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Fire lookout · Crook County, Oregon

Gerow Butte Lookout

Crook County lookout first built in 1934, rebuilt in 1968 or 1969 as a 60-ft timber tower with an R6 cabin; on private land, not open to the public.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. Private land; NHLR says the lookout is not accessible 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
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR6 Flat Top cabin atop a 60-ft open timber tower (current structure)The design: R-6
Built of
Not recorded
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
5,691 ft (1,735 m)
Agency
Oregon Department of Forestry (NHLR lists Ochoco Timber Company as cooperator)
Land
Federal land
Location
Crook County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.26341, −120.46013
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-gerow-butte

View from the cab

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History

Then and now

  1. 1934 BuiltFirst wooden tower and cabin; a 1934 newspaper gives 66 ft, firelookout.com gives a 50-ft pole towerSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com, nhlr.org
  2. 1934 First staffedGordon McNely and his wife took charge in July 1934; before this the fireman was posted at a shearing plantSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1953
  4. 1953 StaffedA teacher's wife and her 12-year-old son manned the station while her husband was at summer schoolSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1964 FireSeven fires reported during the season; a season count, not a single fireSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1968 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  7. 1968 RebuiltNHLR dates the replacement tower and cabin to 1968; firelookout.com and the 1969 annual report point to 1969Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1968 and 2022
  9. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 23, 2022 as US 1616, OR 140Source: 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.

Gerow Butte Lookout sits in Crook County, about 20 miles east of Prineville, on private land in the middle of the Ochoco Timber Company's holdings.1,2,3

The first lookout went up in 1934, when Ira Swift and his crew finished a wooden tower with an observatory and cabin at the company's center. Until then the fireman had been posted at a shearing plant, where he could do no detection work at all. The new site let him watch for fires and patrol the timber as well.2 Sources disagree on the first tower's height: a 1934 newspaper says 66 feet, while firelookout.com gives 50 feet.2,3

Gordon McNely and his wife took charge in July 1934, and newspapers name a string of couples and families in the years after.2 In June 1953 a high school teacher's wife and her 12-year-old son manned the station while her husband was at summer school.2 No single large fire turns up in the pages read.2 The station's work shows up as counts instead: seven fires reported in 1964, and 12 first reports in 1965.2

The tower was kept up through the 1950s and 1960s. It was painted in 1956 and its stairs were repaired in 1965.2 In 1967 treated poles were bought and delivered for a new tower.2 According to the NHLR, the present tower and cabin date from 1968 and took the place of the 1934 structures.1 Firelookout.com and a 1969 annual report put the rebuild in 1969, with the tower finished as winter set in.2,3 The current design is an R6 Flat Top cabin on a 60-foot open timber tower.1 Firelookout.com says the Oregon Department of Forestry cab is staffed every summer, though that page is undated.3

The site joined the National Historic Lookout Register on June 23, 2022, as US 1616, OR 140.1 It is private land, and the NHLR says the lookout is not accessible to the public.1,3 Visitors should not try to climb or enter the tower.

  1. Gerow Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/gerow-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Gerow Butte, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/gerow-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Gerow Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/gerowbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Gerow Butte Lookout - 2009
Gerow Butte Lookout - 2009 (2009)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout with garage and residence cabin - 1942
Lookout with garage and residence cabin - 1942 (1942)Photo: Ochoco National Forest, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Gerow Butte in 1942
Gerow Butte in 1942 (1942)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, the Fire Lookout Museum, and Ron Kemnow, via firelookout.com · source
Gerow Butte in 1969
Gerow Butte in 1969 (1969)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, the Fire Lookout Museum, and Ron Kemnow, via firelookout.com · source
Gerow Butte in 2009
Gerow Butte in 2009 (2009)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, the Fire Lookout Museum, and Ron Kemnow, via firelookout.com · source

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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: 1968
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1969
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1934

    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, register numbers, agency, 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: height, ownership, 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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) 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, height, status, 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

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