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Fire lookout · Harney County, Oregon

Emigrant Butte Lookout Site (Harney County)

Also known as Emigrant Butte

Ochoco NF lookout site in Harney County: a 1921 cupola house, a 20-foot L-4 tower dated 1933, gone by the 1940s; no source describes what remains.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Gone by the 1940s per the register and firelookout.com; how it came down is not stated

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 towerhouse with cupola (1921), then a 20-foot L-4 tower (1933)The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1921
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,390 ft (1,643 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Ochoco National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Harney County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.75869, −119.45464
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-emigrant-butte-harney-county

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.9 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. 1921 BuiltHouse with cupola; Central Oregonian item of November 10, 1921 quoted on Rex's pageSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1922 EventSeptember 1922 item describes a new box-type house, 12 by 12 feet, with a 7 by 7 cupola; not stated whether it replaced the 1921 houseSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1922 StaffedThomas Ewing of Brothers had charge of the station in summer 1922Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1929 StaffedAl Frey was lookout until a winter job; Lester Williams took over for the rest of the season; Jack Choate moved from Dry Mountain when Williams left on September 21Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1933 Replaced by a new structure20-foot L-4 tower; the register says it replaced the house; Rex's October 1933 item says a tower and a house were being builtSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1939 EventForest Service request for approval to build a combination garage, woodshed and storage building at the lookout; completion not statedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1939 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered June 13, 2011Source: firetower.org
  9. Date unknown RemovedGone by the 1940s per the register and firelookout.com; no exact year is given. Rex's page gives only Removed, with no dateSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 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.

Emigrant Butte rises in the Ochoco National Forest about 24 miles northwest of Burns, at 5,390 feet.1,2 The U.S. Forest Service administers the site.1

A house with a cupola went up on the butte in 1921, according to the register and firelookout.com.1,2 A November 1921 item from the Central Oregonian, quoted on Rex's page, says Ranger E.W. Donnelly built a lookout house there.3 A September 1922 item in the same paper describes a new box-type house, 12 by 12 feet, with a 7-by-7 cupola that held the fire finder.3 It does not say whether that house replaced the 1921 one.3

Staffing is recorded for only a few seasons.3 Thomas Ewing of Brothers ran the station in the summer of 1922.3 In 1929, Al Frey was the lookout until he took a winter job.3 Lester Williams covered the rest of the season, and Jack Choate came over from Dry Mountain once Williams had departed on September 21.3

The register says a 20-foot L-4 tower replaced the house in 1933, and firelookout.com dates a 20-foot L-4 tower to 1933.1,2 Rex's page quotes an October 1933 Central Oregonian item saying W.H. Lohuis was building a tower and a house at the butte, among several NRA projects.3 That item describes both, so it does not clearly match the register's account of a replacement.1,3

In 1939 the Forest Service asked for approval to add one building at the lookout that combined a garage, a woodshed and storage space.3 Rex's page does not say whether it was finished.3

The register and firelookout.com both say the tower was gone by the 1940s, but neither says how it came down.1,2 Rex's page ends the entry with a bare "Removed" and no date.3

We found no source that describes what remains on the butte now. The register has a photo captioned as the site in 2008, but its text does not describe what is standing there.1 Access is not stated in the sources we read. Check with the Ochoco National Forest before planning a visit.

  1. Emigrant Butte Lookout Site (Harney County), Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/emigrant-butte-lookout-site-harney-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Emigrant Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/emigrantbutte96.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Emigrant Butte - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/emigrant-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Emigrant Butte Lookout 1940
Emigrant Butte Lookout 1940 (1940)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Emigrant Butte Lookout 1921
Emigrant Butte Lookout 1921 (1921)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Emigrant Butte Lookout
Emigrant Butte LookoutPhoto: Ron Kemnow, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Emigrant Butte Lookout site 2008
Emigrant Butte Lookout site 2008 (2008)Photo: Ron Kemnow, 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, type, status, 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. 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
  3. 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.