Hat Point Fire Lookout Tower, Forest Service Road #4340, 24 miles from Imnaha, Imnaha, Wallowa County, OR

Significance: One of the few remaining operational fire lookout towers in the United States. The Hat Point Lookout is manned every fire season by a Forest Service lookout. The Tower is located on the edge of Hells Canyon at the highest elevation above sea level (6982'ASL) on the Oregon side of the canyon. At Hat Point, Hells Canyon of the Snake River is the deepest gorge in North America. Equipment inside the 8' x 8' tower cabin includes the original "Osborn Fire Finder," chair and table both of which are mounted on glass insulators. The road into Hat Point was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1934. The only route into the Hat Point area prior to this time was by horse, pack train or on foot. The area is significant in Forest Service and CCC history due to its use as a staging area for CCC fire fighting crews. It is also the site of the first Forest Service parachute air drop to resupply CCC/Forest Service crews fighting forest fires.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N384

Survey number: HAER OR-60

fire towers imnaha hat tower hat point fire lookout tower forest forest service road miles wallowa wallowa county oregon historic american engineering record michael lavey photo ultra high resolution high resolution library of congress fire lookout stations forest service

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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