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Fire lookout · Union County, Oregon

Elk Mountain Lookout

1933 L-4 lookout cab near Enterprise, Oregon; lowered from its tower in the 1960s, abandoned in 1972; private land, no public access.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. On private land; the register and firelookout.com both say the site is not open to the public.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cabin, first reported on a tower of 10 to 40 ft, later a ground cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,127 ft (1,563 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (per the register); firelookout.com and the Oregon directory describe private land
Land
Federal land
Location
Union County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.59836, −117.20534
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-elk-mountain

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 3.7 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. 1928 StaffedA forest lookout patrolman was stationed on Elk Mountain for the summer; this predates the 1933 build yearSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 EventJune 1932 newspaper: a 25 ft tower with a 14 by 14 house would be erected on Elk Mountain; not clear it is the 1933 towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 BuiltL-4 cabin on a tower, reported at 10 to 40 feetSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1933 and 1963
  5. 1963 StaffedDale Hulse finishing the fire season on the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1966 EventAug 4, 1966: lookout Billy Hunter reported a very large unidentified object; a check with the Federal Aviation Office in Baker later showed it was a balloonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1969 RemovedCab lowered from the tower to the ground before 1969 (firelookout.com); the register says sometime in the 1960sSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  8. 1972 AbandonedStaffing ended and the cab was abandonedSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1972 and 2022
  10. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 23, 2022 as US 1614, OR 138Source: nhlr.org
  11. 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.

Elk Mountain sits about 12 miles north-northeast of Enterprise in Wallowa County, at roughly 5,100 feet.1 The National Historic Lookout Register places it in Union County instead.2 The register dates the lookout to 1933 and describes an L-4 cabin set on a tower that it reports at anywhere from 10 to 40 feet.2 Firelookout.com gives the same build year and calls the structure a wooden L-4 tower with a garage.1

Earlier use of the mountain is less clear. A 1928 newspaper item describes a forest lookout patrolman stationed there for the summer, and a 1932 item said a 25-foot tower with a 14-by-14 house would be put up on the mountain.3 Neither item lines up neatly with the 1933 date, and the sources do not explain the gap.

Firelookout.com lists known lookout staff from 1928 through 1971. Newspaper clippings add Dale Hulse, who was finishing the 1963 fire season there, and Billy Hunter, the lookout in 1966.1,3 That August, Hunter reported a very large object he could not identify, and forest staff in Wallowa said they could see it too.3 A check with the Federal Aviation Office in Baker later showed the object was a balloon.3

The cab was lowered to the ground before 1969, and it kept being staffed until it was abandoned in 1972.1 The register says the cabin came off the tower sometime in the 1960s and that staffing lasted until 1972.2 The Oregon standing-lookout directory lists the site as abandoned and privately held.4

Today the site is on private land and is not open to the public, according to both the register and firelookout.com.2,1 The register names the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest as administrator, which does not fit the private-land description, and the sources do not say why.2 The register listed the lookout on June 23, 2022.2 Because the site is not open to the public, it is not a place to visit.2,1

  1. Elk Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/elkmtn104.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Elk Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/elk-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Elk Mountain - Forest Lookouts (newspaper clippings), oregonlookouts.weebly.com, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/elk-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Oregon's Standing Lookouts, Every Lookout in Oregon (cherylhill.net), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/oregons-standing-lookouts/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Elk Mountain Lookout - 1993
Elk Mountain Lookout - 1993 (1993)Photo: Ray Kresek, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Elk Mtn. in 1971
Elk Mtn. in 1971 (1971)Photo: Bill Sheirbon and the Fire Lookout Museum, via firelookout.com · source
Elk Mtn. in 1993
Elk Mtn. in 1993 (1993)Photo: Bill Sheirbon and the Fire Lookout Museum, 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, 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: what it is built of, design, dates, 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. 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, 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.