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Fire lookout · Umatilla County, Oregon

Tiptop Mountain Lookout

Umatilla County, OR steel tower (c.1960, NHLR 1961) on Tiptop Mountain; abandoned, moved off the mountain in 2016, and recorded as a former lookout site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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
Trail
No tower stands at the site; no source describes a trail, road or public access

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot steel tower with a 14-by-14 cab (NHLR); earlier L-4 cab on a 15-foot pole towerThe designs: L-4, Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
4,574 ft (1,394 m)
Agency
Oregon Department of Forestry
Land
Federal land
Location
Umatilla County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.44498, −118.42126
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-tiptop-mountain

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 3.9 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. 1930 BuiltL-4 cab on a wooden tower constructed on the site (FFLOS); NHLR says a 15-foot pole tower built by the state in the 1930sSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org
  2. 1936 StaffedHarold Hilary lookout from August 11, 1936Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 StaffedMrs. L.C. Morehead took over the Tip Top lookout because the district could not hire menSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1954 StaffedJohn Wright listed as lookoutSource: firelookout.com
  5. 1960 BuiltODF annual reports, quoted by Oregon Lookouts, show the steel tower and an 8x7 storage house completed; firelookout.com gives 1959 and 1960Sources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  6. 1961 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  7. 1961 Replaced by a new structure40-foot steel tower with cab erected to replace the 1930s L-4 tower (NHLR and FFLOS)Sources: nhlr.org, firetower.org
  8. No record between 1961 and 2011
  9. 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 4, 2011 as US 918, OR 122; described as surplus and slated for removal if not adoptedSource: nhlr.org
  10. 2016 RemovedTower dismantled and moved off the mountain; re-erected elsewhere with a new cab per Oregon Lookouts and the 2016 FFLA reportSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.org
  11. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 18, 2019 as US 1831, OR 554Source: firetower.org
  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.

Tiptop Mountain Lookout sat in Umatilla County, about 18 miles northwest of La Grande, near the old Oregon Trail in the Blue Mountains.1,2 The first lookout was an L-4 cab on a 15-foot pole tower.1 The Register says the state built it in the 1930s, and the Former Fire Lookout Sites register dates a wooden tower on the site to 1930.1,3

The steel tower that replaced it was built around 1960, but the sources date it differently.4,1,2 Oregon Lookouts quotes ODF annual reports showing that the district took a steel tower from the Indian Agency's Johnson Creek site, hauled it to La Grande, and finished the tower and an 8-by-7 storage house beneath it in 1960.4 The Register says a 40-foot steel tower with a 14-by-14 cab went up in 1961, and the Former Fire Lookout Sites register also dates a 40-foot tower to 1961.1,3 Firelookout.com gives 1959 and 1960 and names Johnson Ridge Lookout as the steel's source.2

Lookouts staffed the tower in the 1930s and 1940s.4 Harold Hilary began in August 1936, and in 1942 Mrs. L.C. Morehead took over because the district could not find enough men.4 Firelookout.com lists John Wright as a lookout in 1954.2 In the 1950s the tower also served as a fire observation and Ground Observer Corps station.4 A 1947 letter from the district warden says a neighbor who bought adjacent land believed the ground under the tower was his.4

By 2011 the tower was surplus.1 The Register says it was slated for removal unless a partner organization adopted it.1 Firelookout.com says it had been abandoned for some years and vandalized.2

In 2016 the tower was taken off the mountain.3 Oregon Lookouts says the tower portion went to private land and was re-erected with a new cab.4 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's 2016 Oregon report says a new L-4 cab built in Maryland went onto the moved tower.5 Firelookout.com says a private party relocated it to Long Ridge in Wallowa County.2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says the cab burned instead.3 We could not settle the cab question from these sources.

No tower stands on the mountain now.3 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register lists the place as a former site, administered by the Oregon Department of Forestry, and registered it on November 18, 2019 as US 1831, OR 554.3 None of the sources we read describes what, if anything, remains at the site, or whether the public can reach it. Anyone curious should check with the Oregon Department of Forestry before visiting.

  1. Tiptop Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/tiptop-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Tiptop Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/tiptop.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Tiptop Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/tiptop-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Tip Top Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/tip-top-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Oregon Chapter annual report 2016, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-or-2016.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Tiptop Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tiptop Mountain Lookout 2008
Tiptop Mountain Lookout 2008 (2008)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tiptop Mountain Lookout 1961
Tiptop Mountain Lookout 1961 (1961)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tiptop Mountain Lookout
Tiptop Mountain LookoutPhoto: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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.

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 whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered. firelookout.com lists it, but not on its map of standing lookouts.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1961
    • FFLOS: 1930

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: register numbers, 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, ownership, 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, 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.