US 622 and OR 63.1

A 1946 Coast and Geodetic Survey description places a survey station at the center of the lookout house, a square building of Forest Service design on a high, bare summit.3 That was before the cab came down. We found no source that describes what remains on the summit today, or whether the site is open to visitors. The Register lists the U.S. Forest Service as administrator, so that is the agency to ask before going up.1

  1. Baldy Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/baldy-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Baldy Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/baldymtn96.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Baldy Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/baldy-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Baldy Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Baldy Mountain lookout site
Baldy Mountain lookout sitePhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Baldy Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
East side
East sidePhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Looking southeast
Looking southeastPhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
US Forest Service logo painted on mountain
US Forest Service logo painted on mountainPhoto: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1930
1930 (1930)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Baldy Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Al Opdahl, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Baldy Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Al Opdahl, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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, staffing, 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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