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Fire lookout · Wheeler County, Oregon

Peterson Point Lookout Site

Wheeler County lookout site: 1930 crow's nest and tent cabin, 66-foot L-6 tower in 1941, removed or destroyed in the 1950s; no source describes it today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in the 1950s; the register says removed and firelookout.com says destroyed

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
Cab on a tower66-foot wooden L-6 tower and cabin, built in 1941 to replace a 1930 crow's nest and tent cabinThe design: L-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1930
Height
66 ft (20.1 m)
Elevation
6,194 ft (1,888 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Wheeler County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.46417, −120.08454
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-peterson-point

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1928 EventCentral Oregonian, August 9, 1928 (quoted on Weebly): a new telephone line completed to near Peterson Point, set to end at a secondary observation pointSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1929 EventNewspaper item announced plans for a lookout tower on the point; no source read says it was builtSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1930 BuiltCrow's nest and tent cabin set upSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  4. 1930 StaffedDick Helms named as the emergency fireman at the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1941 Replaced by a new structureCrow's nest and tent cabin replaced by a 66-foot wooden L-6 tower and cabinSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  6. 1950 RemovedRemoved (register) or destroyed (firelookout.com) in the 1950s; exact year not given, 1950 entered as the decadeSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1950 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered June 25, 2011Source: firetower.org
  9. 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.

Peterson Point sits at 6,194 feet (1,888 m) in the Ochoco National Forest, in Wheeler County, Oregon, about 8 miles south-southeast of Mitchell.1,2

In August 1928 a new telephone line was completed to near Peterson Point, set to end at a secondary observation point, according to a Central Oregonian item quoted on the Weebly page.3 A March 1929 item from the same paper announced that a lookout tower would be built there for smoky weather and after electrical storms.3

The register dates a crow's nest and tent cabin to 1930. The Weebly page names Dick Helms as the emergency fireman posted there that year.3,1 In 1941 they were replaced by a 66-foot wooden L-6 tower and cabin.1,2

The register says the tower and cabin were taken down in the 1950s, while firelookout.com says they were destroyed in that decade.1,2

No source read describes what, if anything, remains on the point today.1,2,3

  1. Peterson Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/peterson-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Peterson Point Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/petersonpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Peterson Point - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/peterson-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Peterson Point Lookout 1942
Peterson Point Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Peterson Point Lookout panoramic 10-18-1934
Peterson Point Lookout panoramic 10-18-1934 (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via 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: 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, staffing, 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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