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Fire lookout · Morrow County, Oregon

Red Hill Lookout Site

Umatilla NF pole L-5 lookout in Morrow County, staffed 1934-1943, removed or destroyed in 1957; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. FFLOS says the tower was removed in 1957; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1957; no source describes what remains at the site

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 tower24-foot pole L-5 towerThe design: L-5
Built of
Wood
Built
1931
Height
24 ft (7.3 m)
Elevation
3,967 ft (1,209 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Umatilla National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Morrow County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.01536, −119.45187
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-red-hill-2

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 3.7 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 BuiltTelephone line built from Tupper to the summit in January 1931; a tree tower erected at Red Hill (Heppner Gazette-Times item dated November 12, 1931, as quoted by Oregon Lookouts)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 Builtfirelookout.com gives the 24-foot pole L-5 tower as built by 1933; it replaced a crow's nest tree platform dating to the early 1910sSource: firelookout.com
  3. 1934 StaffedJoe Swendig named as lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  4. 1936 BuiltFFLOS gives the 24-foot pole L-5 tower as built by 1936Source: firetower.org
  5. 1936 StaffedJ.W. Becket named as lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  6. 1937 StaffedAugust 26, 1937 item: Mrs. Owen Leathers visiting her husband at the Red Hill lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1943 StaffedAugust 26, 1943 item: Mrs. James Chetwood spent several days away from her forest lookout at Red HillSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1957 RemovedFFLOS says removed in 1957; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1957Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. 1958 RemovedJanuary 22, 1958 Heppner Ranger District annual report, as quoted by Oregon Lookouts, says one lookout was abolished with the removal of Red Hill; the report gives the removal without a dateSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1958 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered June 25, 2011 per FFLOS (US 1084, OR 442)Source: firetower.org
  12. 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.

Red Hill is a former lookout site in the Umatilla National Forest, in Morrow County, Oregon.1 Firelookout.com places it about 14 miles north of Monument.2

Before the tower, the hill had a tree platform used as a crow's nest, dating to the early 1910s.2 A January 1931 Heppner Gazette-Times item reports that a telephone line had been built from Tupper to the summit, to serve as a backup lookout point in smoky weather.3 A November 12, 1931 item from the same paper says a tree tower had been erected there.3 The 24-foot pole tower with an L-5 cab is dated differently across sources. The register says it was built by 1936,1 firelookout.com says by 1933,2 and the Oregon Lookouts page places a 24-foot round timber tower with an L-5 cab in the 1930s.3

Firelookout.com names Joe Swendig as a lookout in 1934 and J.W. Becket in 1936.2 An August 1937 newspaper item, quoted on the Oregon Lookouts page, reports Mrs. Owen Leathers visiting her husband at the lookout.3 An August 1943 item notes that Mrs. James Chetwood had spent several days the previous week away from her Red Hill lookout.3

The register says the tower was removed in 1957.1 Firelookout.com describes it as destroyed that year.2 The Oregon Lookouts page quotes a January 1958 annual report from the Heppner Ranger District, which says one lookout was abolished with the removal of Red Hill.3

A 1946 Coast and Geodetic Survey recovery note places a bronze Forest Service disk under the center of the wooden lookout tower.3 It describes the site as it stood in 1946. We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site now or whether the public can reach it, so check with the Umatilla National Forest before visiting.

  1. Red Hill Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/red-hill-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Red Hill Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/redhill97.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Red Hill - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/red-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Red Hill Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1953
1953 (1953)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, 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: design, 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

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