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Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Yainax Butte Lookout

Klamath County steel Aermotor lookout built by the Klamath Forest Protective Association around 1930-31, staffed into the 1970s and still standing on a 2020 visit.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
A July 2020 visitor found the main access road a rutted 4WD route of about three or four miles and suggested walking up instead of driving.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerSteel Aermotor LS-40 tower with a 7 x 7 steel cab, plus a residence cabin added in 1936The design: Aermotor LS-40
Built of
Steel
Built
1930
Height
26 ft (7.9 m)
Elevation
7,222 ft (2,201 m)
Agency
Klamath Forest Protective Association
Land
Unknown
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.32652, −121.26979
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-yainax-butte

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1923 EventWeyerhaeuser interests had a lookout on Yainax Butte; the telephone line to it was rebuiltSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1928 FireLookout spotted smoke in the Swan Lake country and telephoned in its locationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1930 BuiltSteel Aermotor tower constructed in 1930 per NHLR; a road to the summit was completed in June 1930Sources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1931 Builtfirelookout.com dates the 26-ft steel tower and house to 1931; conflicts with NHLRSource: firelookout.com
  5. 1935 StaffedA lookout was stationed on the summit for the fire seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1936 AlteredResidence cabin (ground house) added for lookouts' living quartersSources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1937 FireLookout reported 33 fires since July 22 during lightning stormsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1938 StaffedMain lookouts in the area manned; the summit lookout returned to his postSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1938 and 1970
  10. 1970 Last staffedStaffed into the 1970s per NHLR; firelookout.com says last used regularly in the 1970s. The exact final year is not in the sources; 1970 is a placeholder for the decade.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  11. No record between 1970 and 2020
  12. 2020 EventVisitor found the old lookout still standing, with some equipmentSource: pnwsota.org
  13. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered July 6, 2022, nominated by Brad EellsSource: nhlr.org
  14. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Yainax Butte rises to about 7,200 feet in Klamath County, Oregon, and its tower was built by the Klamath Forest Protective Association.1 The summit had a lookout before the steel tower went up.2 In 1923 a forestry report from the Klamath Agency noted that the Weyerhaeuser interests had a lookout there, and that the telephone line to the butte had been rebuilt.2

Sources disagree on the date of the tower. The Register says a 21-foot Aermotor tower with a 7-by-7 steel cab was built in 1930, while firelookout.com describes a 26-foot steel tower built in 1931.1,3 A road reached the top in June 1930, according to a newspaper item.2 A residence cabin was added in 1936.1,2

Newspapers of the time tell the story of the people on top. In 1928 a lookout spotted smoke in the Swan Lake country and telephoned in its location, and crews had no difficulty putting the blaze out.2 In 1935 a lookout was stationed on the summit. By July 26, 1937, the lookout had reported 33 fires since July 22, during a run of lightning storms.2 By June 1938 the main lookouts in the area were manned, and the summit lookout had gone back to his post.2

The Register says the lookout was staffed into the 1970s, and firelookout.com says it was last used regularly in that decade.1,3 A July 2020 visitor reported the old lookout still standing, with some equipment.4 The Register listed the tower on July 6, 2022, nominated by Brad Eells.1

Getting up there is hard going. A July 2020 visitor described the main access road to the summit as about three or four miles of rutted 4WD track and suggested walking up instead of driving.4 I found no source that says who controls access today or whether the cab is open to visitors. Check land status and road conditions before you go, and do not climb the tower.

  1. Yainax Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/yainax-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Yainax Butte, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/yainax-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Yainax Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/yainaxbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Yainax Butte, OR July 2020, PNW SOTA activation report, https://www.pnwsota.org/activation-reports/ag7gp/2025-10-01/yainax-butte-or-july-2020 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Yainax Butte Lookout - 2015
Yainax Butte Lookout - 2015 (2015)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Yainax Butte Lookout - Undated
Yainax Butte Lookout - UndatedPhoto: Oregon Department of Forestry, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Yainax Butte in 2007
Yainax Butte in 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via firelookout.com · 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.

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. 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: height, dates, photos, 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: design 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: links Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill, cherylhill.net) · No licence stated; facts only (name, agency, elevation, year built, design and height, status word, links). Posts' narrative and photos are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, 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.