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Fire lookout · Jackson County, Oregon

Burnt Peak Lookout Site

Jackson County tower built 1933 and staffed into the early 1940s; an L-4 cab replaced it in 1945; removed in 1972 or 1974, sources differ.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 1972 or 1974 (sources differ); no source describes what remains at 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?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab on a 30-foot tower from 1945 (28 feet per Kemnow)The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
3,743 ft (1,141 m)
Agency
Southwest Oregon FPA (lookout duties moved from the Rogue River National Forest in 1948)
Land
Federal land
Location
Jackson County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.74972, −122.66238
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-burnt-peak

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1933 Built50-foot tower with cab and cabin per the register and firelookout.com; Kemnow's 1933 Mail Tribune quote describes a 40-foot tower under constructionSources: firelookout.com, firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1935 StaffedFrank Ragsdale, a CCC man, acting lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1938 StaffedLee Merriman back at the stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1941 StaffedStaffed 105 days; phone connections via Columbia Utilities Company to Union CreekSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1942 FireFire on Elk Creek spotted by the lookout; about half an acre; started by a hot bearing on a drag sawSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1942 EventAircraft Warning Service station, August 11, 1942 to June 24, 1943, Roseburg Filter CenterSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1945 Replaced by a new structure30-foot L-4 tower per register and firelookout.com; Kemnow dates a 28-foot L-4 tower to 1946Sources: firelookout.com, firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1948 EventLookout duties transferred from the Rogue River National Forest to the Southwest Oregon FPASource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1948 and 1972
  10. 1972 RemovedKemnow: tower dismantled, timbers to White Point for a new tower thereSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1974 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firelookout.com, firetower.org
  12. No record between 1974 and 2010
  13. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: November 24, 2010Source: FFLOS register entry
  14. 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.

Burnt Peak is a former lookout site in Jackson County, about 28 miles southwest of Crater Lake.1 The site sits at 3,743 feet, and the Southwest Oregon FPA administers it.2

The register says a 50-foot tower with a cab and a cabin went up here in 1933.2 Firelookout.com gives the same year.1 Kemnow's listing quotes a 1933 Medford Mail Tribune item that describes a 40-foot tower under construction. A September 1933 item says the Elk Creek CCC crew was completing it.3 The sources disagree on the height, and we cannot tell from them which is right.

Kemnow's listing quotes a May 1935 Mail Tribune item that names Frank Ragsdale, a CCC man, as acting lookout for now.3 The paper reported Lee Merriman back at the station in June 1938.3 In 1941 the lookout was staffed for 105 days, and its phone connections ran through Columbia Utilities Company to a reporting station at Union Creek.3

In August 1942 the lookout spotted a fire on Elk Creek at 4 a.m. on a Sunday. The Forest Service said a hot bearing on a drag saw had started it. The blaze burned about half an acre and destroyed six tiers of cut wood before a fire guard put it out.3 From August 11, 1942 to June 24, 1943, the lookout was also an Aircraft Warning Service station tied to the Roseburg Filter Center.3

The register says a 30-foot L-4 tower replaced the first tower and cabin in 1945.2 Firelookout.com gives the same year and height.1 Kemnow's listing dates a 28-foot timber tower with an L-4 cab to 1946. It says the tower cost $1,200 and that Howard Ash, a long-time lookout on the peak, built it.3 The listing also says the lookout duties moved in 1948 from the Rogue River National Forest to the Southwest Oregon FPA.3

The register records the lookout's removal in 1974.2 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed in 1974.1 Kemnow's listing gives 1972 instead, when the tower was dismantled and its timbers went to White Point for a new tower there.3 The sources disagree on the year and on what became of the tower.

We found no source that describes what remains at the site today, or whether visitors can reach it. The register includes a 2007 photograph of the site, but its caption does not describe what is there.2

  1. Burnt Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/burntpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Burnt Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/burnt-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Burnt Peak, Forest Lookouts (Ron Kemnow), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/burnt-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Burnt Peak Lookout 1942
Burnt Peak Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Burnt Peak Lookout 1945 - 1974
Burnt Peak Lookout 1945 - 1974 (1945)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Burnt Peak Lookout site 2007
Burnt Peak Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, 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, 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: design, height, ownership, 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

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