FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Old Baldy Lookout Site

Klamath County cupola lookout built on Old Baldy in 1924 and gone by 1961. No source describes what, if anything, remains at the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed, destroyed or burned in 1961, depending on the source

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
Two-story buildingD-6The design: D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1924
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,340 ft (1,932 m)
Agency
Klamath FPA
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.24776, −122.28873
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-old-baldy

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 3.7 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. 1924 BuiltCupola lookout house on an enclosed tower of about ten feet, replacing a lookout tree on Brush MountainSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1924 StaffedStan Peterson stationed there for summer 1924 (Medford Mail Tribune item quoted on Rex's page)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1934 StaffedMen from a South Fork of the Rogue CCC camp sent to Old Baldy to act as lookouts (Medford Mail Tribune item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 1961
  5. 1961 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com says destroyed; Rex's page says it burned, no longer neededSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1961 and 2011
  7. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered June 4, 2011Source: firetower.org
  8. 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.

In 1924 the Forest Service put up a cupola-style lookout house on Old Baldy, a 6,340-foot peak in Klamath County, about 22 miles east-northeast of Ashland.1,2,3 The register lists Klamath FPA as the administering office.1 Floyd Murray and others cut the materials for the house at a Medford warehouse.3 It sat on an enclosed tower about ten feet tall and replaced an older lookout tree on Brush Mountain.3

The names in the papers differ from one item to the next.3 A June 1924 newspaper item said Stan Peterson was stationed there again that summer.3 A September 1924 item called the lookout Dan Pederson, and an October 1925 item said Dan Peterson had held Brush Mountain or Old Baldy for thirteen consecutive years.3 In 1934 a Medford paper reported that men from a South Fork of the Rogue CCC camp were being sent to Old Baldy to work as lookouts.3

Accounts also differ on how the lookout ended.1,2,3 The register says the cupola cabin was removed in 1961, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1,2 A lookout history page says the lookout burned in 1961, after it was no longer needed.3

No source describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether the public can reach it.1,2,3

  1. Old Baldy Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/old-baldy-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Old Baldy Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/oldbaldy.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Old Baldy, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/old-baldy.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Old Baldy Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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: what it is built of, design, 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, 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.