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Fire lookout · Curry County, Oregon

Barklow Mountain Lookout Site

Curry County, OR ground lookout in the Siskiyou NF: L-5 cab from 1933, steel cab from 1955 or 1957, moved by helicopter in 1973/74; concrete blocks remain.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The steel cab was flown by helicopter to Lake of the Woods Lookout in 1973 or 1974; only some concrete blocks and guy cable anchors remain at the site per Oregon Hikers

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Barklow Mountain Trail #1258 in the Copper Salmon Wilderness; year-round use; wilderness regulations apply, no motorized or mechanized use

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Trail #1258 follows the ridge to the old lookout site from the northeast trailhead, reached by about five miles on Forest Road 3353

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-5 cab (1933), later replaced by a steel cab (1955 per most sources; 1957 per Oregon Lookouts)The design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
3,579 ft (1,091 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Curry County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.75079, −124.16318
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-barklow-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.

Downloads about 3.8 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. 1933 BuiltNew lookout packed to the mountain in August 1933; L-5 cab per the Register, Firelookout.com and Oregon HikersSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1941 StaffedStaffed 65 days, reporting to the Powers Ranger Station by West Coast TelephoneSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1955 Replaced by a new structureSteel cab replaced the L-5 cab per the Register, Firelookout.com and Oregon Hikers; Oregon Lookouts dates a new all-steel house to 1957Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonhikers.org
  4. 1967 StaffedNewspaper item reprinted by Oregon Lookouts names a lookout on Barklow MountainSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1972 StaffedNewspaper item reprinted by Oregon Lookouts says a couple went up to the Barklow lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1974 MovedCab moved to Lake of the Woods Lookout; Oregon Hikers and Oregon Lookouts say by helicopter; Oregon Lookouts dates the flight to 1973Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonhikers.org
  7. No record between 1974 and 2010
  8. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 18, 2010 as US 754, OR 163Source: firetower.org
  9. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Barklow Mountain stands about 17 miles east of Port Orford, in the Siskiyou National Forest.1,2 A Coast and Geodetic Survey description from 1942 places the lookout at the northwest end of a bald, rocky ridge, and gives the building as 10 by 10 feet and about 10 feet high.1 In August 1933 a government packer hauled a new lookout to the mountain.1 The Register and Firelookout.com describe that first cab as an L-5 built in 1933.2,3

The replacement is dated differently by different sources. The Register, Firelookout.com and Oregon Hikers say a steel cab went up in 1955.2,3,4 Oregon Lookouts instead dates a new all-steel house, described as a prototype for later cabins, to 1957.1

A May 1940 guard-placement plan says that in past years the lookout was not manned before mid-July and stayed open until late September.1 In 1941 it was staffed for 65 days, and its reports went through West Coast Telephone to the Powers Ranger Station.1 Newspaper items that Oregon Lookouts reprints name a lookout on the mountain in 1967, and a couple who went up to the lookout in 1972.1

The steel cab was moved in 1974 to become the Lake of the Woods Lookout, according to the Register, Firelookout.com and Oregon Hikers.2,3,4 Oregon Hikers adds that the move was made by helicopter.4 Oregon Lookouts dates the helicopter flight to 1973 and says it was brought in to replace an earlier building at Lake of the Woods.1

Today the summit lies in the Copper Salmon Wilderness.5 The Forest Service's Barklow Mountain Trail #1258 follows the ridge to the location of the old lookout, and wilderness rules bar motorized and mechanized use.5 The trail is open year round, and Forest Road 3353 runs about five miles to the northeast trailhead.5 Oregon Hikers says little is left at the site beyond a few concrete blocks and two guy-cable anchors, and that the view runs past Copper Mountain to the south and west, out to the Pacific.4

  1. Barklow Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/barklow-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Barklow Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/barklow-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Barklow Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/barklowmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Barklow Mountain, Oregon Hikers, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Barklow_Mountain (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Barklow Mountain Trail #1258, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/rogue-siskiyou/recreation/trails/barklow-mountain-trail-1258 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Barklow Mountain Lookout panoramic 4-5-34
Barklow Mountain Lookout panoramic 4-5-34Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, 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, height, status, agency, access, 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

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