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Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Deer Butte Lookout Site

Forest Service 40-foot wooden L-4 lookout about 3 miles west of Chemult, OR, built 1934 by a CCC crew; gone by 1965. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower gone by 1965

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?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
WillhiteWeb: drive-up dirt road that most vehicles can use

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot wooden tower with a 14x14 foot L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
5,450 ft (1,661 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.20859, −121.85706
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-deer-butte-2

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 Built40-foot wooden tower with 14x14 L-4 cab, built by a crew from the Odell Lake CCC camp; total cost $969.24Sources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1934 First staffedFred Zumbrunn moved into the new tower in July 1934 and was its first lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1941 EventNews item places the lookout under the Klamath Fire Protection AgencySources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1942 StaffedJimmie Sterns of LaPine on the summit, scheduled to leave July 15 for the Army Air CorpsSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1953 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey description places a station at the apex of the towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1965 RemovedGone by 1965; these sources give no removal date or methodSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1965 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered May 20, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  9. 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.

Deer Butte rises about three miles west of Chemult, in Klamath County, Oregon.1,2 In February 1933 a letter to a fire-protection association said a lookout there would give excellent detection around the Beaver Marsh area.2 The Forest Service hoped to buy ten acres from the Soper Lumber Company for the site, but the company donated the land.2

Crew members from the Odell Lake Civilian Conservation Corps camp finished the tower in July 1934. It was a 40-foot wooden tower with a 14-by-14-foot L-4 cab on top, and the whole structure cost $969.24.1,2,3

Fred Zumbrunn moved into the new tower that July and became its first lookout.2 A 1941 news item placed the lookout under the Klamath Fire Protection Agency.2,3 In 1942 Jimmie Sterns of LaPine was on the summit, scheduled to leave for the Army Air Corps that July.2,3

A 1953 Coast and Geodetic Survey description placed a survey station at the apex of the tower.2 The sources name two different forests. The register lists the Winema National Forest, while the 1934 records and WillhiteWeb name the Deschutes National Forest.1,2,3 The register, FireLookout.com and WillhiteWeb all say the tower was gone by 1965.1,4,3

WillhiteWeb describes a drive-up dirt road that most vehicles can use, and its page includes a 2022 photo of the site.3 No source we read describes what stands on the summit now or says whether the public may visit, so check with the land manager before going. There is no tower left to climb.1,4

  1. Deer Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/deer-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Deer Butte - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts (Weebly), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/deer-butte1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Deer Butte Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com Oregon Lookouts, https://willhiteweb.com/oregon_lookouts/deer_butte/tower_010.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Deer Butte Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/deerbutte88.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Deer Butte Lookout Site
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: 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, 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.