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Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Pumice Butte Lookout Site

Klamath County, Oregon tower: register dates it to 1933 but a 1931 item already notes a lookout; gone by 1965; forest name differs between sources.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Gone by 1965 per the register and firelookout.com

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 tower60-foot Aermotor tower with 7x7-foot cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,134 ft (1,870 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.30271, −121.49176 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-pumice-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.5 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. 1931 EventLake County Examiner item (July 9, 1931): the Forest Service maintains a lookout on Pumice Butte (earlier than the 1933 register date)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 AlteredLightning protection installed on the towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com date the 60-foot tower to 1933; conflicts with the 1931 mentionSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  4. 1940 StaffedStaffed for 90 days; reported to the Walker Range Patrol in LaPine; telephone was the only linkSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1942 Condition assessmentDistrict memo gives the height from ground to the cab floor as 61 feet 11 inchesSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1956 EventStation assigned air marking number F-2Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1965 RemovedTower gone by 1965 (register and firelookout.com); removal method not givenSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1965 and 2011
  9. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: June 7, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  10. 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.

Pumice Butte, in Klamath County, once carried a 60-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab.1,2 The register dates the tower to 1933.2 A July 1931 Lake County Examiner item, quoted on a collection page, says the Forest Service maintains a lookout on the butte, two years before the register's 1933 date.2,3 A 1932 entry on the same page records that lightning protection was installed on the tower.3 Firelookout.com names the Winema National Forest, while the collection page names the Fremont National Forest.4,3

In 1940 the station was manned for 90 days and sent its reports to the Walker Range Patrol at LaPine, with the telephone as its only link.3 A 1942 district memo put the height from ground to the cab floor at 61 feet 11 inches, a little above the register's 60-foot figure.2,3

The register and firelookout.com both say the tower was gone by 1965.2,4 A 1956 note gave the station its air-marking number, F-2.3

The register shows a 2007 photograph of the site, but its caption does not describe what remains.2 The sources consulted do not describe the summit today or say whether the public can reach it.

  1. Oregon Lookouts (by County), Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/or/or-co/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Pumice Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/pumice-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Pumice Butte - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/pumice-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Pumice Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/pumicebutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Pumice Butte Lookout 1948
Pumice Butte Lookout 1948 (1948)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Pumice Butte Lookout 1945
Pumice Butte Lookout 1945 (1945)Photo: Mark Swift collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Pumice Butte Lookout site 2007
Pumice Butte Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, 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.

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 location by 590 m.

    • FFLOS: 43.30271, −121.49176
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 43.30791, −121.49308

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

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, 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.