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Fire lookout · Marion County, Oregon

Battle Axe Lookout Site

Also known as Battle AX Mountain

A summit lookout above Elk Lake in Marion County, Oregon, built in the 1910s-1920s, replaced by an L-4 cab in 1951 and removed in 1969; foundation piers remained in 2014.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1969 (register and Forest Lookouts) or destroyed (Firelookout). A 2014 hiker report says eight foundation piers remained at 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. Reached on foot from Elk Lake per a 2014 hiker report; a 2014 forum thread places the peak in Bull of the Woods Wilderness. No source says the site is closed or describes access today.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabSummit lookout: cupola cabin, then a 6-foot enclosed L-4 cab (1951 per the register and Firelookout)The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1922
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,558 ft (1,694 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Marion County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.82667, −122.13966
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-battle-axe

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. 1909 First staffedA 1952 newspaper item says the point was first manned in 1909 by a guard walking from Elk LakeSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1911 EventFirelookout says a camp was developed on the site in 1911; Forest Lookouts says a lookout was established at the point in 1911Sources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1912 EventRegister says the first lookout on the site was a camp built by the Forest Service in 1912Source: firetower.org
  4. 1918 FireLookout discovered a fire 15 to 20 miles west of the mountain (June 27, 1918 item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1922 BuiltFirelookout dates a D-6 cupola cabin to 1922; a November 1922 item reports construction of one standard lookout houseSources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1924 EventLightning hit the peak and cut the telephone line to the station, which was missedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1925 Replaced by a new structureRegister dates the replacement of the first lookout by a cupola cabin to 1925Source: firetower.org
  8. No record between 1925 and 1941
  9. 1941 StaffedThe lookout was staffed 60 daysSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1944 StaffedBennie Wriglesworth returned after several months at the lookout stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1951 Replaced by a new structureA 6-foot enclosed L-4 tower was built (register and Firelookout)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  12. 1952 Replaced by a new structureNew 14-by-14 glass-surrounded house, $3,000, replacing an older cupola-style lookout built about 30 years earlier on the same spotSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  13. No record between 1952 and 1969
  14. 1969 RemovedRegister says removed; Firelookout says destroyed; Forest Lookouts logs removedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  15. No record between 1969 and 2010
  16. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 16, 2010, nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  17. 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.

Battle Ax Mountain's lookout stood about 6 miles north of Detroit in Marion County, Oregon, at an elevation the register gives as 5,558 feet.1,2 A 1952 newspaper item gives 5,540 feet instead.3

The start date is disputed. Firelookout says the site was developed as a camp in 1911, while the register says the first lookout there was a camp built by the Forest Service in 1912.1,2 A 1952 item says the point was first manned in 1909, when a guard made a daily hike there and back from Elk Lake.3 A standard lookout house was under construction in November 1922.3 Firelookout dates a D-6 cupola cabin to 1922, while the register dates the cupola replacement to 1925.1,2

A few incidents and staffing notes survive. A June 1918 item says the lookout caught sight of a fire 15 to 20 miles to the west.3 In September 1924, lightning struck the peak and knocked out the telephone line to the station, but the bolt missed the station and the people inside.3 The lookout was staffed for 60 days in 1941, and in 1944 Bennie Wriglesworth returned after several months at the station.3

The register and Firelookout both say a 6-foot enclosed L-4 tower went up in 1951.1,2 A 1952 item describes a new 14-by-14, glass-surrounded house that replaced an older cupola-style lookout built about 30 years earlier on that spot, at a cost of $3,000.3 The sources do not agree on whether the 1951 change was a tower or a house.1,2,3

The lookout was removed in 1969. The register says removed, Firelookout says destroyed, and Forest Lookouts logs it as removed that year.1,2,3

The most recent account in these sources is a 2014 hiker's trip report on the Oregon Hikers Forum. It says eight foundation piers remained at the summit.4 A photo caption in the same thread describes old foundation blocks from a lookout that is no longer there.4 The hike started at Elk Lake.4 A quoted newspaper column in the thread places the peak in the Bull of the Woods Wilderness and says the last six miles of the drive are very rough.4 No source here describes the site today, and none says it is closed.1,2,3,4

  1. Battle Axe Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/battle-axe-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Battle Axe Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/battleaxe.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Battle Ax - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/battle-ax.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Battle Ax from Elk Lake hiked 7-22-14, Oregon Hikers Forum, https://www.oregonhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=144864 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Battle Axe Lookout Site
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, 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, access, 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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