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Fire lookout · Jackson County, Oregon

Bessie Rock Lookout Site

Jackson County, OR lookout on Bessie Rock: built 1931, staffed 1941 and 1953, removed or destroyed in 1969; no source describes the summit today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1969; the sources differ on which

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
Trail
Lookout gone; no source describes the summit today or a current route to it. A 2015 review says the old telephone line and much of the trail were abandoned in the 1960s.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabEnclosed 6-foot base with an L-4 cab, reached by ladders (an 85-foot ladder in a 1932 article; 96 rungs in a 1941 account)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
85 ft (25.9 m)
Elevation
5,953 ft (1,815 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Rogue River National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Jackson County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.76489, −122.32723
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-bessie-rock

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. 1931 BuiltRegister and firelookout date it to 1931; the Medford Mail Tribune reported work on the station in October 1931; a January 1932 article describes it as a new stationSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1941 StaffedStaffed 105 days; Roy G. Pursel was the lookout that summer; communications via Columbia Utilities Company to the Butte Falls Ranger StationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1953 StaffedA 17-year-old fire spotter at the lookout had an emergency appendectomy and was carried down 3.5 miles of trailSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1953 and 1969
  5. 1969 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout and Forest Lookouts say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1969 and 2010
  7. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 22, 2010; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  8. 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.

The Bessie Rock lookout stood on a rocky summit in Jackson County, Oregon, within the Rogue River National Forest, at about 5,953 feet.1,2 A 1953 newspaper item places it about 10 miles due east of Prospect.3 The U.S. Forest Service administered it.1

The former-lookout register and firelookout date it to 1931, when it went up as an enclosed six-foot base with an L-4 cab.1,2 Newspaper reports from those years fit that timeline.3 In October 1931 the Medford Mail Tribune reported that Jack Grow was working on the station, and a January 1932 article described it as one of six new lookout and fireman stations.3

That article said the station sat at the top of an 85-foot ladder, and that supplies were hauled six miles by mule from the Imnaha ranger station and then packed up the ladder.3 A 1941 account describes a 96-rung ladder.3

In 1941 the lookout was staffed for 105 days, and communications ran through the Columbia Utilities Company to the Butte Falls Ranger Station.3 That summer Roy G. Pursel was the lookout.3 In August 1953 a 17-year-old fire spotter at the lookout needed an emergency appendectomy, and he had to be carried down 3.5 miles of trail to an ambulance.3

The former-lookout register says the lookout was removed in 1969. Firelookout and Forest Lookouts say it was destroyed that year.1,2,3 The sources differ on that one word.

No source we read describes what, if anything, is left on the summit today, or whether visitors can reach it.1,2 A 2015 review of the Geyser Springs Trail says the old telephone line and much of the trail up to the lookout were abandoned in the 1960s.4 That is a visitor's account rather than an agency record, so treat the date with care.

  1. Bessie Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/bessie-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Bessie Rock Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/bessierock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bessie Rock, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/bessie-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Geyser Springs Trail, Roadtrippers, https://maps.roadtrippers.com/us/-rogue-river---siskiyou-national-forest-or/nature/geyser-springs-trail (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bessie Rock Lookout Site
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.

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, status, agency, 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

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