FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Tillamook County, Oregon

Bell Mountain Lookout Site (Tillamook County)

Also known as Bell Mountain

Siuslaw forest lookout on Bell Mountain, Tillamook County: towers from 1925 on, both gone before 1963. No source describes the summit today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Both towers gone before 1963 per the register; no source describes what remains on the summit today

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 towerWooden pole towers: 70 ft in 1925 and 1934 reports; an 80 ft tower with a 10x10 ft house reported in 1934The designs: L-4, L-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1925
Height
24 ft (7.3 m)
Elevation
2,603 ft (793 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Tillamook County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.23546, −123.51255
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-bell-mountain-tillamook-county

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 4.1 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. 1923 EventEugene Guard, August 25, 1923: trail and telephone line construction under way toward Bell MountainSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1925 Built70-foot tower of peeled fir poles, reported September 1925Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1925 First staffedNewspaper names Lookout William Land for the new towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1926 EventNewspaper gives the tower's cost as $406.00Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1927 EventExecutive order sets aside 80 acres in Section 11 for use as a lookout stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1927 StaffedLookout kept open after the other Siuslaw lookouts were called in for the seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1934 RebuiltNewspapers: 70-foot tower to be rebuilt or replaced; an 80-foot tower with a 10x10 house near completion in OctoberSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1935 BuiltRegister and Rex's page: 15-foot wooden L-4 towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. 1936 BuiltRegister and Rex's page: 80-foot pole L-6 towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  10. 1942 StaffedActivated March 19, 1942, under the Portland Filter CenterSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1951 StaffedNewspaper: women lookouts on five of six district peaks; sole male observer on Bell MountainSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. 1958 EventDriver of a Forestry Department pickup radioed the lookout for help after a fall over a 50-foot embankmentSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  13. No record between 1958 and 2010
  14. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 22, 2010Source: firetower.org
  15. 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.

Bell Mountain stands in the Siuslaw National Forest, in Tillamook County, Oregon.1 Crews were still building a trail and a telephone line toward the summit in 1923.2 In September 1925 a new tower was being built for a lookout named William Land, and a Eugene newspaper put its height at 70 feet and said it was built from peeled fir poles.2 A January 1926 newspaper item put its cost at $406.2 The next year an executive order set aside 80 acres in Section 11 for use as a lookout station.2 That fall the Bell Mountain lookout was kept open after the other Siuslaw lookouts had been called in for the season.2

The register and Rex's page place a 15-foot L-4 tower in 1935 and an 80-foot pole tower in 1936.1,3 Newspapers from 1934 tell a different sequence: a plan to rebuild or replace the 70-foot tower, and an 80-foot tower with a 10-by-10-foot house on top nearing completion that October.2

Records show the lookout was activated on March 19, 1942, under the Portland Filter Center.2 In 1951 a newspaper reported that women worked as lookouts on five of the district's six peaks, and that its only male observer was on Bell Mountain.2 In 1958 a Forestry Department pickup went over a 50-foot embankment, and its driver used the truck's two-way radio to call the lookout for help.2

The register says both towers were gone before 1963.1 Rex's page carries the heading "R.I.P. 1935-?" and gives no later date.3

No source we found describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today, or whether visitors can reach it.1,3 A survey description from 1936 places a reference disk 47.2 feet south of the tower's center, but no source says whether that disk survives.2

  1. Bell Mountain Lookout Site (Tillamook County), Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/bell-mountain-lookout-site-tillamook-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Bell Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/bell-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bell Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://www.firelookout.com/or/bellmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bell Mountain Lookout Site (Tillamook County)
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the registers.

    • FFLOS: US 669
    • FFLA: US 761

    Another source gives a different FFLOS number; the register's own entry is used.

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, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.