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Fire lookout · Coos County, Oregon

Bennetts Butte Lookout Site

Gone Coos County lookout: a 1927 log cabin, a 1942 wooden tower, removed by 2002 when the summit held a communications facility.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed; a 2002 recovery note says the summit now has a communications facility and two buildings.

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 live-in tower, 14 by 14 feet, on four legsThe design: Cupola house
Built of
Wood
Built
1927
Height
35 ft (10.7 m)
Elevation
2,185 ft (666 m)
Agency
Coos FPA
Land
Unknown
Location
Coos County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.95873, −124.27261
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-bennetts-butte

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 3.4 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. 1927 BuiltLog cupola cabin built, per the register and firelookout.com. A 1937 field report says the lookout house was built nine or ten years earlier.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1928 EventNewspaper item: a new lookout station established on Bennett's Butte near the headwaters of Catching CreekSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1937 Condition assessmentS.L. Miller field report: lookout house built 9 or 10 years earlier with a decayed foundation; suggests a 50-foot towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1942 Replaced by a new structureCabin replaced by a 14-by-14-foot wooden live-in tower. Credited to the association with AWS and FFE funds (1942 state report) and to the CCC (1943 newspaper).Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1942 StaffedStaffed under the Air Warning ServiceSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1942 and 2002
  7. 2002 RemovedRecovery note on the NGS data sheet: lookout tower removed; summit now has a communications facility and two buildingsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 22, 2010 as US 762, OR 171Source: firetower.org
  9. 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.

Bennetts Butte rises to about 2,185 feet in Coos County.1 Firelookout.com puts it about ten miles south-southwest of Myrtle Point, while a 1942 federal survey description puts it twelve miles southwest.1,2 The Coos FPA administered the lookout.3 A log cupola cabin went up in 1927, according to the register and firelookout.com.3,1 A June 1928 newspaper item reported that a new station was set up that year close to the headwaters of Catching Creek.2 A 1937 field report said the lookout house was nine or ten years old, and its foundation had badly decayed.2

The register says a 30-foot wooden live-in tower replaced the cabin in 1942.3 The accounts differ on who built it. A 1942 state forestry report, quoted on the Oregon lookout history page, says the association put up a new lookout, paid for with what the report calls AWS and FFE funds.2 Another entry says the Air Warning Service staffed it that year.2 A 1943 Coos Bay Times item credits the Civilian Conservation Corps, working under the state forester, with completing it.2 The 1942 federal survey describes a white wooden structure, 14 by 14 feet and 35 feet high on four legs, which does not match the register's 30 feet.2,3

The register and firelookout.com both list the tower as gone.3,1 A 2002 recovery note on the national geodetic survey data sheet says the tower was taken down and the summit now carries a communications installation plus two buildings.2

The most recent description found dates from 2002.2 No source says whether the summit is open to visitors or whether a car can reach it.2

  1. Bennett Butte Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/bennettbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Bennett Butte, Oregon Lookouts history site, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/bennett-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bennetts Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/bennetts-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Bennetts Butte Lookout
Bennetts Butte LookoutPhoto: Howard Verschoor collection, 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, 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, staffing, 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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