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Fire lookout · Morrow County, Oregon

Potamus Point Lookout Site

Morrow County, OR lookout site: 60' wooden L-4 built in the 1930s, staffed 1934-1937, now gone; the Forest Service lists the site as an open scenic stop.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Gone per the Former Fire Lookout Sites register and firelookout.com; the Forest Lookouts history lists it as removed, undated

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Forest Service lists the Potamus Point Interpretive Site as open with a scenic view; a tourism listing calls it a stop on the Blue Mountain Scenic Byway

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Forest Service page says potable water is not available at the site; no source describes the tower remains

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower60-foot wooden L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
Unknown
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
4,480 ft (1,366 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Umatilla National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Morrow County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.01667, −119.22579
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-potamus-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 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. 1932 EventPlanned three-mile telephone line to the emergency lookout station on Potamus; the tower itself was built in the 1930s (no exact year given)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 StaffedMax Buschke listed as lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  3. 1936 EventForest Service triangulation disk stamped POTAMUS 1936 set under the center of the tower (described in a later survey note)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1936 StaffedOwen Leathers listed as lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  5. 1937 StaffedJim Stevens reported back at the lookout in an August 19, 1937 notice; an August 26, 1937 notice says he had not returnedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1937 and 2011
  7. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on June 25, 2011Source: firetower.org
  8. 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.

Potamus Point sits in Morrow County, Oregon, in the Umatilla National Forest, about 16 miles southwest of Ukiah.1,2 The lookout was built in the 1930s as a 60-foot wooden L-4 tower.2,1 A 1932 newspaper notice describes a planned three-mile telephone line to the emergency lookout station on Potamus, which suggests the station already existed by then.3 A bronze survey disk stamped with 1936 lies under the center of the tower, according to a later survey note.3

Firelookout.com lists Max Buschke as the lookout in 1934 and Owen Leathers in 1936.1 Newspaper notices from August 1937 first report Jim Stevens back at the Potamus lookout, then report that he had not returned.3

Every source that mentions the tower agrees it is gone. The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says it is now gone, and firelookout.com marks it gone too.2,1 The Forest Lookouts history lists it as removed but gives no date.3 None of the sources says when the tower came down.

The Forest Service lists the Potamus Point Interpretive Site as open, with a scenic view, and says potable water is not available there.4 A tourism listing calls it a stop on the Blue Mountain Scenic Byway, with a canyon view down the North Fork John Day River drainage.5 Neither page mentions the lookout, so no source describes what, if anything, remains of the tower site today. The Forest Service page showed a Phase A public use restriction when we read it, so check current rules before you go.4

  1. Potamus Point Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://firelookout.com/or/potamuspoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Potamus Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/potamus-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Potamus Point, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/potamus-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Potamus Point Interpretive Site, Umatilla National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/umatilla/recreation/potamus-point-interpretive-site (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Potamus Point, Visit Eastern Oregon, https://visiteasternoregon.com/poi/potamus-point/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Potamus Point Lookout panoramic 7-23-1935
Potamus Point Lookout panoramic 7-23-1935 (1935)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Potamus Point Lookout site 2010
Potamus Point Lookout site 2010 (2010)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via 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, 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

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