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Fire lookout · Wasco County, Oregon

Postage Stamp Butte Lookout Site

Also known as Postage Stamp

Wasco County, OR lookout site: rag camp 1927, tower c.1932, state-owned from 1950, removed after 1965; little remains per Oregon Hikers.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed per the Forest Lookouts history; FFLOS says it has since disappeared; little remains per Oregon Hikers, and an antenna stands on the butte

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
Trail
Postage Stamp Butte Loop, moderate, 4.4 mi, 780 ft gain, per Oregon Hikers; the guide quotes a former lookout on numerous large rattlesnakes in the area

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerSources disagree: 10' wooden live-in tower (c.1932); 12' timber tower with 12x12 cab (1933); 8' wooden L-4 (1945)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1932
Height
12 ft (3.7 m)
Elevation
2,903 ft (885 m)
Agency
Oregon Department of Forestry (state ownership from 1950; built by the Mount Hood National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Wasco County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.29253, −121.22864
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-postage-stamp-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 4.1 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. 1927 EventRag camp set up at the siteSources: firelookout.com, firetower.org
  2. 1932 Built10-foot wooden live-in tower, about this dateSources: firelookout.com, firetower.org
  3. 1933 BuiltForest Lookouts history: 12-foot timber tower with 12x12 cab, built with CCC labor; differs from the 1932 tower in the other sourcesSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1945 Replaced by a new structure8-foot wooden L-4 tower constructedSources: firelookout.com, firetower.org
  5. 1950 EventState assumed ownership of the stationSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, oregonhikers.org
  6. 1960 FireStation reported the White River #1 fire (September 9) and the White River #2 fire (September 15)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1963 AlteredCab replaced (FFLOS and firelookout.com); Forest Lookouts history says material from Lost Lake Butte lookout was salvaged for this siteSources: firelookout.com, firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1964 EventTower material bought, pre-cut and sent for treatmentSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1965 EventNo first reports called in from the station during fire season; the page then lists the lookout as removed, with no dateSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1965 and 2010
  11. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on September 20, 2010Source: firetower.org
  12. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Postage Stamp Butte sits about 21 miles south of The Dalles in Wasco County, Oregon.1 A rag camp was set up at the site in 1927, and a 10-foot wooden live-in tower replaced it around 1932.1,2 Accounts differ after that. The Forest Lookouts history describes a 12-foot timber tower with a 12-by-12 cab, built in 1933 with Civilian Conservation Corps labor.3 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register and firelookout.com both describe an 8-foot wooden L-4 tower put up in 1945, with its cab replaced in 1963.1,2 An Oregon Hikers field guide credits the Mount Hood National Forest with building the lookout.4

Some early staff and events turn up in newspaper notes that the Forest Lookouts history reproduces. Jean Frances Frey, who was 18, had been stationed at the lookout since June 1926 while working as a fire dispatcher for the White River district.3 In July 1931 a Dufur district ranger reported that water had to be hauled seven miles to the station, the first time in six years.3 In September 1960 the station reported the White River #1 fire on September 9 and the White River #2 fire on September 15.3

The state took over the site in 1950.3,4 The sources disagree about 1963. The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says the cab was replaced then, while the Forest Lookouts history says material from the Lost Lake Butte lookout was salvaged and set aside for this site.2,3 In 1964 that material was bought, pre-cut and sent for treatment.3 The 1965 entry says there were no first fire reports from the station that season, and the page then lists the lookout as removed, with no date.3 firelookout.com gives 1963 as its date and leaves the end date open.1

Accounts of the site today are thin. The Oregon Hikers field guide says little remains of the lookout, and that an antenna stands on the butte's second-highest summit.4 The same guide describes a moderate loop of about 4.4 miles that reaches the spot, and passes on a former lookout's note about numerous large rattlesnakes in the area.4 We did not find a land manager's statement on access, so check before you go.

  1. Postage Stamp Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/postagestampbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Postage Stamp Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/postage-stamp-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Postage Stamp, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/postage-stamp.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Postage Stamp Butte Lookout Site, Oregon Hikers Field Guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Postage_Stamp_Butte_Lookout_Site (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Postage Stamp Butte Lookout Site
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, 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, 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, design, height, status, agency, 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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