FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Grant/Baker County, Oregon

Pogue Point Lookout Site

Grant/Baker County, OR: 43-ft platform in the 1920s, 41-ft tower from 1949, emergency use in the 1960s, demolished 1986; no source describes remains.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Demolished during the winter of 1986 per Forest Lookouts; the register and firelookout.com list it as gone; no source describes remains

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 tower41-foot treated timber tower with a 14 by 14 foot lookout houseThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1920
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
5,697 ft (1,736 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Malheur/Wallowa-Whitman National Forests)
Land
Federal land
Location
Grant/Baker County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.59093, −118.31160
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-pogue-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.

Downloads about 3.6 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. 1920 Built43-foot pole platform; sources date it only to the 1920s (Forest Lookouts gives 45 feet)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 Built22-foot wooden L-4 tower per the register and firelookout.com; Forest Lookouts does not mention itSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  3. 1948 EventForest Service contract awarded to Dick Hindman of Baker for a new tower and house (The Record-Courier, July 22, 1948)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1949 RemovedOld 45-foot pole platform torn down as of no further valueSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1949 Replaced by a new structure41-foot tower replaced the earlier structureSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1952 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Zelador arrived for the summer; Mr. Zelador to be stationed as fire lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1960 EventUsed for emergencies in the 1960s (decade only)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  8. 1962 StaffedBob Fiore left; Mr. and Mrs. John Hauk replaced himSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1963 StaffedRoy Howard stationed during the fire danger season (notice dated October 3, 1963)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1963 and 1986
  11. 1986 RemovedTower demolished during the winterSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. No record between 1986 and 2011
  13. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered June 25, 2011 as US 1078, OR 436; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  14. 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.

Pogue Point lies about 12 miles north-northwest of Unity, in the Malheur and Wallowa-Whitman national forests.1,2

The Former Fire Lookout Sites register and firelookout.com describe the first lookout as a 43-foot pole platform set up in the 1920s. They say it was replaced in 1934 by a 22-foot wooden L-4 tower.2,1 Forest Lookouts describes the platform as 45 feet tall, and its 1937 notes describe a lookout station still to be built at the point, which is hard to square with a 1934 tower.3

In July 1948 the Forest Service awarded a contract to Dick Hindman of Baker to build a new tower and house there.3 In 1949 a 41-foot CT-2 tower with a 14-by-14-foot lookout house replaced the old platform, which was torn down.3 The register calls the 1949 structure a 41-foot treated timber L-4 tower instead.2

In 1952 Mr. and Mrs. Zelador came from Texas for the summer, and Mr. Zelador, who worked on a Forest Service crew, was to be stationed at the lookout.3 In September 1962 Bob Fiore left Pogue Point and was replaced by Mr. and Mrs. John Hauk, although the same notice said the Unity-area lookouts were no longer manned by summer personnel.3 In October 1963 Roy Howard was stationed there during the fire danger season.3

The register says the tower was used for emergencies in the 1960s and is now gone.2 firelookout.com's summary reads "Emergency 1960s. Gone."1 Forest Lookouts says the tower was demolished during the winter of 1986.3

We found no source that describes what remains at the Pogue Point site today, or whether the public can reach it.

  1. Pogue Point Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://www.firelookout.com/or/poguepoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Pogue Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/pogue-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Pogue Point, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/pogue-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Pogue Point 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, 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: height, 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, 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.