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Fire lookout · Klamath County, Oregon

Yamsay Mountain Lookout Site

Winema NF lookout site: an 80-foot 1929 steel Aermotor tower, replaced in 1961 by a 20-foot timber tower; only remains today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The 1961 timber tower is gone; a 2017 PeakBagging.com page says only the remains of the lookout are 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

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower80-foot steel Aermotor tower with a 7 x 7 cab (1929); replaced in 1961 by a 20-foot treated timber towerCab: R-6; tower: Aermotor
Built of
Wood
Built
1929
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
8,196 ft (2,498 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Winema National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Klamath County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.93053, −121.36081
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-yamsay-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.

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History

Then and now

  1. 1928 EventTruck trail built to the summit by the Klamath Indian Agency forestry departmentSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1929 Built80-foot steel Aermotor tower with 7 x 7 cab erected in August; 12 x 16 ground cabinSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  3. No record between 1929 and 1955
  4. 1955 StaffedClaudette Parazoo to be the lookout for the Indian Service that summerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1961 RemovedSteel tower dismantled, per a book by Ray Kresek as quoted on SummitPostSource: summitpost.org
  6. 1961 Replaced by a new structure20-foot treated timber tower with living quarters replaced the steel tower, which had buckled under iceSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  7. 1968 FireSmoke reported in an area of a previously extinguished fire; burning stump did not qualify as a reportable fireSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1973 EventNot manned for the whole fire season; used at peak fire danger; register says used for emergency that yearSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  9. 1974 RemovedTimber tower removed some time after 1974Source: peakbagging.com
  10. No record between 1974 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: June 12, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  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.

Yamsay Mountain sits in Klamath County, Oregon, in the Winema National Forest.1 The Klamath Indian Agency's forestry department built a truck trail to the summit in 1928.2 In 1929 the Indian Service was building a steel lookout tower there.2 By August that year a steel Aermotor tower 80 feet tall, capped by a 7-by-7 steel cab, stood on the summit, and a 12-by-16 ground cabin served as living quarters.2 The register calls that living space a tent cabin, so the sources differ on that detail.1

In 1955 a newspaper reported that Claudette Parazoo would be the lookout that summer for the Indian Service.2

By 1961 heavy winter ice had buckled the steel tower.2 The Winema National Forest announced a $9,000 treated-timber tower that would stand 20 feet tall and have living quarters at the top.2 The register says the new tower replaced the steel one that year.1 Firelookout.com gives the same sequence in one line.3 A climbing guide that cites a book on Northwest lookouts says the steel tower was dismantled in 1961.4

In 1968 the lookout reported smoke in an area where a fire had already been put out.2 The burning stump was not classed as a reportable fire, since it had not spread beyond the spot where it began.2

In 1973 the forest said the lookout would not be manned for the whole fire season and would be used only at peak fire danger.2 The register says the timber tower was used for emergencies that year and is now gone.1

A PeakBagging.com page, with a July 4, 2017 picture, says what remains is all that is left of the lookout. The page says the lookout came down some time after 1974.5 The climbing guide describes only concrete abutments and a great many nails on the summit.4

I found no closure notice. The site lies in the Winema National Forest, and the climbing guide gives driving directions from U.S. 97 and Oregon 76 near Silver Lake.5,4

  1. Yamsay Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/yamsay-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Yamsay Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/yamsay-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Yamsay Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/yamsaymtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Yamsay Mountain (OR), SummitPost, https://www.summitpost.org/yamsay-mountain-or/222875 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Yamsay Mountain (Lookout Site), Klamath County, Oregon, PeakBagging.com, http://www.peakbagging.com/ORLookoutPhotos/YamsayMtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Yamsay Mountain Lookout 1937
Yamsay Mountain Lookout 1937 (1937)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Yamsay Mountain Lookout 1961
Yamsay Mountain Lookout 1961 (1961)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Yamsay Mountain Lookout
Yamsay Mountain LookoutPhoto: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Yamsay Mountain Lookout site 2006
Yamsay Mountain Lookout site 2006 (2006)Photo: Ron Kemnow, 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: design, 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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