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Fire lookout · Morrow County, Oregon

Madison Butte Lookout

Madison Butte: 1923 cupola house replaced by a 37-ft steel tower in 1957; Forest Service still staffs it each summer; hike-in trail with no fee.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Staffed each summer. The hiking trail is open with no fee and a rough road to the top was gated in late May 2024. The sources read do not say whether the cab is open to visitors.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Madison Butte Trail #3054 starts just past the Tupper Work Center off FS Road 21 and ends 1 mile west of the lookout on FS Road 2119-033. No fee. Heppner Ranger District (541) 676-9187.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower13x13 Plan CL-100 cab on a 37-ft K-brace steel tower; replaced a 1923 D-6 cupola ground cabThe designs: D-6, CL-100
Built of
Steel
Built
1923
Height
37 ft (11.3 m)
Elevation
5,642 ft (1,720 m)
Agency
US Forest Service, Umatilla National Forest (Heppner Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Morrow County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.10741, −119.47482
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-madison-butte

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 3.6 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 First staffedMilt Spurlock recorded as lookout the year a new telephone line was constructed; earliest named lookout in the sources readSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1923 BuiltGlass-enclosed lookout house reported under construction in August 1923; NHLR describes the D-6 cupola as a 1923 structureSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  3. 1925 FireFour fires reported from the lookout, all on state-protected landSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1932 FireJuly lightning storm struck the butte four times and shook the lookout house; a 1932 letter counts five lightning fires and one man-caused fire that JulySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1932 and 1957
  6. 1957 BuiltPresent tower dated 1957 by NHLR and Forest LookoutsSources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1957 Replaced by a new structure37-ft steel tower with a CL-100 cab replaced the 1923 D-6 cupolaSources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, cherylhill.net
  8. 1958 EventUmatilla National Forest file, quoted on Forest Lookouts: the new tower and house were used for the first time this yearSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1961 StaffedDistrict report: a lookout was stationed after a June 16 storm and the post has been manned continuously sinceSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1967 StaffedVicky Ringsdorf of Eugene, first woman to serve as a lookout in the districtSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1969 EventUSGS recovery note says a tower was torn down about 15 years earlier and a newer one rebuilt nearby; the note does not say whether this is the 1957 towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. 1980 EventHeppner district placed a citizens band radio on the lookout to monitor Channel 9 and let forest visitors report firesSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  13. No record between 1980 and 2022
  14. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered per NHLR detail page: July 4, 2022Source: NHLR register entry
  15. 2024 StaffedVisit page lists the lookout as Staffed; on the late-May 2024 visit it was not yet staffed early in the seasonSource: 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.

Madison Butte is a summit on the Umatilla National Forest in Morrow County, Oregon. The National Historic Lookout Register gives its elevation as 5,642 feet, while a 2024 visitor's page gives 5,707 feet.1,2 Someone was watching the butte by 1922, when Milt Spurlock was the lookout and a new telephone line was constructed.3

In August 1923 a Heppner paper reported that a lookout house was going up on the butte. The paper described it as enclosed in glass and fitted with up-to-date fire-detection gear.3 The NHLR calls that first structure a D-6 cupola ground cab.1 In 1957 a 37-foot steel tower with a CL-100 cab replaced it, and both the NHLR and the Forest Lookouts page date the present tower to 1957.1,3,2 A Forest Service file quoted on the Forest Lookouts page says the new tower was first used in 1958.3 A 1969 survey note on the Oregon lookouts page says an earlier tower came down about 15 years before, and a newer one was rebuilt nearby. The sources do not say whether that note describes the 1957 tower, so the early history is not fully settled.3

Lookouts kept watch through the fire seasons. A 1961 district report said the post had been manned without a break since a June storm that year.3 In 1967 a Eugene woman, Vicky Ringsdorf, became the district's first female lookout.3 In 1980 the Heppner district placed a citizens band radio on the lookout to monitor the emergency channel, so visitors could report fires.3

Fires came often enough to be recorded. In 1925 four fires were reported from the lookout, all on state-protected land.3 A July 1932 storm struck the butte four times and shook the lookout house. A 1932 letter quoted on the Forest Lookouts page counted five lightning fires and one man-caused fire that month.3

The tower is still in service. A 2024 visit page lists the lookout as staffed, and firelookout.com describes the present 37-foot all-steel live-in tower as staffed every summer.4,2 The same visitor found it not yet staffed in late May, early in the season.2

Hikers can reach the site on Madison Butte Trail #3054, which starts just past the Tupper Work Center off Forest Service Road 21 and carries no fee.5 A rough road also climbs to the top, but the 2024 visitor found it gated at that time of year.2 The tower is staffed each summer, so treat the cab as a working space and check with the Heppner Ranger District at (541) 676-9187 before you go.4,5

  1. Madison Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/madison-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Madison Butte – Every Lookout in Oregon, cherylhill.net, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2024/05/26/madison-butte/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Madison Butte, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/madison-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Madison (Matteson) Butte Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/madisonbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Madison Butte Trail #3054, USDA Forest Service Umatilla National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/umatilla/recreation/trails/madison-butte-trail-3054 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Madison Butte Lookout - 2008
Madison Butte Lookout - 2008 (2008)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/madison-butte.html - 1960
https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/madison-butte.html - 1960 (1960)Photo: Umatilla National Forest, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Madison Butte in 1952
Madison Butte in 1952 (1952)Photo: the Umatilla N.F. and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Madison Butte in 1958
Madison Butte in 1958 (1958)Photo: the Umatilla N.F. and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Madison Butte in 2002
Madison Butte in 2002 (2002)Photo: the Umatilla N.F. 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.

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, 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) Gave us: height 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, height, 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

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