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Fire lookout · Jefferson County, Oregon

Olallie Butte Lookout Site

Jefferson County summit lookout in use from the 1910s to 1967; cupola collapsed in 1982 and remains are on the summit within the Warm Springs Reservation.

Tribal land: permission required

This site is on tribal land. Ask the tribe for permission before visiting, and follow its rules. The summit lies within the Warm Springs Reservation. A hiking guide lists no fees or permits. The former National Forest trail is no longer officially maintained.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cupola collapsed in 1982; the rocky base and a few weathered timbers remain on the summit

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Tribal land: permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Reached by a former National Forest trail that is no longer officially maintained

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabThe design: Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1913
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
7,215 ft (2,199 m)
Agency
Warm Springs Indian Reservation
Land
Tribal land
Location
Jefferson County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.82168, −121.76381
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-olallie-butte

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. 1911 EventA lookout point was set up, with an Osborne fire-finder installed on a postSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1913 BuiltLumber lookout structure, 7 by 10 feet, completed July 30, 1913 per a 1958 historical file; built by Bush OsborneSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, outdoorpilgrim.com
  3. 1915 Built30-foot steel windmill tower with 6x6 cab and tent cabin (register and firelookout.com)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  4. 1920 BuiltCupola cabin builtSource: firetower.org
  5. 1921 StaffedJohn Lewis went up as lookout for the summer (Maupin Times item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1926 FireFire on Woodside Point reported July 5 by Lookout Curran; started from blasting on the Clackamas River trail; put out by midnightSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1926 StaffedW.E. Curran resumed his duties as lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1929 StaffedCalvin Burnside announced as summer lookout, a job he had held the season beforeSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1929 and 1967
  10. 1967 AbandonedForest Service stopped using the lookout; cabin abandonedSources: firetower.org, outdoorpilgrim.com, oregonhikers.org
  11. 1972 EventAbout 61,360 acres of Mount Hood and Willamette forest land placed in the Warm Springs Reservation, lookout includedSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, outdoorpilgrim.com
  12. 1982 DestroyedCupola fell through the roof; remains left on the summitSources: firetower.org, outdoorpilgrim.com
  13. No record between 1982 and 2010
  14. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered September 19, 2010Source: firetower.org
  15. 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.

Olallie Butte is a 7,215-foot summit in Jefferson County, Oregon.1,2 A 1911 entry says a lookout point was set up there, with an early fire-finder mounted on a post.3 The sources disagree about the first real structure.1,2,3,4 A 1958 historical file, quoted on one Oregon lookout list, puts a lumber structure on the summit in July 1913, measuring 7 by 10 feet and built by Bush Osborne.3,4 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register and firelookout.com instead describe a 30-foot steel windmill tower with a 6-by-6-foot cab and a tent cabin, put up in 1915.1,2 The register adds that a cupola cabin followed in 1920.1

Newspaper items quoted on that same list name some of the people who staffed it.3 A 1921 item reported that John Lewis had taken the summer lookout job.3 In 1926 W.E. Curran was back on duty.3 That July, the lookout Curran reported a fire on Woodside Point, which had started from blasting on the Clackamas River trail.3 A ranger and a patrolman put it out by midnight.3 In 1929 a paper said Calvin Burnside would take the summer job again, as he had the season before.3

The Forest Service stopped using the lookout in 1967, and the cabin was abandoned that year.4,1 In 1972 Congress placed 61,360 acres of Mount Hood and Willamette forest land inside the Warm Springs Reservation, and the lookout sat on that land.3,4 In 1982 the cupola caved in through the roof.1,4 One guide instead says a windstorm later pushed the wooden lookout off its foundation.5

Today the summit sits within the Warm Springs Reservation.1,5 Oregon Hikers says the old lookout's remains can still be seen at the top.5 A hiking guide says the former National Forest trail to it is no longer officially maintained, and another lists no fees or permits for the trip.5,4 Outdoor Pilgrim says only the rocky base and some weathered timber are left.4 Visitors should check the reservation's rules before going.

  1. Olallie Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/olallie-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Olallie Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/olalliebutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Olallie Butte, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/olallie-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Olallie Butte, Outdoor Pilgrim, https://outdoorpilgrim.com/oregon-cohp-ollalie-butte/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Olallie Butte, Oregon Hikers Field Guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Olallie_Butte (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Olallie Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1953
1953 (1953)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, access, 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: 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, 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

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