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Fire lookout · Grant County, Oregon

Dry Soda Lookout

A 1941 U.S. Forest Service lookout on the Malheur National Forest in Grant County, Oregon, staffed each summer; sources disagree on its height.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Public parking at the lookouts; visitors welcome during daylight hours. Staffed in summer; the forest asks visitors to respect staff after hours and during high fire activity.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Drive up the spur road from the signed junction of NF-1516 and NF-3925; a gate sits at the spur.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2023)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerUSFS wooden tower with L-4 hip-roof cabCab: L-4; tower: Region 6 timber towers (CT, TT)
Built of
Wood
Built
1941
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
5,580 ft (1,701 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Grant County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.20817, −118.91083
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-dry-soda

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 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. 1941 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com both give 1941; they disagree on height (60 ft per register, 50 ft per firelookout.com).Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1941 StaffedMerrill McKearn is listed as known lookout personnel for 1941.Source: firelookout.com
  3. No record between 1941 and 1995
  4. 1995 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 8, 1995; nominated by Ron Johnson, Oregon Registrar.Source: nhlr.org
  5. No record between 1995 and 2015
  6. 2015 FireThreatened by a forest fire; no damage reported in these sources.Source: firelookout.com
  7. 2023 StaffedListed among staffed lookouts on the Blue Mountain Ranger District, staffed through the summer months.Source: elkhornmediagroup.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.

Dry Soda Lookout stands on the Malheur National Forest, about 14 miles south of the town of John Day in Grant County, Oregon.1,2 Both the register and firelookout.com date the tower to 1941.1,2 Neither source says why that spot was chosen.

The sources disagree on the height. The register describes a 60-foot CT-2 wooden tower, topped by a 14-by-14-foot L-4 cab under a hip roof, with a wooden catwalk.1 firelookout.com gives 50 feet and says the tower is made of treated timber, with an L-4 cab.2 This story does not choose between them.

The only lookout staffer named in these sources is Merrill McKearn, listed for 1941.2 firelookout.com says a forest fire threatened the tower in 2015 and reports no damage from it.2 The National Historic Lookout Register listed the tower on March 8, 1995, on the nomination of Ron Johnson, Oregon's registrar.1

A 2023 local news report says the Blue Mountain Ranger District staffs Dry Soda through the summer months, alongside Dixie, Flagtail and Indian Rock.3 A May 27, 2022 visit report on the register rated the tower in decent condition, with normal wear that repainting could fix, and noted that the attendant had not yet arrived early in the season.1

The forest says there is public parking at all of its lookouts, and that visitors are welcome during daylight hours.3 The register's visitor reported that any vehicle can use the road, that a gate sits at the spur, and that a sign stands where NF-1516 meets NF-3925.1 The register says the tower still has staff watching for fire each year.1 Check with the Blue Mountain Ranger District before you go. The forest asks visitors to respect the staff after hours and when fire activity is high.3

  1. Dry Soda Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/dry-soda-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Dry Soda Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/drysoda.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Malheur National Forest staffs fire lookouts, Elkhorn Media Group, https://elkhornmediagroup.com/?p=166912 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

September 2015
September 2015 (2015)Photo: Rex Kamstra, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Dry Soda Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
September 2015
September 2015 (2015)Photo: Rex Kamstra, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Dry Soda Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Dry Soda L.O.
Dry Soda L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Dry Soda in 1968
Dry Soda in 1968 (1968)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Dry Soda in 1971
Dry Soda in 1971 (1971)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Dry Soda L.O.
Dry Soda L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Dry Soda L.O.
Dry Soda L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Dry Soda L.O.
Dry Soda L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Dry Soda in 2015
Dry Soda in 2015 (2015)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the U.S. Forest Service, and 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.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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: design, staffing, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, staffing, 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.