FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Grant County, Oregon

Flagtail Mountain Lookout

A Malheur National Forest lookout in Grant County, Oregon, with a 1920s crow's nest origin and a present R-6 cab dated 1960 or 1966; staffed each summer.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Public parking; 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?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2025)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 14-by-14-foot flat-top cab with catwalkThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
8 ft (2.4 m)
Elevation
6,569 ft (2,002 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Grant County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.18603, −119.28070
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-flagtail-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 3.9 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. 1922 EventFirst lookout was a tree crow's nest. Register says early 1920s; firelookout.com says used as the first lookout in 1922.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1933 Built20-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (register and firelookout.com). firelookout.com also lists a 30-foot tower with 8x8 cab one mile east.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, en.wikipedia.org
  3. No record between 1933 and 1960
  4. 1960 BuiltPresent R-6 cab: register and Wikipedia give 1960; firelookout.com gives 1966.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, en.wikipedia.org
  5. No record between 1960 and 2003
  6. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 8, 2003.Sources: nhlr.org, en.wikipedia.org
  7. No record between 2003 and 2023
  8. 2023 StaffedListed among staffed lookouts on the Blue Mountain Ranger District, staffed throughout the summer.Source: elkhornmediagroup.com
  9. 2025 StaffedStaffed by veteran observer David Sheffel as of 2025, per the register.Source: nhlr.org
  10. 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.

Flagtail Mountain Lookout stands in Grant County, Oregon, on the Malheur National Forest, about 23 miles southwest of the town of John Day.1,2 Its first lookout was a crow's nest in a tree, which the register dates to the early 1920s. firelookout.com dates its use as the first lookout to 1922.1,2 Wikipedia dates the first lookout tower to the 1920s.3

A 20-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab went up in 1933.1,2 The present cab is a 14-by-14-foot R-6 flat-top with a catwalk.1 The register dates it to 1960, while firelookout.com dates it to 1966.1,2 Wikipedia also records other structures from 1933 and 1960.3 This story cannot settle the year of the cab.

The lookout was registered with the National Historic Lookout Register on January 8, 2003.1,3

Staffing has continued. A 2023 local news report listed Flagtail among the lookouts staffed on the Blue Mountain Ranger District through the summer.4 The register says veteran observer David Sheffel was staffing it as of 2025.1 firelookout.com describes it as staffed every summer.2

The forest says there is public parking at its lookouts, and that visitors are welcome during daylight hours.4 It also asks visitors to respect the staff after hours and when fire activity is high.4 Because the tower is staffed, check with the Malheur National Forest before you go.

  1. Flagtail Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/flagtail-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Flagtail Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/flagtail.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Flagtail Mountain, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagtail_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Malheur National Forest staffs fire lookouts, Elkhorn Media Group, https://elkhornmediagroup.com/?p=166912 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

August 2025 photo
August 2025 photo (2025)Photo: Donald Feltham, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Flagtail Mtn. in 1942
Flagtail Mtn. in 1942 (1942)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
East Flagtail Mtn. L.O.
East Flagtail Mtn. L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Flagtail Mtn. in 1968
Flagtail Mtn. in 1968 (1968)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Flagtail Mtn. crow's nest
Flagtail Mtn. crow's nestPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Flagtail Mtn. L.O.
Flagtail Mtn. L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Flagtail Mtn. in 2010
Flagtail Mtn. in 2010 (2010)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, U.S. Forest Service, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Flagtail Mtn. in 2013
Flagtail Mtn. in 2013 (2013)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1960
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1933
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1966

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

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, height, 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: 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: 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, 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.