FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lake County, Oregon

Shoestring Butte

Steel 1931 lookout on Shoestring Butte, Fremont National Forest, Oregon; towers sold for scrap in 1968 and reported gone; no source describes the summit today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Towers sold for scrap by October 1968 but not yet removed then; register says gone by 1968; no removal date in either source

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 towerSteel Aermotor tower with a 7x7 cab and a one-room 12x16 living quartersThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1931
Height
73 ft (22.3 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Fremont National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Lake County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.59306, −121.26905
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-shoestring-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 3.5 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 BuiltSteel tower and living quarters completed; register dates the build to 1931Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1931 FireFire on Cox Creek in early August 1931 that no lookout point could locate; this site covered the areaSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1931 EventSeptember 1931 entry describes the tower as nearing completion at seventy-five feetSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1932 AlteredLightning protection installed on the tower and cabinSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1932 and 1948
  6. 1948 AlteredMajor improvements to the living quarters, including a new roofSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1956 EventAir markings completed; station numbered F-16Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1959 Condition assessmentInspection found the premises clean and orderly; flagged a loose guy, platform boards needing replacement, and unfenced stairsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1961 EventMemo says the tower has no living quarters and asks for a trailer house if replacement funds are not availableSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1962 AlteredScreens checked and trap-door safety devices installed (work completed June 1962)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1968 EventShoestring and Slide Mountain towers sold for scrap; not yet removed as of October 23, 1968Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. 1968 RemovedRegister says tower and cabin gone by 1968; no removal date given in either sourceSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  13. No record between 1968 and 2011
  14. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered June 10, 2011, nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  15. 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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

A lookout was built on Shoestring Butte in 1931, in the Fremont National Forest of Lake County, Oregon.1,2 A May 21, 1931 item quoted from the Lake County Examiner says the site was selected as an auxiliary lookout, with plans for a fifty-foot wood tower.2 The tower that was completed was a steel Aermotor with a 7-by-7 cab, and a one-room 12-by-16 living quarters was built too.2 The sources disagree on height. A September 1931 entry gives seventy-five feet, a 1959 inspection gives 73, and the register gives 100.1,2 The lookout had an Osborne No. 4 firefinder, and lightning protection went onto the tower and cabin in 1932.2

A fire on Cox Creek in early August 1931 could not be located from any lookout point.2 According to the same 1931 entry, the lookout was only days from being finished and staffed, and it covered the area where the fire was.2

Routine upkeep followed. In 1948 the living quarters got major improvements and a new roof.2 The station received air markings in 1956, numbered F-16.2 A 1959 inspection found the premises clean and orderly, but it flagged a northwest guy that was too loose, platform boards that needed replacing and stairs that were not properly fenced.2 A 1961 memo noted that the tower had no living quarters and asked for a trailer house if funds for the replacement were not available.2 A 1963 memo reported that the screens had been checked and trap-door safety devices installed, work finished in June 1962.2

The steel towers' fate was settled in 1968.2 In May the forest wrote that the towers offered to the Army the previous fall would not be taken, so Shoestring and Slide Mountain would be pushed over and unbolted that summer.2 By October the two towers had been sold for scrap but not yet removed.2 The register says the tower and cabin were gone by 1968.1 Neither source gives a removal date, so that point stays open.1,2

No source I found describes the summit today. A 1948 survey described it as about 17 miles northwest of Lakeview and placed a survey mark 40 feet northwest of the lookout cabin, but that is an old description and does not show what is there now.2 The register lists the site as gone, and I found nothing on what remains or who can reach the summit.1

  1. Shoestring Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/shoestring-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Shoestring Butte, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/shoestring-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.