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Fire lookout · Wheeler County, Oregon

Wheeler Point Lookout Site

Wheeler County, OR lookout in Umatilla NF: tower erected 1931, 40-ft tower 1936, 67-ft tower 1959, last staffed 1974, removed or destroyed 1979; a 1979 survey note reports four concrete leg bases.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1979 per the two Fire Lookout sources; a 1979 survey note says the tower was torn down and four concrete leg bases remained; no later description found

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 towerSuccessive towers: 50-ft pole or wooden tower with 7x7 cab (1931-32); 40-ft wooden tower with tent cabin (1936); 67-ft treated timber R-6 tower (1959)The design: R-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1931
Height
67 ft (20.4 m)
Elevation
4,994 ft (1,522 m)
Agency
U.S.Forest Service, Umatilla National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Wheeler County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.96026, −119.90629
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-wheeler-point

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. 1931 BuiltTree tower erected at Wheeler Point per a Heppner newspaper item dated November 12, 1931; an undated inventory gives a 50-foot pole tower with a 7x7 cabSources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1936 Replaced by a new structureFiretower.org and firelookout.com date a 40-foot wooden tower and tent cabin to 1936; the Forest Lookouts page dates a 50-foot tower to 1931-32Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1938 FireForest service plane spotted a one-acre blaze near Lone Rock; a note was dropped to the Wheeler Point lookout and the fire was under control forty minutes laterSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1939 StaffedBert Mason, Jr., posted at the Wheeler lookout station for the summerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1941 StaffedNorbert Peavy stationed as lookout through the 1941 fire seasonSources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1941 and 1959
  7. 1959 Replaced by a new structure67-foot treated timber R-6 tower built; the 1959 annual report says the old tower was no longer safe for useSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1959 and 1974
  9. 1974 Last staffedLast staffed in 1974Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  10. 1979 RemovedRemoved per firetower.org; destroyed per firelookout.com; a 1979 NGS recovery note reproduced on the Forest Lookouts page says the tower was torn down and four concrete leg bases remainedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1979 and 2011
  12. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered July 18, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  13. 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.

Wheeler Point is in Wheeler County, Oregon, in the Umatilla National Forest, about 25 miles west-northwest of Monument.1,2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register recorded the site on July 18, 2011, on the nomination of Ray Kresek.1

The first tower is harder to pin down. A Heppner newspaper item dated November 12, 1931, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, reports a tree tower going up at Wheeler Point.3 An undated inventory on the same page gives a 50-foot pole tower with a 7-by-7-foot cab, and a 1932 item calls it a 50-foot wooden tower with a seven-by-seven-foot cabin.3 Firetower.org and firelookout.com instead describe a 40-foot wooden tower and tent cabin built in 1936.1,2 We could not reconcile the two accounts, so both are reported here.

Firelookout.com lists named lookouts from 1933 to 1972, including Norbert Peavy in 1941 and Ronald Jones in 1968.2 Bert Mason, Jr., was posted at the Wheeler lookout station for the summer of 1939, and the Forest Lookouts page says Mr. Peavy was stationed there through the 1941 fire season.3 Both firetower.org and firelookout.com say the lookout was last staffed in 1974.1,2

A July 1938 item on the Forest Lookouts page says an aircraft picked out a one-acre fire near Lone Rock. A note reached the Wheeler Point lookout, five miles away, and forty minutes later the blaze was contained.3 James Iler, assistant supervisor of the Umatilla forest, said the blaze was in a 'blind spot' that lookouts could not cover.3

In 1959 a 67-foot treated timber tower replaced the 1936 tower.1,2 A 1959 annual report, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, said the older tower had become unsafe.3

Firetower.org says the 1959 tower was removed in 1979, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1,2 A 1979 survey note reproduced on the Forest Lookouts page says the tower above the survey station had been torn down, that four concrete leg bases remained, and that a dirt road ran between them. It also says a new lookout tower had been built west of the station.3 That note does not square with the removal dates, and we could not settle the question.

Nothing we read describes the site after that 1979 note. We found no source saying what stands there now or whether the public may visit. Check with the Umatilla National Forest before you go.

  1. Wheeler Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/wheeler-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Wheeler Point Fire Lookout Tower, Fire Lookout, https://www.firelookout.com/or/wheelerpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Wheeler Point, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/wheeler-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Wheeler Point Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1959
1959 (1959)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1959
1959 (1959)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1936-1959
1936-1959 (1936)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1960
1960 (1960)Photo: 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: 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. 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

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