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Fire lookout · Lake County, Oregon

Big Hole Butte Lookout Site

Deschutes forest lookout on Big Hole Butte, Lake County: a 20-foot tower built in 1932 and removed or destroyed in 1958. Only a 2001 photo of a foundation block is described.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1958 per the register (firelookout.com says destroyed); a 2001 register photo shows a foundation block for one tower leg; no source describes the site today

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 tower20-foot pole tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1932
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
5,122 ft (1,561 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lake County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.43113, −121.29331
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-big-hole-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 3.6 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. 1931 EventTelephone line built from Summit Stage Station to the summit, per a 1970 Bend Bulletin accountSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 Built20-foot pole tower with L-4 cab, constructed in 1932Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  3. 1932 First staffedNeil Winkle left in June 1932 to be forest fire lookout at Big Hole ButteSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1936 StaffedRoderick Blacker is the lookout in January 1936Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1936 and 1958
  6. 1958 RemovedRegister: removed in 1958; firelookout.com: destroyed in 1958Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1958 and 2001
  8. 2001 EventRegister photo dated 5/2/2001 shows a foundation block for a tower legSource: firetower.org
  9. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered January 4, 2011Source: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Big Hole Butte sits in Lake County, Oregon, on the Deschutes National Forest, about 19 miles southeast of LaPine.1,2

A 1970 Bend Bulletin account says a crew built a telephone line from the Summit stage station to the summit in the spring of 1931.3 In August 1932 the paper reported that work was about to start on a 20-foot tower with a standard lookout house on top.3 The register describes it as a 20-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, built in 1932.1

In June 1932 Neil Winkle left for the Fort Rock district, where he was to be the forest fire lookout at Big Hole Butte. He had returned from there by October.3 In January 1936 Roderick Blacker was the lookout.3 One evening he sighted a plane's flare, drove down the highway to meet a couple whose plane had made a forced landing in an old burn, and brought both of them back to the lookout, where they stayed all night.3

The register says the tower was removed in 1958.1 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year instead.2

The register's only photo, dated 5/2/2001, shows a foundation block for one tower leg.1

No source we found describes the summit today beyond that photo, or says whether the butte is open to visitors or how to reach it.1

  1. Big Hole Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/big-hole-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Big Hole Butte Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://www.firelookout.com/or/bigholebutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Big Hole Butte - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/big-hole-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Big Hole Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Foundation block for tower leg 5/2/2001
Foundation block for tower leg 5/2/2001 (2001)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
5/2/2001
5/2/2001 (2001)Photo: 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, 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, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.