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Fire lookout · Grant County, Oregon

Wolf Mountain Lookout Site-MNF

Also known as Wolf Mountain

Malheur NF pole lookout in Grant County: dated notices put work in 1932-1935; the register says 1941; removed or destroyed in 1964.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1964; no source read describes what remains at the site.

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 towerPole L-4 lookout tower with a cab; a wood frame garage was erected in 1934The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1932
Height
18 ft (5.5 m)
Elevation
6,411 ft (1,954 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Malheur National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Grant County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.05854, −118.76992
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-wolf-mountain-lookout-site-mnf

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 3.6 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. 1932 BuiltItem dated July 29, 1932, credited to the John Day Valley Ranger, says two men would start work on the lookout station (start of work, not completion)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 EventAladdin plan 16 by 18 foot wood frame garage erectedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1935 BuiltT-20 native timber tower with a 14 by 14 Aladdin Jr. cab completed, built by CCC crewsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1936 StaffedEarl Thompson at the lookout station (item quoted on Oregon Lookouts page)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1941 StaffedLoren Dunten and his wife at the station (Burns Times-Herald item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1951 AlteredOld tower described as having been 'stubbed'; the page does not explain the wordSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1953 Replaced by a new structureNew native wood tower placed under an existing house (Malheur Historical Record)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1964 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1964 and 2011
  10. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: July 18, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  11. 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.

An item dated July 29, 1932, credited to the John Day Valley Ranger, said two men were due to begin work at the Wolf Mountain lookout station, in the Malheur National Forest, about nine miles east-northeast of Silvies in Grant County.1,2 A timber tower with a cab was finished in 1935, built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews, and a garage was erected in 1934.1

The sources disagree on the dates. The Forest Fire Lookout Association register says the 30-foot pole tower was built in 1941 and removed in 1964.3 Firelookout.com describes a 20-foot pole tower dated 1932 and says it was destroyed in 1964.2 The dated entries on the Oregon Lookouts page put the work in the 1930s, years before the register's 1941 date.1

A 1936 item quoted on the Oregon Lookouts page says Earl Thompson had come in from his post on Wolf Mountain.1 In 1941 the Burns Times-Herald noted that Loren Dunten and his wife came down from the station for a few hours and returned to it the next day.1

In 1951 the old tower was "stubbed", a word the page does not explain.1 In 1953 a new native wood tower was set under an existing house.1 Both the register and firelookout.com date the end to 1964, but they disagree on how it ended: the register says the tower was removed, and firelookout.com says it was destroyed.3,2

No source I read describes what, if anything, is left at the site. The register's only recent picture is a 2002 photo, and its caption does not say what can still be seen.3 I also found no source saying whether visitors can reach the site.

  1. Wolf Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/wolf-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Wolf Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/wolfmtn97a.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Wolf Mountain Lookout Site-MNF, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/wolf-mountain-lookout-site-mnf/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Wolf Mountain Lookout 1942
Wolf Mountain Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Mark Swift collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Wolf Mountain Lookout site 2002
Wolf Mountain Lookout site 2002 (2002)Photo: Howard Verschoor, 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, 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, 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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