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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Buster Butte Lookout Site

Lane County, OR summit in the Umpqua NF: 40-ft L-4 tower 1933, replaced by a 41-ft R-6 tower (1955 or 1962, sources differ); tower moved to Cinnamon Butte in 1976.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. No tower stands at the Buster Butte summit; the R-6 tower was moved to Cinnamon Butte in 1976 and stands there

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
No tower stands at the Buster Butte summit. A 1962 News-Review item describes a logging road built for the timber sale

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower1933: 40-foot round fir pole tower with 14x14 L-4 cab; replacement 41-foot treated timber tower with R-6 cabThe designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
3,832 ft (1,168 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Umpqua National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.48739, −122.57930
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-buster-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 3.7 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. 1929 EventRegister: a crow's nest and shelter set up on the site in 1929; Forest Lookouts dates a tree lookout to the 1910sSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1930 StaffedSeptember 13, 1930 Roseburg News-Review: a six-foot platform in a fir tree, 71 feet up, reached by a pole ladder, with a small shelter cabinSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 Built40-foot round fir pole tower with 14x14 L-4 cab. A September 14, 1933 Roseburg Chieftain item said the CCC would build the lookout before snow fellSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1941 StaffedLookout manned 75 days; reporting station at Steamboat Bridge Ranger StationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1947 EventMay 3, 1947: two fliers whose small plane came down about 1,500 feet from the summit reached the unoccupied lookout, broke in and rested two days, then walked about 30 miles to Steamboat guard stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1955 Replaced by a new structureRegister: 41-foot treated timber R-6 tower replaced the 1933 tower in 1955. Cinnamon Butte NHLR: first erected on Buster Butte in 1955. Conflicts with the 1962 News-Review dateSources: firetower.org, nhlr.org, fs.usda.gov
  7. 1959 StaffedJune 24, 1959 News-Review: a married couple 'will both be on' the lookout for the summer. This is a plan, not a confirmed postingSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1962 RemovedOld 1933 building pulled over with cables and a bulldozer winch; debris piled and burnedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1962 Replaced by a new structureJuly 5, 1962 News-Review: a new tower completed about six weeks earlier, replacing the 1933 building, which had become unsafeSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1962 StaffedAugust 4, 1962 News-Review: a staff member returned for a second stint at the stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1976 Moved41-foot R-6 tower dismantled and moved to Cinnamon Butte, Douglas County; it still stands there and the NHLR says it remains activeSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org
  12. No record between 1976 and 2010
  13. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 24, 2010 as US 773, OR 182; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  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.

Buster Butte rises to 3,832 feet in the Umpqua National Forest, in Lane County.1

Forest Lookouts dates a tree lookout here to the 1910s, while the register dates a crow's nest and shelter set up on the site to 1929.1,2 A September 1930 Roseburg News-Review item described a six-foot platform built in a fir tree, reached by a pole ladder 71 feet up. It also mentions a little shelter cabin.2

In 1933 a 40-foot round fir pole tower with a 14x14 L-4 cab went up.1,3,2 A September 1933 Roseburg Chieftain item had said the CCC would build the 14x14 lookout before the snow flew.2

The lookout was manned for 75 days in 1941, reporting through the Steamboat Bridge Ranger Station.2 In May 1947 two fliers whose small plane came down about 1,500 feet from the summit reached the unoccupied lookout, broke in and rested for two days before walking out.2 In June 1959 a News-Review item said a married couple would both be on the lookout for the summer.2

The register says a 41-foot treated timber tower replaced the 1933 tower in 1955.1 The Cinnamon Butte register entry says that tower was first erected on Buster Butte in 1955.4 A July 1962 News-Review item gives a different timing: a new tower had been completed about six weeks earlier, replacing the 1933 building, which had become unsafe.2 The old building was pulled over with cables and a bulldozer winch, and its debris was piled and burned.2

In 1976 the R-6 tower was dismantled and re-erected on Cinnamon Butte.2,4,5

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains on the Buster Butte summit today. The register has a 2007 photo of the site, but its text does not say what it shows.1

The tower itself still stands on Cinnamon Butte in Douglas County, and the Cinnamon Butte register entry says it remains active.4 Forest Service directions turn off Oregon 138 onto Forest Road 4793, the road to the Cinnamon Butte lookout.5

  1. Buster Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/buster-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Buster Butte, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/buster-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Buster Butte Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/busterbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Cinnamon Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, https://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/cinnamon-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Cinnamon Butte Trailhead and Sno-Park, Umpqua National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/umpqua/recreation/cinnamon-butte-trailhead-and-sno-park (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Buster Butte Lookout 1933 - 1961
Buster Butte Lookout 1933 - 1961 (1933)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Buster Butte Lookout 1933 - 1955
Buster Butte Lookout 1933 - 1955 (1933)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Buster Butte Lookout 1940
Buster Butte Lookout 1940 (1940)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Buster Butte Lookout site 2007
Buster Butte 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, 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: design, 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, 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

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