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Fire lookout · Grant County, Oregon

Fields Peak Lookout Site

Malheur NF summit lookout in Grant County, OR: standard house built 1922, L-4 cab 1941, removed or destroyed 1967; a hiking guide reports the foundation still on the summit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Lookout removed or destroyed in 1967; a hiking guide reports the summit still shows the foundation and some debris.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Hiking guide describes an out-and-back hike from McClellan Trailhead on the old lookout road, now a trail and ATV track.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Out-and-back hike from the McClellan Trailhead; the old lookout road is now a trail and ATV track; a snowdrift or two can block the top through June

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabStandard lookout house with a cupola (1922); L-4 cab from 1941The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1922
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,362 ft (2,244 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Malheur National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Grant County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.33855, −119.25852
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-fields-peak

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1921 StaffedJohn Scharff named as the lookout on Fields PeakSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1922 BuiltStandard lookout house built on the summit; cupola cabinSources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, oregonhikers.org
  3. 1922 FireLookouts Hinkle (Fields Peak) and Faiman (Strawberry) reported a small smoke from a wood-saw engine on private land, July 27Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1924 StaffedO. L. Starr appointed to the Fields Peak lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1937 EventLookout dispatcher on the summit during a dry lightning storm, taking reports from three other lookoutsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1941 Replaced by a new structureEarlier cabin replaced by an L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. 1942 StaffedWilma McKearn listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1942 and 1967
  9. 1967 RemovedCab removed (register) or destroyed (firelookout.com); Oregon history says removed, no yearSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  10. No record between 1967 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered June 23, 2011Source: firetower.org
  12. 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.

Fields Peak is the highest point in the Aldrich Mountains, in the Malheur National Forest of Grant County, Oregon.1,2 It stands at about 7,362 feet.1,3

A standard lookout house was built on the summit in 1922.4,2 A July 1922 newspaper report said lumber had reached the Murderers Creek ranger station, ready to be taken up to the summit.4 A December 1922 report said the house was secured with steel cable.4 The register gives 1933 for the first cabin, but firelookout.com and the 1922 reports agree on 1922, so we use that year.1,3,4

A lookout was on the summit by August 1921, when a newspaper named John Scharff as the lookout.4 On July 27, 1922, the lookouts at Fields Peak (Hinkle) and Strawberry (Faiman) both reported a small puff of smoke from an oil-burning wood-saw engine on private land outside the forest, and the ranger headed straight for it.4 In 1924 O. L. Starr was appointed to the lookout.4 A 1937 account describes a lookout dispatcher on the summit during a dry lightning storm, trying to take fire reports from three other lookouts.4 In 1942 Wilma McKearn is listed among the known lookout personnel.3

The register says an L-4 cab replaced the earlier cabin in 1941, and firelookout.com also lists an L-4 cab from that year.1,3 Both give 1967 as the end of the cab.1,3 The register says it was removed, and firelookout.com says it was destroyed.1,3 The Oregon history lists it as removed, with no year.4

A hiking guide says the summit still has detritus from the old lookout structure, and that the old building's foundation is still visible there.2 The old lookout road is now a trail and ATV track.2 The guide describes an out-and-back hike from the McClellan Trailhead and calls it family friendly, so the summit appears open to hikers.2 It also notes that a snowdrift or two can block the way to the top until June.2

  1. Fields Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/fields-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Fields Peak Hike, Oregon Hikers field guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Fields_Peak_Hike (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Fields Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/fieldspeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Fields Peak, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), oregonlookouts.weebly.com, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/fields-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Fields Peak Lookout 1942
Fields Peak Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Mark Swift collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Fields Peak Lookout 1942
Fields Peak Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, 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, status, agency, access, 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

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