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Fire lookout · Harney County, Oregon

Donnelly Butte Lookout Site

Harney County L-4 treated timber tower on Donnelly Butte, built 1949 and removed or destroyed in 1972; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register says removed in 1972; firelookout.com says destroyed that year

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-4The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1949
Height
71 ft (21.6 m)
Elevation
6,024 ft (1,836 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Harney County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.86295, −119.53869
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-donnelly-butte

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 4.2 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. 1949 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com both give 1949 for a 71-foot treated timber L-4 towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1950 EventBend Bulletin item, September 1950, quoted on Rex's page: living quarters at the top of the tower, used by a newly married forest staff member and his brideSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1952 Condition assessment1952 General Integrating Inspection: praised the tower; radio out of order; a road built to the top of the butteSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1964 EventRegister photograph captioned 1964, credited to the Harney County LibrarySource: firetower.org
  5. 1972 Destroyedfirelookout.com: destroyed 1972; conflicts with the register's removalSource: firelookout.com
  6. 1972 RemovedRegister: removed in 1972Source: firetower.org
  7. No record between 1972 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: June 13, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  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.

Donnelly Butte rises to about 6,024 feet, roughly 30 miles northwest of Burns in Harney County, Oregon.1,2 The register and firelookout.com both date the lookout to 1949, when a 71-foot treated timber L-4 tower went up there.1,2

The sources do not agree on the forest. The register and Rex's page place the butte in the Ochoco National Forest, while Rex's Harney County listing places it in the Malheur National Forest.1,3,4

The tower had living quarters at its top. A September 1950 Bend Bulletin item, quoted on Rex's page, says a newly married Ochoco National Forest staff member and his bride spent their honeymoon there.3 A 1952 General Integrating Inspection, also quoted on Rex's page, praised the tower's workmanship and noted that the radio was out of order at the time. It also says a road had been built to the top of the butte.3

The register includes a photograph captioned 1964, credited to the Harney County Library.1

The register gives 1972 as the removal year, while firelookout.com says the tower was destroyed that year.1,2 Rex's page gives the removal but no date.3 No source we read describes what, if anything, remains on the butte today, or whether that road is still open. The register gives coordinates but no description of the ground now.1

  1. Donnelly Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/donnelly-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Donnelly Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/donnellybutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Donnelly Butte, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/donnelly-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Harney County, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/harney-county.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Donnelly Butte Lookout 1964
Donnelly Butte Lookout 1964 (1964)Photo: Harney County Library, Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Donnelly Butte Lookout site
Donnelly Butte Lookout sitePhoto: Howard Verschoor, 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, 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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