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Fire lookout · Baker County, Oregon

Sparta Butte Lookout Site

Wallowa-Whitman NF ground lookout in Baker County: L-4 cab built 1934, staffed into 1960, removed or destroyed in 1974; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed in 1974 (register and Oregon Lookouts) or destroyed that year (firelookout.com); no source describes what remains on the summit

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 ground cab (per register and firelookout.com)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,944 ft (1,507 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Baker County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.88571, −117.33289
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-sparta-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.7 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 FireLookout on Sparta Butte reports a lightning fire about three miles northwest of Sparta to the Minam forest headquarters in BakerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1921 EventTelephone line under construction, to connect with the Sparta Butte lookout station; primary purpose fire fightingSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1927 StaffedRoy Stalker stationed on the butte as forest rangerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1933 EventRoad straightened and graded toward the summit; newspaper calls the new cabin the latest approved designSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1934 BuiltL-4 cab built on the butteSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1935 StaffedYale Mitchell works as fire lookout and smoke chaser at Sparta Butte; Forest Service has extended the road to within a few hundred feet of the summitSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1935 and 1960
  8. 1960 StaffedGeneral Integrating Inspection names Steven Perrigan as lookout, first year at the station; says the cab was constructed in 1934 on its present siteSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1974 RemovedCab removed (register and Oregon Lookouts); firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1974 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: August 21, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  12. 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.

Sparta Butte sits in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, about 13 miles west of Halfway, in Baker County.1,2 Someone was already watching from the butte by 1916.3 That October the lookout there reported a lightning fire near Sparta to the forest headquarters in Baker.3 A 1921 item said a telephone line then under construction would connect with the Sparta Butte station, mainly to help fight fires.3

The cab on the butte was built in 1934 in the L-4 design.1,2 An October 1933 newspaper item had already described "the new cabin" as up to date, with window shutters, anchor cables and a copper lightning rod.3 By 1935 the Forest Service had extended the road to within a few hundred feet of the summit.3

Roy Stalker was stationed on the butte as a forest ranger in 1927.3 Merle Phelps was set to be the lookout in 1933, and Yale Mitchell held the post in 1935 as a fire lookout and smoke chaser.3 Firelookout.com also names Harry Thomas for 1921 to 1923, which predates the 1934 cab, and Earl Strong for 1954.2 The latest staffing we found is a 1960 inspection report, which names Steven Perrigan as the lookout in his first year on the station.3

The register says the cab was removed in 1974.1 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.2 The Oregon Lookouts page also gives 1974 as the removal year.3

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today, or whether the road still reaches it. Anyone thinking of visiting should check with the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest first.

  1. Sparta Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/sparta-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Sparta Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/spartabutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Sparta Butte, Forest Lookouts (historic newspaper excerpts), Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/sparta-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Sparta Butte Lookout 1942
Sparta Butte Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sparta Butte Lookout
Sparta Butte LookoutPhoto: Jerry Gildemeister collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sparta Butte Lookout panoramic 9-9-1935
Sparta Butte Lookout panoramic 9-9-1935 (1935)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, 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: what it is built of, design, 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.