FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Wallowa County, Oregon

Nebo Peak

Wallowa County, OR lookout: tower built 1933 (design disputed), known lookouts 1936-1946, removed or destroyed in the 1970s; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in the 1970s; no source read describes what remains on the summit

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?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Type unknownDisputed: register gives a 94' treated timber L-6 tower with cabin, cut to 72' in 1955; firelookout.com gives a 30' pole L-4 towerThe designs: L-4, L-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Wallowa National Forest (Forest Lookouts); Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (firelookout.com)
Land
Federal land
Location
Wallowa County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.16070, −117.13740
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-nebo-peak-2

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.9 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 EventNote found on the cabin wall, dated 1923; the Forest Lookouts page says the lookout was a retired sheepmanSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 BuiltTower built in 1933; the register gives a 94-foot L-6 with cabin, firelookout.com a 30-foot pole L-4Sources: firelookout.com, firetower.org
  3. 1936 StaffedLee Stickler listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  4. 1941 StaffedLynn Johnson listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  5. 1943 StaffedJim Jackman listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  6. 1946 StaffedChester Powjowsky listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  7. 1955 AlteredTrimmed to 72 feet with a 10x10-foot cab added, per the registerSource: firetower.org
  8. No record between 1955 and 1970
  9. 1970 RemovedOnly the decade is given: register says removed in the 1970s; firelookout.com says destroyed in the 1970sSources: firelookout.com, firetower.org
  10. No record between 1970 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 20, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  12. 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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Nebo Peak is in Wallowa County, Oregon.1 The Forest Lookouts page places it in the Wallowa National Forest, while firelookout.com names the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.1,2

A cabin stood on the peak by the 1920s.2 The Forest Lookouts page records a note found on the cabin wall in 1923 and describes the lookout as a retired sheepman with money in a bank that collapsed that spring.1

The sources disagree about the tower. The Former Fire Lookout Sites register describes a 94-foot treated timber L-6 tower with a cabin, built in 1933 and trimmed to 72 feet in 1955, when a 10-by-10-foot cab was added.3 firelookout.com instead describes a 30-foot pole L-4 tower from 1933.2 The register entry was made in August 2011, on the nomination of Ray Kresek.3

firelookout.com names four known lookouts: Lee Stickler in 1936, Lynn Johnson in 1941, Jim Jackman in 1943 and Chester Powjowsky in 1946.2

The register says the tower was removed in the 1970s.3 firelookout.com says it was destroyed in that decade.2 The sources agree on the decade but not on whether it was removed or destroyed.

Nothing we read describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today, or whether the public can reach it.

  1. Nebo Peak, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/nebo-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Nebo Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/nebopeak.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Nebo Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/nebo-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: name, location, county, status, agency, ownership, 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
  2. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.