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Fire lookout · Lake County, Oregon

Dead Indian Mountain Lookout Site

Lake County, OR lookout built 1934 as a 20-ft L-5 tower; gone by the 1950s. The summit now holds a Forest Service communications site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower gone by the 1950s; the summit now holds a Forest Service communications site

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 towerL-5, 20-foot wooden towerThe design: L-5
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
7,066 ft (2,154 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Fremont-Winema National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lake County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.98351, −120.82927
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-dead-indian-mountain

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. 1934 Built20-foot wooden L-5 tower, per the register and firelookout.comSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1934 AlteredRadio equipment installed at the lookout station and a new forest road completed nearby (Lake County Examiner, August 30, 1934, as quoted on Kemnow's page)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1935 EventPanorama photographs taken October 28, 1935Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1935 and 2011
  5. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered May 20, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  6. 2018 EventForest Service decision signed 11/26/2018 reauthorizing special use permits for the Dead Indian Mountain Communications Site on the summitSource: fs.usda.gov
  7. Date unknown RemovedGone by the 1950s per the register and firelookout.com; a 1948 station description still describes the tower; no removal date or method givenSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Dead Indian Mountain is in Lake County, Oregon, three miles west of Summer Lake.1,2 The register places it in the Fremont National Forest.1 A Forest Service page now places the summit on the Silver Lake Ranger District, within the Fremont-Winema National Forest.3

The register dates the lookout to 1934 and describes a 20-foot wooden tower of the L-5 type.1 Firelookout.com gives the same height and type.2 In late August 1934, a Lake County newspaper said that new radio equipment at the lookout station had helped crews get ahead of fires, and that a new forest road had helped bring firefighters in.4 Panorama photographs were taken there on October 28, 1935.4

The sources disagree on the height.1,2,4 The register and firelookout.com say 20 feet.1,2 A 1948 National Geodetic Survey station description, written by the Forest Service, gives the tower as 20 feet high with a 12-by-12-foot base.4 A district ranger's memo from August 1942, quoted on Kemnow's page, gives 16 feet and says guy wires held the tower down.4

The register and firelookout.com say the tower was gone by the 1950s.1,2 The 1948 station description still describes the tower in the present tense, which suggests it was standing then.4

The summit now holds a communications site.3 A Forest Service decision signed November 26, 2018 reauthorized special use permits for the Dead Indian Mountain Communications Site, which sits atop the mountain.3 The project notice says no site-specific construction or ground-disturbing activities are proposed.3 We found no source that describes any remains of the lookout, or whether visitors may drive up to the summit. Check with the Fremont-Winema National Forest before you go.3

  1. Dead Indian Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/dead-indian-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Dead Indian Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra), https://www.firelookout.com/or/deadindianmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Dead Indian Mountain Communications Site Special Use Permit Re-authorizations, USDA Forest Service, Fremont-Winema National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/fremont-winema/projects/54972 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Dead Indian Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Ron Kemnow), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/dead-indian-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Dead Indian Mountain Lookout panoramic 10-28-1935
Dead Indian Mountain Lookout panoramic 10-28-1935 (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via 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: height, 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

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