FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Baker County, Oregon

Red Knob Lookout Site

Baker County, OR lookout built 1932 as an L-4 cab and removed or destroyed in 1968; only a federal survey mark on the summit appears in the records read.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed or destroyed in 1968 (sources differ on which); no source describes 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
Ground-level cabL-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1932
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,121 ft (1,561 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Baker County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.97303, −117.38975 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-red-knob

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 3.6 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 BuiltL-4 cab, per the register and firelookout.comSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1935 EventPanorama photos taken September 9, 1935Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1939 StaffedVernon V. Laird and Glen Mitchell to be stationed at Red Knob, per Record-Courier item dated August 17, 1939, quoted on the Forest Lookouts pageSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1944 StaffedOpal Walton listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  5. 1954 EventUSGS first observed survey mark RED KNOB LOH (PID QB1185)Source: ngs.noaa.gov
  6. 1968 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1968 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 21, 2011, nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  9. 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.

The Red Knob lookout stood on a bare hill of red soil in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, about 17 miles northwest of Halfway in Baker County, Oregon.1,2,3 The register puts the site at 5,121 feet, or 1,561 meters.1

The lookout was built in 1932 with an L-4 cab. The register and firelookout.com both give that date and design.1,2

In August 1939 the Record-Courier reported that Vernon Laird and Glen Mitchell would both be stationed at Red Knob, because a dry season called for extra men to protect the forests.4 Firelookout.com lists Opal Walton as known lookout personnel in 1944.2 Panorama photographs were taken from the site on September 9, 1935, and the register credits the print to the National Archives' Pacific Northwest Region.4,1

The sources disagree on how the cab ended. The register says it was removed in 1968.1 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year, and the Forest Lookouts page lists it as removed without a date.2,4

We found no source that describes the site today. The only later record we found for the summit is a federal survey mark, RED KNOB LOH, which the US Geological Survey first observed in 1954.3 Its datasheet, retrieved October 9, 2026, codes the mark as a lookout house and gives a height of 1,562 meters, a little above the register's figure. Its history lists no condition report after 1954.3 The 1954 description says that from the Lilly White Guard Station, a well-marked Forest Service road runs about 2.5 miles to the mark.3 Whether any part of the lookout remains, and whether the site is open to the public, is not described in the sources we read. Check with the Forest Service before you go.

  1. Red Knob Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/red-knob-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Red Knob Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/redknob.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. RED KNOB LOH (survey mark PID QB1185), National Geodetic Survey datasheet, https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=QB1185 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Red Knob, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/red-knob.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Red Knob Lookout panoramic 9-9-35
Red Knob Lookout panoramic 9-9-35Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Red Knob Lookout panoramic 9-9-35
Red Knob Lookout panoramic 9-9-35Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Red Knob Lookout panoramic 9-9-35
Red Knob Lookout panoramic 9-9-35Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, 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 530 m.

    • FFLOS: 44.97303, −117.38975
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 44.97766, −117.38825

    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, staffing, 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.