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Fire lookout · Lake County, Oregon

Round Pass Lookout Site

Lake County, OR: a 1922 lookout house moved to Morgan Butte in 1958; an OMNI range station took the site in 1959. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Lookout house moved to Morgan Butte in 1958; an OMNI range station was placed in service on the site in 1959. No source describes the site today.

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 cab14'x14' L-4 lookout house per FFLOS (1930 replacement); firelookout.com gives a 14x14' cab for 1930 without naming the type; the Oregon lookouts page gives a 12x12 house in 1922 and no 1930 changeThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1922
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,462 ft (2,274 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Fremont National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lake County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.49300, −120.50713
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-round-pass

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 3.4 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. 1916 EventEight-sided lookout tower shown at the Paisley fair; the Oregon lookouts page says it was later moved to the Round Pass siteSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1921 StaffedJohn Donnelly held the lookout post during the 1921-22 seasonsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1922 BuiltHouse built in 1922 (12x12 per the Oregon lookouts page; a house per FFLOS and firelookout.com)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1929 FireFire on Wildcat Creek under Deadhorse rim, discovered by the Round Pass lookout; about 1 1/4 acres, 3 1/2 hours to suppressSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1930 Replaced by a new structure14x14 L-4 cab replaced the 1922 house per FFLOS; firelookout.com gives a 14x14 cab for 1930; the Oregon lookouts page lists no 1930 changeSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  6. 1932 AlteredLightning protection installed on the lookout houseSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1932 and 1949
  8. 1949 StaffedDr. and Mrs. Abbott to be stationed at Round Pass that summer, per a Herald and News item quoted on the Oregon lookouts pageSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1958 MovedLookout duties and the house moved to Morgan Butte by lowboy trailerSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1959 EventOMNI range station placed in service on the site where the lookout once stoodSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1959 and 2011
  12. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterUS 1040, OR 398, registered June 7, 2011Source: firetower.org
  13. 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.

Round Pass sits in Lake County, Oregon, on the Fremont National Forest.1,2 An eight-sided lookout tower shown at the 1916 Paisley fair was later moved to the site, according to the Oregon lookouts page.2 A house went up in 1922.3,2 Sources disagree on what came after.3,1,2 The FFLOS register says it was replaced in 1930 by a 14-by-14-foot L-4 cab, and firelookout.com gives a 14x14 cab for that year. The Oregon lookouts page describes a 12-by-12 house and mentions no 1930 change.3,1,2

John Donnelly held the lookout post during the 1921 and 1922 seasons.2 In 1949 the Herald and News reported that Dr. and Mrs. Abbott would be stationed there that summer.2

In August 1929 the Round Pass lookout spotted a fire on Wildcat Creek, under Deadhorse rim.2 Putting it out took 3 1/2 hours, and the fire was 1 1/4 acres.2

In 1958 the lookout duties moved to Morgan Butte, and the house went with them on a lowboy trailer.3,2 By February 1959 an OMNI range station was in service on the lookout's old site.2 The Oregon lookouts page ends its history there, so no source here describes the Round Pass site today.2

The house's new location is Morgan Butte, where a fire lookout now stands in the Fremont-Winema National Forest.4 A trail listing says that lookout was built in 1958, modified in 1980, and is staffed in summer.4 It also says the lookout is closed to the public, though the nearby camping spot is scenic.4 The 1958 date matches the year of the move, but no source says the two are the same building.4

  1. Round Pass Fire Lookout Cabin, Rex's Fire Lookout Page (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/or/roundpass.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Round Pass - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/round-pass.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Round Pass Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/round-pass-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Morgan Butte Fire Lookout, Komoot, https://www.komoot.com/highlight/6365635 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Round Pass Lookout panoramic 7-7-1933
Round Pass Lookout panoramic 7-7-1933 (1933)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via 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: 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

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