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Fire lookout · Harney County, Oregon

King Mountain Lookout

Harney County summit lookout; a 1957 10-foot steel tower and cab replaced an earlier cupola cabin. Unstaffed by 2021; removal proposed.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. A visitor drove Road 503 to the summit in July 2021; no closure is stated in the sources. The road is rough and rutted. Whether the cab is open to visitors is not stated.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
About 2.5 miles of Road 503 from Road 2820; the July 2021 visitor parked and walked the final 0.7 miles
Staffing
Not staffed (as of 2021)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower10-foot steel tower topped by a steel cab, to the Forest Service steel design the register describesThe designs: D-6, CL-100
Built of
Steel
Height
18 ft (5.5 m)
Elevation
6,645 ft (2,025 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Malheur National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Harney County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.80935, −118.86783
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-king-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 3.5 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. 1923 BuiltCupola cabin; a July 1923 newspaper note says lookout house material was on the ground and being framedSources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, cherylhill.net
  2. 1924 EventStation closed for the year in September; smoke chasers relievedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1926 EventNewly graded road from the base of King Mountain to serve the lookout that seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1933 EventRegister's date for a cabin that followed a 1920s cupola; the other sources do not mention itSource: nhlr.org
  5. 1934 Built16 by 18 foot Aladdin plan garage, per a structural inventorySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1946 StaffedMrs. Harold Patton and Mrs. Ray McKinnon to alternate as lookoutsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1957 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  8. 1957 Replaced by a new structure10-foot steel tower with steel cab replaced the cupola cabin; register gives 1957 as the build yearSources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, cherylhill.net
  9. No record between 1957 and 1987
  10. 1987 Condition assessmentStructural inspection notes dated 8/4/87 by J. Amann, listed on the Forest Lookouts pageSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1987 and 2003
  12. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered per NHLR detail page: March 1, 2003Source: NHLR register entry
  13. No record between 2003 and 2021
  14. 2021 Condition assessmentJuly 3, 2021 visit: lookout no longer staffed; site used for communications equipmentSource: cherylhill.net
  15. 2021 EventMalheur National Forest has proposed taking the lookout down; the date of the proposal is not statedSource: cherylhill.net
  16. 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.

King Mountain rises about 18 miles north-northeast of Burns, in Harney County, on the Malheur National Forest.1,2 Before the current tower, the summit held a cupola cabin, which two pages date to 1923.1,3 A July 1923 newspaper note reports that building material for the lookout house had arrived on site and that a lookout was framing it.2 The register dates a cupola to the 1920s and a cabin to 1933, so the early chronology is not settled.4

The present lookout went up in 1957, as a 10-foot steel tower with a steel cab.4,2 The register calls this Forest Service steel design very functional, notes that it is unexpectedly quiet in strong wind, and says it takes little upkeep.4 A 1957 newspaper item says a contractor was building the tower and cabin that year.2

In September 1924 the station was closed for the year, and its smoke chasers were relieved.2 A 1926 item reports that a newly graded road from the base of the mountain would serve the lookout that season.2 A structural inventory dates a 16-by-18-foot garage to 1934.2 In 1946 two lookouts, Mrs. Harold Patton and Mrs. Ray McKinnon, were to alternate on the post.2 The sources I read do not name a notable fire from the lookout's career.

By the July 2021 visit, the lookout was no longer staffed. The site was then used for communications equipment, and the Malheur National Forest had proposed taking the lookout down.3 Another page describes the cab as available for emergencies.1 The sources do not say when that removal was proposed.

The latest visit report I found is from July 2021.3 The summit is reached by about 2.5 miles of Road 503, which leaves Road 2820, and the road is rough and rutted near the top.3 On that visit the writer parked and walked the final 0.7 miles.3 The sources do not say whether the cab itself is open to visitors, so check with the Malheur National Forest about road conditions and site rules before you go.

  1. King Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Forest Fire Lookout Page, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/kingmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. King Mountain, Forest Lookouts, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/king-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. King Mountain Lookout, Every Lookout in Oregon, Cheryl Hill, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2021/08/24/king-mountain/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. King Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, nhlr.org, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/king-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of King Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
King Mtn. in 1930
King Mtn. in 1930 (1930)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
King Mtn. in 1953
King Mtn. in 1953 (1953)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
King Mtn. L.O.
King Mtn. L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, 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: 1957
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1923
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1957

    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: 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) Gave us: height, 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: register numbers, 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, agency, access, staffing, 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

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