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Fire lookout · Harney County, Oregon

Sod House Lookout

Also known as Headquarters (Sod House) (USFWS), Headquarters (Sod House)

CCC-built 1933 Aermotor tower above Malheur NWR headquarters; abandoned as a fire lookout, closed by 2012, and used mostly for wildlife viewing.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Tower closed as of the May 2012 visit, bottom stairs removed. The site is on refuge headquarters grounds, and the directory lists it as legally accessible to the public.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Sits on a bluff above the refuge headquarters.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerAermotor tower with 7x7 metal cabThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1933
Height
90 ft (27.4 m)
Elevation
4,190 ft (1,277 m)
Agency
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Harney County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.26390, −118.84200
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-sod-house

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1933 BuiltConstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps at the Malheur refuge headquarters.Source: nhlr.org
  2. 1935 EventCCC camp preparing foundation piers for a 99-foot steel observation tower; newspaper gives the planned height.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1935 and 2002
  4. 2002 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register July 16, 2002.Source: nhlr.org
  5. 2012 ClosedMay 15, 2012 visit: tower closed, bottom set of stairs removed.Source: cherylhill.net
  6. 2016 EventJanuary 2, 2016: a group occupied the refuge headquarters; the lookout on the hill above was being used as an observation point.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Sod House lookout sits on a bluff above the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County.1,2 The Civilian Conservation Corps built it in 1933.1 A June 1935 Burns Herald-Times report says CCC crews were preparing foundation piers for a planned 99-foot steel tower on a prominent point by the lake.3 The register describes an 80-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7-foot metal cab.1 The firelookout page and a 2012 visit both give 90 feet.4,2

The tower seems to have been used mostly for watching wildlife rather than spotting fires.4,2 The register says it was still maintained for emergency use.1

On January 2, 2016, a group occupied the refuge headquarters, and the hilltop lookout was being used as a vantage point.3

A May 2012 visit found the tower closed off, with its lowest flight of stairs taken out.2 The 2026 directory lists it as abandoned but still standing.5 The directory also lists the site as legally accessible to the public, but says that does not mean you will have access to the lookout itself.5 Treat the closed tower as off limits.

  1. Sod House Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/sod-house-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Sodhouse Tower, Every Lookout in Oregon, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2012/05/23/sodhouse-tower/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Sod House, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/sod-house.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Headquarters (Sod House) Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/headquarters.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Oregon's Standing Lookouts, Cheryl Hill, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/oregons-standing-lookouts/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Sod House Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Headquarters (Sod House) L.O. in 2011
Headquarters (Sod House) L.O. in 2011 (2011)Photo: Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · 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.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: what it is built of, design, photos, 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: 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: links Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill, cherylhill.net) · No licence stated; facts only (name, agency, elevation, year built, design and height, status word, links). Posts' narrative and photos are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, visiting details, 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.