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Fire lookout · Union County, Oregon

Point Prominence Lookout

Union County tower in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, first built in 1916 and rebuilt as an 82-ft timber tower with L-4 cab in 1954; still staffed in summer.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Staffed in summer. A 2012 visitor was not invited up to the lookout. The site is listed as publicly accessible, which does not give access to the lookout itself. Road 6220 and the spur road were in very bad shape in 2012.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
In 2012 the visitor parked at the base of the spur road and walked the last stretch. Road 6220 and the spur road were in very bad shape.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab on an 82-ft treated timber tower (1954)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
82 ft (25.0 m)
Elevation
6,710 ft (2,045 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Union County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.37175, −117.70211
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-point-prominence

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

Downloads about 4.2 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. 1916 BuiltFirst lookout completed on a 50-ft tower with a fire-finder (NHLR); an August 1916 Morning Oregonian item reports the fire-finder being installed.Sources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1916 and 1931
  3. 1931 BuiltSource: firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page
  4. 1931 RebuiltL-4 cab on a 30-ft pole tower, per NHLR and firelookout.com. Oregon Lookouts dates a new lookout to August 1930; the record's 1931 date follows the register.Sources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  5. 1933 StaffedEugene Robinson listed as lookout personnel (firelookout.com).Source: firelookout.com
  6. 1935 EventPanorama photographs taken, per Oregon Lookouts.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1935 and 1954
  8. 1954 Replaced by a new structure82-ft treated timber tower with L-4 cab erected about one-eighth (firelookout.com) or one-quarter (Oregon Lookouts) mile east of the 1931 location.Sources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  9. 1961 StaffedElton Thomas listed as lookout personnel (firelookout.com).Source: firelookout.com
  10. No record between 1961 and 2012
  11. 2012 StaffedVisitor report says the lookout is staffed in summer.Source: cherylhill.net
  12. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered July 5, 2022 as US 1638, OR 156.Source: nhlr.org
  13. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Point Prominence stands in Union County, Oregon, on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, about 18 miles east-northeast of La Grande.1,2 The National Historic Lookout Register says the first lookout here went up in 1916, on a 50-foot tower fitted with a fire-finder, and an August 1916 Morning Oregonian item reports that the fire-finder was being installed.1,3

A 30-foot tower carrying an L-4 cab went up in 1930 or 1931, and the sources disagree on the year. The register and firelookout.com date it to 1931, while the Oregon Lookouts history records a new lookout completed in August 1930.1,3,2

The tower standing today dates to 1954. It is an 82-foot tower of treated timber, topped by an L-4 cab and set a short distance from the older site. The sources disagree on the distance: firelookout.com says one-eighth of a mile, and Oregon Lookouts says one-quarter of a mile.1,3,2

The lookout has been staffed in summer.2,4 Firelookout.com says it is staffed every summer and names two lookouts from the past, one in 1933 and one in 1961.2 A 1935 entry records that panorama photos were taken.3 A 2012 visitor found the lookout still staffed in summer.4

The 1954 tower is still standing, and the register lists it as the current structure.1,5 It was registered on July 5, 2022, as US 1638, OR 156.1

Getting there is rough. In 2012 the visitor found the access road and the spur road to the summit in very bad shape, parked at the base of the spur, and walked the last stretch.4 The lookout staffer did not invite the visitor up, so they walked over to a rocky cliff instead.4 Cheryl Hill's list marks the site as accessible to the public, but it adds that this does not mean access to the lookout itself.5

  1. Point Prominence Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/point-prominence-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Pt. Prominence Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/ptprominence.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Point Prominence, Forest Lookouts (Oregon Lookouts), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/point-prominence.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Point Prominence, Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2012/09/25/point-prominence/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Oregon's Standing Lookouts, Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/oregons-standing-lookouts/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Point Prominence Lookout
Point Prominence LookoutPhoto: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Point Prominence Lookout - Circa 1942
Point Prominence Lookout - Circa 1942 (1942)Photo: Whitman National Forest, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Pt. Prominence in the 1930s
Pt. Prominence in the 1930s (1930)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Jerry Gildemeister collection, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Pt. Prominence in 1970
Pt. Prominence in 1970 (1970)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Jerry Gildemeister collection, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Pt. Prominence in 1970
Pt. Prominence in 1970 (1970)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Jerry Gildemeister collection, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Pt. Prominence L.O.
Pt. Prominence L.OPhoto: the U.S. Forest Service, Jerry Gildemeister collection, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Pt. Prominence in 2007
Pt. Prominence in 2007 (2007)Photo: the U.S. Forest Service, Jerry Gildemeister collection, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1931
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1954

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: design, height, staffing, dates, photos, 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) 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: links Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill, cherylhill.net) · No licence stated; facts only (name, agency, elevation, year built, design and height, status word, links). Posts' narrative and photos are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.