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Fire lookout · Jackson County, Oregon

Buck Rock Lookout Site

Jackson County, OR lookout first built 1925, rebuilt around 1959-61, removed in 1967; a 2018 visit found solar panels and a comm tower on the site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Lookout removed in 1967; a 2018 visit found solar panels and a small comm tower on the site

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?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
A 2018 visitor found gravel and two-track roads to within half a mile, walked the last half mile, and reports that a 4x4 or ATV can drive all the way to the top. No source says whether the public may go up.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower10-foot wooden tower (1925); later 10-foot wooden live-in tower with an L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1925
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,645 ft (1,111 m)
Agency
Oregon Department of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Jackson County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.70595, −122.80924
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-buck-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1925 Built10-foot wooden tower (register, firelookout.com, blog)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, vanmarmot.org
  2. 1930 FireBuck Rock lookout spotted a man-caused fire of about 2.5 acres along Trail Creek (June 30, 1930 Medford Mail Tribune item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1939 StaffedWalt Sherrid and his wife moved into the station (April 24, 1939 Medford Mail Tribune item quoted by Forest Lookouts)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1942 FireLookout Bill Thompson noticed a blaze on the Van Hoose farm 13 miles away (September 27, 1942 item); the barn burned and a pumper saved the other buildingsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1943 EventArmy request for activation costs for the Buck Rock observation post during WWII; March 20, 1943 letter describes a 14x14 cupola ground house and needed living quarters and woodshedSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, vanmarmot.org
  6. 1951 StaffedScottie Parrick to be a government lookout on Buck Rock that summer (June 10, 1951)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1952 StaffedScottie Parrick to leave June 5 for his Forest Service post at Buck Rock (June 5, 1952)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1955 StaffedAgnes Warrior to be the summer lookout at Buck Rock (June 8, 1955)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1959 RebuiltRegister and firelookout.com date the live-in tower with L-4 cab to 1959; see resolved_conflictsSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, vanmarmot.org
  10. 1960 EventBear tried to break into the station and killed the lookout's guard dog (August 8, 1960 item); building not enteredSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1960 StaffedRoscoe Smith took the Buck Rock post (June 13, 1960)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. 1961 RebuiltAnnual report: new construction completed and old building razed; materials bought in 1960Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  13. 1964 EventUS Engineers survey: disk set in an irregular concrete slab directly beneath the tower center; station described as near the abandoned lookout towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  14. 1965 EventDistrict report: broken windows replaced and a new map installed at the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  15. 1967 AbandonedAbandoned 1967 (firelookout.com); blog says structures removed when the site was abandonedSources: firelookout.com, vanmarmot.org
  16. 1967 DestroyedRegister: the lookout was destroyed in 1967Source: firetower.org
  17. 1967 Removed'Removed' field on FFLOS detail page: "1967".Source: FFLOS register entry
  18. No record between 1967 and 2019
  19. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 11, 2019 as US 1809, OR 532Source: firetower.org
  20. 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 Buck Rock lookout site is about 26 miles north of Medford, near Trail, in Jackson County, Oregon.1,2,3 A 10-foot wooden tower went up there in 1925, and both the register and firelookout.com give that year.3,1

The replacement cab is dated differently in different sources. The register says a 10-foot tower with an L-4 cab was built in 1959.3 The Forest Lookouts page quotes district reports instead: material was bought in 1960, and in 1961 new construction was finished and the old building was razed.4

Staffing was seasonal.4 In 1939 a Medford newspaper reported that Walt Sherrid and his wife had moved into the station.4 Later summers brought Scottie Parrick in 1951 and 1952, Agnes Warrior in 1955, and Roscoe Smith in 1960.4

In 1930 the lookout spotted a man-caused fire of about 2.5 acres along Trail Creek.4 In 1942 lookout Bill Thompson noticed a blaze on a farm 13 miles away, where a barn burned; a pumper saved the other buildings.4

During World War II the site served as an Aircraft Warning Site.2 A 1943 Army request for activation costs described a 14-by-14 cupola ground house and called for a living quarters building and a woodshed.4 In August 1960 a bear tried to break into the station and killed the lookout's dog, but the building was not entered.4

The register says the lookout was destroyed in 1967.3 Firelookout.com says it was abandoned that year and is gone, and the 2018 blog says every structure was taken down in 1967.1,2 A 1964 survey description calls the tower abandoned, yet a 1965 district report says broken windows were replaced and a new map was installed at the lookout.4

Today, a 2018 visitor found solar panels and a small comm tower on the site.2 Gravel and two-track roads reach within half a mile of Buck Rock, and the visitor reports that a 4x4 or ATV can reach the top.2

We found no source that says whether the public may go up. A 1964 survey places a concrete slab directly beneath the tower's center, but we found no source saying whether any of it remains.4 Check with the managing agency before you go; the register lists the Oregon Department of Forestry.3

  1. Buck Rock Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/buckrock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Ashland, Oregon: Geocaching near Buck Rock, VanMarmot's Travels, https://vanmarmot.org/2018/01/03/buck-rock-trail-oregon-03-jan-2018/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Buck Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/buck-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Buck Rock, Forest Lookouts (Oregon lookouts site), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/buck-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Buck Rock Lookout 1959 - 1967
Buck Rock Lookout 1959 - 1967 (1959)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Buck Rock Lookout 1946
Buck Rock Lookout 1946 (1946)Photo: Ron Kemnow collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Buck Rock Lookout site 2007
Buck Rock Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via 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, 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: 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.