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Fire lookout · Jackson County, Oregon

Whetstone Bald Lookout Site

Also known as Whetstone Point (Bald)

Whetstone Point (Bald Mountain) lookout above Prospect, OR: crow's nest 1916, 10-ft cupola cabin 1920, removed 1958; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1958; Forest Lookouts says a forestry crew burned it. No source describes the site today.

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 source describes access to the site today.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerCamp and crow's nest platform (1916), then a D-6 cupola cabin on a 10-foot pole tower (1920)The design: D-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1916
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
5,073 ft (1,546 m)
Agency
Klamath FPA
Land
Federal land
Location
Jackson County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.78151, −122.54424
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-whetstone-bald

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. 1914 EventForest Lookouts timeline lists a crow's nest on an 80-foot tree; the register dates the platform to 1916Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1916 BuiltCamp and crow's nest tree platform set up (register); Foster 1916 account on the site pageSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1920 Replaced by a new structureCupola cabin on a 10-foot pole tower replaced the platform (register, firelookout.com, Halls Point page give 1920)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  4. 1924 BuiltForest Lookouts quotes a July 1924 Medford report of a new standard lookout house, and says a house was built that yearSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1930 StaffedHarry Richards was the lookout; reported shooting a panther outside the cabin in JuneSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1940 StaffedNils Olson back at his post, described as his eighth year as lookout patrolmanSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1940 and 1958
  8. 1958 BurnedForest Lookouts says a forestry crew burned the cabin after a short period of abandonmentSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1958 RemovedTower removed (register and Halls Point page)Sources: firetower.org, cherylhill.net
  10. No record between 1958 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 22, 2011 as US 934, OR 292Source: 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.

The lookout on Whetstone Point, which one account calls the Bald Mountain Lookout, stood about three miles northwest of Prospect, Oregon.1,2 Forest Lookouts lists the site under both the Crater National Forest and the Rogue River National Forest.3 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register dates the first structure, a camp and a crow's nest in a tree, to 1916.4 A 1916 account by Harold D. Foster describes the nest as reached by climbing the limbs of a Douglas fir.3 The same site page also lists a crow's nest on an 80-foot tree in 1914, two years before the register's date.3

In 1920 a cupola cabin on a 10-foot pole tower replaced the platform.4,1 A visitor's page on the nearby Halls Point lookout describes the cabin as an elevated D-6 cupola on a tower built that year.2 Forest Lookouts gives a different sequence. A Medford newspaper reported in July 1924 that the Forest Service was putting in a new standard lookout house on the peak, and the site page says a house was built that year, with lumber cut at the Medford warehouse.3 The sources do not reconcile 1920 with 1924.

Harry Richards was the lookout in 1930. A Medford paper reported that June that he had shot a 200-pound panther prowling outside the cabin, and it called the peak Whetstone Peak, or Old Baldy.3 Nils Olson was back at his post in 1940, which the paper counted as his eighth year as lookout patrolman.3

Its duties passed to newer lookouts at White Point, built in 1951, and Halls Point, built in 1956.3 Forest Lookouts says a forestry crew burned the cabin in 1958, after a short period with no one posted.3 The register and the Halls Point page say the tower was removed that year.4,2

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today, or whether the public can reach it. The White Point lookout, a separate tower on the same ridge, still stands but is not staffed, according to the Halls Point page, which describes a July 2023 visit.2 Do not mistake one site for the other.

  1. Whetstone Bald Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/whetstonebald.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Halls Point, Every Lookout in Oregon, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2023/08/22/halls-point/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Whetstone (Bald), Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/whetstone-bald.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Whetstone Bald Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/whetstone-bald-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Whetstone Bald Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Crow's nest in 1916
Crow's nest in 1916 (1916)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, 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, 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, staffing, 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.