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Fire lookout · Baker County, Oregon

Cornucopia Peak Lookout Site

Baker County summit cab, built 1920 to 1923 per conflicting sources and gone by the 1940s; a few cable and glass remnants remain, reached on foot.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed; a few guy cables and glass fragments remain, per Oregon Hikers and a 2023 trip report

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Reached on foot up a trail from the Cornucopia Trail; the road beyond the trailhead is closed to public vehicles (2023 report). No closure at the summit found.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
About 900 feet of climb from the Cornucopia Trail, just east of the Schneider Cabin

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab13 x 13 ft D-5 ground cabThe design: D-5 (4-AR)
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1920
Height
Unknown
Elevation
8,650 ft (2,637 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Baker County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.02036, −117.23429
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-cornucopia-peak

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 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. 1920 Built'Built' field on FFLOS detail pageSource: FFLOS register entry
  2. 1920 EventRegister gives 1920 for the 13x13 D-5 cab; Oregon Hikers gives 1922 and firelookout.com 1923Source: firetower.org
  3. 1922 EventApril 1922 Oregonian item: a lookout station will be established on Cornucopia Mountain that summerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1923 BuiltFebruary 1923 item says a standard lookout house will be erected; April 1923 item describes a newly located station; firelookout.com says built 1923Sources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1923 FireSmall fire reported about seven miles from the station; a fireman searched and found no fireSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1923 StaffedLookout Magill at the new station by April 1923; firelookout.com names Mr. Coble for 1923Sources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1930 StaffedW.H. Baird to have the lookout for the seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1939 StaffedEdward Burns named as lookout by firelookout.comSource: firelookout.com
  9. 1945 Abandonedfirelookout.com says abandoned in 1945; Forest Lookouts shows a lookout in charge in July 1946Sources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1946 StaffedWayne Chetwood in charge of the lookout, July 1946Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1946 and 2019
  12. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 15, 2019 as US 1822, OR 545; nominated by Tammy McLeodSource: firetower.org
  13. 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.

Cornucopia Peak sits in Baker County, in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.1 In April 1922 the Oregonian reported that a lookout station would be set up on the peak that summer.2

The sources do not agree on when the cab went up. The register dates it to 1920.1 Oregon Hikers gives 1922 and says the lookout was later demolished.3 Firelookout.com says it was built in 1923.4 A February 1923 item quoted by Forest Lookouts described plans for a standard-design lookout house on the summit, at 8,600 feet.2 We lean toward 1923, because an April 1923 report describes a newly located station.2 The sources do not settle it.

By April 1923 Lookout Magill had been posted to the new station. Soon after he got there, he reported a small fire about seven miles from the lookout. A fireman searched and found no fire.2 Firelookout.com names Mr. Coble in 1923 and Edward Burns in 1939.4 Forest Lookouts names W.H. Baird for the 1930 season and Wayne Chetwood in charge in July 1946.2

The dates of the end also differ. Firelookout.com says the cab was abandoned in 1945, but the Forest Lookouts site shows a lookout in charge in 1946.4,2 A 2023 trip report dates the lookout's removal to the 1940s.5

The register says the lookout is gone.1 Oregon Hikers says a few guy wires and bits of broken glass are still there, and the 2023 report includes photos of the remains.3,5 The summit is reached on foot.3,5 Oregon Hikers puts the gain near 900 feet, starting from the Cornucopia Trail.3 The 2023 report says the road past the trailhead is shut to public traffic.5

  1. Cornucopia Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/cornucopia-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Cornucopia Peak, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/cornucopia-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Cornucopia Peak, Oregon Hikers, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Cornucopia_Peak (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Cornucopia Peak Fire Lookout Tower, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.firelookout.com/or/cornucopia.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Cornucopia Peak, Just Peachy (Cheryl Hill blog), https://cherylhill.net/blog/2023/10/01/cornucopia-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Cornucopia Peak Lookout 1924
Cornucopia Peak Lookout 1924 (1924)Photo: Ethel Mills Worth, Howard Verschoor collection, via 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, 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, status, 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

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