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Fire lookout · Wasco County, Oregon

Foreman Point Lookout Site

Oregon Dept. of Forestry lookout on Foreman Point, Wasco County: first tower 1936-37, timber replacement 1951-52, now gone. Sources disagree on dates.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The replacement timber tower is gone; no source describes what, if anything, remains on the site.

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 tower14-foot pole live-in tower (1937 per register); later timber tower, 40 or 41 ft, dated 1951-52The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1936
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
3,498 ft (1,066 m)
Agency
Oregon Department of Forestry
Land
Federal land
Location
Wasco County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.08711, −121.40101
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-foreman-point

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 its recorded height.

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. 1934 EventPanorama photographs taken March 21, 1934 (Robert Snyder)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1936 BuiltAbout 40-foot laminated timber tower, about 184 man-hours of labor (dated c.1936)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1936 StaffedLookout fireman Paul Dennis stationed at the tower, September 1936Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1937 Built14-foot pole live-in tower built by the Oregon Department of ForestrySources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  5. 1951 Replaced by a new structure41-foot treated timber L-4 tower (date given by the register only)Source: firetower.org
  6. 1952 Replaced by a new structureTimber replacement tower dated 1952: 41 ft per Forest Fire Lookout Association, 40 ft with 14x14 cab per Rex's pageSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  7. 1965 StaffedStation called four first discoveries in the fire seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1966 AlteredCab wired for electricity at 220 volts; only 110-volt service suppliedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1966 StaffedStation called two first reports this seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1967 AlteredGas stove installed in the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1967 and 2010
  12. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 24, 2010 as US 595, OR 36Source: firetower.org
  13. 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.

The Oregon Department of Forestry put a lookout on Foreman Point in Wasco County in the 1930s, but the sources disagree about the first structure.1,2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says a 14-foot pole live-in tower went up in 1937.1 A Rex's Fire Lookout Page entry instead describes a 40-foot laminated timber tower that took about 184 man-hours of labor, dated to around 1936.2 A September 1936 item quoted on the same page says a lookout fireman was stationed at the tower by then, which fits the earlier date.2

Panorama photographs were recorded for the site in 1934 and again in 1940.2

The first tower was replaced by a timber tower in 1951 or 1952.1,2,3 The register gives a 41-foot L-4 tower dated 1951,1 the Forest Fire Lookout Association gives 1952 and 41 feet,3 and the Rex's page gives 1952, a 40-foot tower and a 14-by-14 cab.2

The station's entries for the mid-1960s cover the fire season.2 The Rex's page notes four first discoveries in the 1965 fire season and two first reports in 1966.2 That year the cab was wired for 220 volts, though only 110-volt service was supplied at the time, and a gas stove went in during 1967.2 The page's record ends with the single word Removed, with no date.2

Today the site has no lookout.4 No source describes what, if anything, remains at the spot or whether it is open to visitors. The site sits at 3,498 feet (1,066 m) in Wasco County, about 25 miles southeast of Mount Hood.1,3

  1. Foreman Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/foreman-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Foreman Point, Rex's Fire Lookout Page (Forest Lookouts), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/foreman-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Foreman Point Fire Lookout Tower, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.firelookout.com/or/foremanpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Oregon Fire Lookouts list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/or/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Foreman Point Lookout panoramic 6-16-40
Foreman Point Lookout panoramic 6-16-40Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Foreman Point Lookout site 2011
Foreman Point Lookout site 2011 (2011)Photo: Howard Verschoor, 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, 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: height, ownership, 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, height, status, agency, 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

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