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Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Modoc Point Lookout Site

Klamath County, OR steel tower bought as 80 ft in 1935 and extended to 120 ft; the register dates it 1933; gone by 1969, with footings recorded on a 2022 visit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower and cabin gone by 1969 per the register; footings and the lookout site were seen on a 2022 visit

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?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
The 2022 visit lists access as drive-up or close; a spur road leads to the top. The sources read do not say who controls the land now.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor steel tower, bought as 80 ft and extended to 120 ft; 12x16 living quarters cabinThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1933
Height
120 ft (36.6 m)
Elevation
6,651 ft (2,027 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service per the register; Klamath Indian Agency / Winema National Forest per Forest Lookouts
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.44863, −121.82530
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-modoc-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 3.0 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. 1933 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com date the tower and cabin to 1933; the Forest Service reports quoted by Forest Lookouts describe the work in 1935-1937Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1935 Event80-foot Aermotor steel tower bought from the Aermotor Company of Chicago; a survey then called for 120 feet and a 40-foot extensionSources: willhiteweb.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1936 Event12x16 living quarters cabin completed in NovemberSources: willhiteweb.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1937 EventTower complete except guy wires and lightning protection wiresSource: willhiteweb.com
  5. 1940 FireTwo fires caused by careless smokers on the Klamath Reservation on Sunday, July 28; one about a mile northwest of the lookout was controlled by grazing permit holders and Indian Service officersSources: willhiteweb.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1940 and 1959
  7. 1959 EventAdvertisement for bids by the Klamath Tribes naming the 120-foot steel tower and 12x16 cabinSource: willhiteweb.com
  8. 1968 EventLookout buildings sold to a Lakeview buyer for $35; contract required removal by December 30, 1969Source: willhiteweb.com
  9. 1969 RemovedGone by 1969 per the register; firelookout.com says 'Gone 1969'Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  10. No record between 1969 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered June 4, 2011 on the Former Fire Lookout Sites registerSource: firetower.org
  12. 2022 Condition assessmentVisited 2022 per WillhiteWeb: footings at the lookout site, an outhouse and a phone insulator on the final spur roadSource: willhiteweb.com
  13. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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.

Modoc Point is a former lookout site in Klamath County, Oregon, about nine miles south of Chiloquin, on the Winema National Forest.1,2

The sources disagree about when the tower went up. The Former Fire Lookout Sites register dates the tower and cabin to 1933.1,2 The Forest Lookouts page quotes Forest Service and Indian Service reports that point to a later build.3 A 1935 project note said the improvements would be on tribal lands, and that year an 80-foot steel tower was bought from the Aermotor Company of Chicago.3 A survey then found the site needed 120 feet, so a 40-foot extension was needed.4,3 A 12-by-16 living quarters cabin was completed in November 1936, and by 1937 the tower was complete except for its guy wires and lightning-protection wires.4,3

In 1940, two blazes started by careless smokers broke out on the Klamath Reservation on Sunday, July 28.4,3 One, about a mile northwest of the lookout, was controlled by grazing permit holders and Indian Service officers before it got under way.4,3

A 1959 bid notice from the Klamath Tribes described the 120-foot steel tower and its cabin.4 In 1968 the lookout buildings were sold to a buyer in Lakeview for $35, and the contract required removal by December 30, 1969.4 The register and firelookout.com both show the tower and cabin had disappeared by 1969.1,2

A 2022 visit recorded on WillhiteWeb found footings at the lookout site, an outhouse, and a phone insulator along the last stretch of road to the top.4 The page says the access road offers views of Upper Klamath Lake, and it lists access as drive-up or close.4 A 1961 Metsker map note on that page says the lookout site was not at the Modoc Point marked on maps.4 None of the sources we read says who controls the land today.

  1. Modoc Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/modoc-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Modoc Point Fire Lookout Tower, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.firelookout.com/or/modocpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Modoc Point, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/modoc-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Modoc Point Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, https://willhiteweb.com/oregon_lookouts/modoc_point/lookout_018.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Modoc Point Lookout 1939
Modoc Point Lookout 1939 (1939)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Modoc Point Lookout site 2007
Modoc Point Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, 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, ownership, 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: design, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, 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

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