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Fire lookout · Union County, Oregon

Mount Harris Lookout

Also known as Mount Harris Lookout Tow

A lookout has stood on Mount Harris since 1930; the current 40-foot tower dates from 1957 and is standing but listed as abandoned.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
A 2012 visit describes a rough road, left partway, then a hike of about 1.8 miles to the top.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot open timber tower with a live-in cabThe design: Cupola house
Built of
Wood
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
5,270 ft (1,606 m)
Agency
Oregon Department of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Union County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.44045, −117.89313
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-mount-harris

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 3.8 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. 1930 BuiltFirst lookout on the summit; first used in 1930.Sources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1937 StaffedForest Log, August 1937: Al Geiss described as the lookout on Mt. Harris.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 EventForest Lookouts dates a 14x14 cab on a 30-foot tower to 1942; firelookout.com dates the wooden tower to the late 1930s.Sources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  4. 1954 AlteredRock blasted near the top to widen and improve the road to the lookout.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1954 StaffedFlorence Beck listed as lookout personnel.Source: firelookout.com
  6. 1956 AlteredA new radio repeater installed on the mountain.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1957 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  8. 1957 Replaced by a new structureCurrent 40-foot tower with live-in cab built at a slightly different location, replacing the earlier tower.Sources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  9. 1958 RemovedOld lookout tower dismantled; salvaged material used for a repeater building under the new tower.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1958 and 2022
  11. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterDate registered July 5, 2022.Source: nhlr.org
  12. 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.

Mount Harris rises in Union County, about 12 miles northeast of La Grande, and the Oregon Department of Forestry administers the lookout on its summit.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register says a lookout first stood there in 1930.1

A 1930 Forest Log item describes a lookout house under construction on the mountain, with a road being built that will let cars come a short distance from the summit, and about four miles of phone line to reach the district warden.3 Sources disagree on the tower that followed. Firelookout.com says a 30-foot wooden live-in tower went up in the late 1930s, while Forest Lookouts dates a 14-by-14 cab on a 30-foot tower to 1942.3,2

In 1957 a new tower with a live-in cab went up at a slightly different spot.1 The register describes an open timber structure 40 feet tall, while Forest Lookouts calls it a laminated structure completed in October for $2,000.1,3 Firelookout.com calls it a treated timber tower, so the sources do not agree on materials.2

The two named lookouts in these sources are Al Geiss, described as the lookout on Mt. Harris in August 1937,3 and Florence Beck, listed for 1954.2 That year rock near the top was blasted away to widen the road for supply trips, and in 1956 a new radio repeater went in on the mountain.3

The old tower was dismantled in 1958, and its salvaged material went into a repeater building under the new one.3 Firelookout.com says the lookout has been severely vandalized.2 A 2012 visitor recorded its status as abandoned and found the summit crowded with radio towers and antennas, with the lookout itself used to hold some of the radio equipment.4 The register added the tower on July 5, 2022.1

A directory of Oregon lookouts lists the tower as standing.5 The 2012 account describes a rough road that the visitor left partway, followed by a hike of about 1.8 miles to the top.4 The sources do not say whether the road or summit is open to the public today, or whether the tower can be entered. Anyone planning a trip should check with the Oregon Department of Forestry first, and should not assume that an abandoned tower is open to climb.

  1. Mount Harris Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/mount-harris-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mt. Harris Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/harris.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Mount Harris, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/mount-harris.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Mt. Harris – Every Lookout in Oregon, Cheryl Hill, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2012/09/25/mt-harris/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Oregon lookout list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/or/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Mount Harris Lookout - 2012
Mount Harris Lookout - 2012 (2012)Photo: Cheryl Hill, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Mount Harris Lookout - 1970
Mount Harris Lookout - 1970 (1970)Photo: John Wright - Gildemeister Archive, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Mt. Harris in the 1950s
Mt. Harris in the 1950s (1950)Photo: the Jerry Gildemeister collection and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Harris in 1970
Mt. Harris in 1970 (1970)Photo: the Jerry Gildemeister collection and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Harris in 2000
Mt. Harris in 2000 (2000)Photo: the Jerry Gildemeister collection and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Harris in 2006
Mt. Harris in 2006 (2006)Photo: the Jerry Gildemeister collection 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.

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: 1957
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1971

    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, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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

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