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Fire lookout · Grant County, Oregon

Black Butte Lookout (Malheur NF)

Also known as Black Butte

Black Butte's 20-ft pole L-4 tower (1936 per NHLR, 1933 per firelookout.com) still stands; it is not on the 2023 staffed list and is called unsafe to occupy.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. firelookout.com (undated) says the tower is presently deemed unsafe to occupy. No source says the public may enter or climb it. Access level is provisional.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower20-ft pole tower with L-4 cab; original pole legs replaced with treated timber in 1964The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
6,235 ft (1,900 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Grant County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.54003, −119.13866
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-black-butte-malheur-nf

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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. 1933 BuiltFirelookout.com says the site was developed in 1933 with a 20-ft pole L-4 tower and a patrol point half a mile east. Conflicts with the NHLR's 1936 date.Source: firelookout.com
  2. 1936 BuiltNHLR says the first structure, built in 1936, was a 20-ft pole L-4 towerSource: nhlr.org
  3. No record between 1936 and 1964
  4. 1964 AlteredOriginal pole legs replaced with treated timber legs in 1964 (NHLR); firelookout.com says 'later on'Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1964 and 1994
  6. 1994 AlteredConcrete piers redone in 1994Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1994 and 2013
  8. 2013 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered with the National Historic Lookout Register on January 3, 2013; nominated by Howard VerschoorSource: nhlr.org
  9. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Black Butte is in Grant County, about eight miles north of Mount Vernon, inside the Malheur National Forest.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register says the first structure here went up in 1936, a 20-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab.2 Firelookout.com dates it to 1933 instead, with the same kind of tower and a patrol point half a mile east.1 We could not settle the date from these sources.

The original pole legs were replaced with treated timber in 1964, and the concrete piers were redone in 1994.2,1 The register also mentions a garage, added at a date it does not record.2

Firelookout.com says the tower was used in emergencies for some years.1 The register says it is staffed as needed.2 The forest's August 2023 notice names the towers it staffed that summer, and Black Butte is not among them.3 We found no source that records a particular fire at this lookout.2,1

Firelookout.com, an undated page, says the tower is currently considered unsafe to occupy.1 Because the page has no date, check its status before relying on it.

The register recorded the tower on January 3, 2013, with Howard Verschoor as the nominator.2 We found no source saying the public may enter or climb it. Check with the Prairie City Ranger District before any visit, and treat a tower that is deemed unsafe as off limits.

  1. Black Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/blackbuttem.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Black Butte Lookout (Malheur NF), National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/black-butte-lookout-malheur-nf/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Malheur National Forest staffs fire lookouts, Elkhorn Media Group, https://elkhornmediagroup.com/?p=166912 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Black Butte Lookout (Malheur NF)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Black Butte Lookout (Malheur NF)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Black Butte L.O.
Black Butte L.OPhoto: Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1936
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1933

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: design, height, photos, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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.