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Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Riverbed Butte Lookout Site

Gone: a 1934 CCC-built steel Aermotor tower and ground cabin on the Klamath reservation, used in emergencies into the 1960s; removal year unknown.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Used for emergencies into the 1960s; the register, firelookout.com and the Klamath blog say it is gone. No source gives the year it came down.

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 towerAermotorThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1934
Height
67 ft (20.4 m)
Elevation
6,000 ft (1,829 m)
Agency
Klamath Indian Agency (built); Fremont National Forest (register)
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.64311, −121.12606 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-riverbed-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 3.4 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. 1933 EventFY 1933 Annual Forestry Report (Klamath Agency): emergency lookout urgently needed east of the Black Hills sectionSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 BuiltSteel Aermotor tower with 7x7 cab and ground cabin, erected by the CCC Indian DivisionSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, klamathlookouts.blogspot.com
  3. 1934 EventTower later assigned building number 641 by the Klamath Indian AgencySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 1963
  5. 1963 Condition assessmentBly District memo: cab in poor state of repairSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1969 StaffedManned only in emergencies; living quarters manned yearly as a fire stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1972 Condition assessmentCondition report: steel structure in good shapeSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1972 and 2011
  9. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered June 7, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Riverbed Butte is a former lookout site in Klamath County, Oregon, about 17 miles north of Bly, at roughly 6,000 feet.1,2 The lookout went up in 1934, erected by the CCC's Indian Division.3,4 A 1933 Klamath Agency forestry report urgently called for an emergency lookout east of the Black Hills section.3 The tower was a steel Aermotor with a 7-by-7 cab on top, and a cabin at ground level housed the living quarters.4 Sources give three heights for it: 60 feet, 61 feet and 67 feet.4,1,3 The Klamath Indian Agency later gave the tower building number 641.3

By 1969 the tower was manned only in emergencies, such as after lightning storms or on high-hazard days. The living quarters were staffed each year as a fire station.3 A 1963 memo described the cab as in poor condition, and a 1972 report rated the steel structure in good condition.3

The register says the tower was used for emergencies in the 1960s and is now gone.1 The Klamath County blog and the Oregon Lookouts page both list it as removed, with no date given.4,3 The register dates the lookout only to the 1930s.1

The register and firelookout.com both place the site in the Fremont National Forest.1,2 The Klamath County blog names the Klamath Indian Agency, the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Fremont National Forest as managing agencies.4 I found no source that describes what, if anything, remains on the ground, or whether visitors can reach it.2

  1. Riverbed Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/riverbed-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Riverbed Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/riverbedbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. River Beds Butte, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/river-beds-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Klamath County Fire Lookouts, Klamath County Fire Lookouts blog, https://klamathlookouts.blogspot.com/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Riverbed Butte Lookout 1972
Riverbed Butte Lookout 1972 (1972)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Riverbed Butte Lookout site 2007
Riverbed Butte Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Riverbed Butte Lookout 1937
Riverbed Butte Lookout 1937 (1937)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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 880 m.

    • FFLOS: 42.64311, −121.12606
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 42.64904, −121.11888

    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: 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, 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.