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Fire lookout · Harney County, Oregon

Calamity Butte Lookout

A 1927 D-5 ground cab still stands beside the 50-ft octagonal-cab tower finished in 2001 on Calamity Butte, a staffed Malheur National Forest lookout in Harney County.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Still an active Forest Service lookout; the sources reviewed give no visitor rules. Check with the Malheur National Forest before visiting.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
About three miles of rough, rocky forest road (Roads 2860 and 155) from Road 28
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower50-ft pole tower with octagonal cab (completed 2001); the original 1927 D-5 ground cab is still on siteThe designs: D-5 (4-AR), L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
6,666 ft (2,032 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service - Malheur National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Harney County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.92844, −118.82504
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-calamity-butte

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 4.0 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. 1927 BuiltFirst lookout cab, a D-5 design ground house; Malheur historical notes say it was built on Bald Butte, later renamed Calamity ButteSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, cherylhill.net
  2. No record between 1927 and 1994
  3. 1994 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 30, 1994 as US 73, OR 10Source: nhlr.org
  4. 2001 BuiltNew 50-ft tower with octagonal cab completed (construction began 1996); the 1927 cab was left on siteSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  5. 2004 Condition assessmentVisual inspection of the new tower, the old ground cabin, garage and vault toilet (September 21, 2004)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 2004 and 2021
  7. 2021 StaffedRecorded as staffed at the July 3, 2021 visit; firelookout.com says it is staffed every summerSources: cherylhill.net, firelookout.com
  8. 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.

Calamity Butte Lookout stands on the Malheur National Forest in Harney County, Oregon, at about 6,700 feet.1,2,3 The first lookout cab went up in 1927.4,3 Forest Lookouts quotes Malheur historical notes saying that cabin was built on Bald Butte, and that the point was later renamed Calamity Butte.4 That first cab is described as a D-5 design ground house.4,3

The register describes the cab differently. It calls the wooden, ground-level 14-by-14 structure a "Supervisor Hall Special" built on a revised California design, and an early version of the L-4 model.1 The sources do not settle which label is right, but the 1927 cab is still on the summit.4,2,3

The current lookout is a 50-foot tower with an octagonal cab. Work began in 1996, and the new tower was completed in 2001. The old 1927 cabin was left on the site.4,2,3 In September 2004 the new tower, the old ground cabin, a garage and a vault toilet all underwent a visual inspection.4 The register lists the site as US 73, OR 10, registered on January 30, 1994.1

Firelookout.com says it is staffed every summer, and Every Lookout in Oregon recorded it as staffed on a July 2021 visit.2,3 No fire at the site appears in the sources reviewed.1,4,2,3

The drive to the top is about three miles of rough, rocky forest road.3 Because it is still an active Forest Service lookout, check with the Malheur National Forest before visiting.1 None of the sources give visitor rules or mention a rental.1,2,3

  1. Calamity Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/calamity-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Calamity Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/calamitybutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Calamity Butte, Every Lookout in Oregon (cherylhill.net), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2021/08/23/calamity-butte/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Calamity Butte - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/calamity-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Calamity Butte Lookout
Calamity Butte LookoutPhoto: Rex Kamstra, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Calamity Butte Lookout - Ground cab - 1943
Calamity Butte Lookout - Ground cab - 1943 (1943)Photo: Malheur National Forest, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
November 10, 2022 photo
November 10, 2022 photo (2022)Photo: Dillan Smith, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Calamite Butte L.O.
Calamite 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.

    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1927
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1996

    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, 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: height, staffing, dates, 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. 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: register numbers, links Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill, cherylhill.net) · No licence stated; facts only (name, agency, elevation, year built, design and height, status word, links). Posts' narrative and photos are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, access, visiting details, 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.