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Fire lookout · Union County, Oregon

Mount Emily Lookout Site - WWNF

Also known as Mount Emily

Union-Wallowa fire lookout on Mount Emily, Union County: cupola cabin 1916, 81 ft steel tower 1926, used for emergencies into the 1960s; now gone per the register.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register says the tower is now gone; firelookout.com says it has long since departed.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Union County runs the Mount Emily Recreation Area (MERA) as a multi-use recreation area. No source says whether the old lookout site is inside it.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerSteel tower (1926), earlier cupola cabin (1916) with a 20 ft platform (1922)The design: Cupola house
Built of
Steel
Built
1916
Height
81 ft (24.7 m)
Elevation
6,110 ft (1,862 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Union County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.43793, −118.09133
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-mount-emily-lookout-site-wwnf

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 3.7 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. 1913 EventLa Grande Observer (April 2, 1915) says the Mt. Emily telephone line was constructed during 1913 and is about six miles long; conflicts with the 1914 state reportSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1913 First staffedLowell Williamson selected as lookout man for the Union-Wallowa Forest Fire AssociationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1914 EventState forestry report, under its 1914 entries: five-mile telephone line constructed to the primary lookout point for prompt reports of firesSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1914 StaffedJohn Blumenstein reporting as lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1915 FireFire spotted from the summit lookout and reached by Union-Wallowa County fire-fightersSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1916 BuiltRegister dates the cupola cabin on the summit to 1916Source: firetower.org
  7. 1916 StaffedFrank (Abe) Perry named lookout for the 1916 seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1922 Altered20 ft platform addedSource: firetower.org
  9. 1926 Built81 ft steel tower constructedSource: firetower.org
  10. No record between 1926 and 1943
  11. 1943 StaffedBob Burgess on the lookoutSource: firelookout.com
  12. 1950 StaffedAvery Glenn, 1950-1951Source: firelookout.com
  13. 1954 StaffedWayne Smith on the lookoutSource: firelookout.com
  14. 1958 StaffedLowell Park on the lookoutSource: firelookout.com
  15. 1960 EventTower used for emergencies into the 1960sSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  16. No record between 1960 and 2008
  17. 2008 EventUnion County established the Mount Emily Recreation AreaSource: unioncountyor.gov
  18. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered with Former Fire Lookout Sites on January 20, 2011Source: firetower.org
  19. 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.

From much of the Grande Ronde Valley the mountain is in view, and its southern edge is a landmark for La Grande.1 It stands in Union County, Oregon.2 The Union-Wallowa Forest Fire Association put a lookout on the summit in 1913, and Lowell Williamson, son of a local timber operator, was selected as its lookout man.3 A state forestry report, under its 1914 entries, describes a five-mile telephone line to the lookout point, built to secure prompt reports of fires.3 A 1915 La Grande item, however, dates the line to 1913 and gives its length as about six miles.3

The register dates the summit's cupola cabin to 1916.4 A 20-foot platform was added in 1922, and an 81-foot steel tower was built in 1926.4 A local paper had proposed a 40-foot tower back in 1916, which is a different height from the one that was built.3

John Blumenstein was reporting from the lookout in 1914, and Frank "Abe" Perry was named lookout for 1916.3 In August 1915 the lookout spotted a fire, and Union-Wallowa County fire-fighters reached it.3 The record also names Bob Burgess in 1943, Avery Glenn in 1950 and 1951, Wayne Smith in 1954 and Lowell Park in 1958.2

Emergency use of the steel tower continued into the 1960s.4 The register says it is now gone, and firelookout.com says it has been gone for a long time.4,2

Union County now manages the Mount Emily Recreation Area (MERA). The county established it in 2008 and describes it as multi-use recreation.5 No source I read describes what, if anything, remains of the lookout on the summit.

  1. Mount Emily (Union County, Oregon), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Emily_(Union_County,_Oregon) (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Mt. Emily Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/mtemily104.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Mount Emily - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/mount-emily.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Mount Emily Lookout Site - WWNF, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/mount-emily-lookout-site-wwnf/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Mt. Emily Recreation Area, Union County, Oregon, https://unioncountyor.gov/public-works/parks/mt-emily-recreation-area/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Emily Lookout Site - WWNF
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1930
1930 (1930)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1928
1928 (1928)Photo: 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: 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, 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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