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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Butler Butte Lookout Site

Douglas County, OR summit in the Umpqua NF: 20-ft L-4 tower 1932, removed 1958; the 1942 AWS cabin survives and is a Forest Service cabin, closed for structural issues.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. The Forest Service cabin page says it is closed due to structural issues and will stay closed for maintenance until further notice. No access is described for the tower site

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower and cab removed in 1958; the 1942 AWS cabin and outbuildings were kept and still stand

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No tower remains to climb. The Forest Service recommends a high-clearance or four-wheel-drive vehicle, and roads are not plowed in winter

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower20-foot round fir pole tower with L-4 cab (1932)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Also served as
Aircraft Warning Service postDuring the Second World War it was staffed to spot and report aircraft.
Built
1932
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
5,513 ft (1,680 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Umpqua National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.88801, −122.67972
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-butler-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 4.1 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. 1920 EventRegister: a crow's nest and cab set up on the summit in 1920Source: firetower.org
  2. 1929 FireNovember 7, 1929 Glendale Log: a lookout fireman on Butler Butte was held in service some weeks after the fire season closed, to survey the extent of the summit ridge fireSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1932 Built20-foot round fir pole tower with L-4 cab, replacing the 1920 crow's nest and cabSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1938 AbandonedForest Lookouts (Umpqua National Forest files): log house abandoned; garage and woodshed built the same yearSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1941 StaffedLookout staffed for 85 days; reported to Tiller Ranger Station by forest lineSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1942 BuiltAircraft Warning Service observers' cabin built in 1942; the Forest Service says it was built as an AWS stationSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, fs.usda.gov
  7. 1942 StaffedAircraft Warning Service post. Start date conflicts: Forest Lookouts says activated August 24, 1942; the Forest Service says early 1942Sources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, fs.usda.gov
  8. 1943 EventAircraft Warning Service post deactivated October 16, 1943Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1943 and 1958
  10. 1958 RemovedRegister: tower removed in 1958. Forest Lookouts: tower and cab removed, AWS cabin and outbuildings retained. Firelookout.com: tower destroyed in 1958Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1958 and 2010
  12. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 24, 2010 as US 774, OR 183; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  13. 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.

Butler Butte is a 5,513-foot summit on the Rogue-Umpqua Divide, in the Umpqua National Forest, Douglas County.1,2

The register says a crow's nest and cab went up in 1920.1 In 1932 a 20-foot round fir pole tower with an L-4 cab replaced that setup.1,2

A Glendale Log item from November 1929 says a lookout fireman on Butler Butte was held in service for some weeks after the fire season closed, to survey the extent of a summit ridge fire.2

The lookout was staffed for 85 days in 1941 and reported by forest line to the Tiller Ranger Station.2

Sources differ on when the Aircraft Warning Service post opened. The Forest Service says early 1942, while Forest Lookouts gives August 24, 1942.3,2 The Forest Service says the post watched for Japanese planes and incendiary balloons.3 A cabin was built for the observers in 1942, and the post ran until October 16, 1943.2,3

The tower and cab were removed in 1958, but the AWS cabin and outbuildings were kept.2 Firelookout.com says the tower was destroyed that year.4

The AWS cabin is now the Butler Butte Cabin, a Forest Service rental at $40 per night per group, for up to eight occupants, with reservations through Recreation.gov.3 The Forest Service page, which carries no date in our copy, says the cabin is closed due to structural issues and will be closed for maintenance until further notice.3 Firelookout.com says the cabin is still available for rental, which conflicts with that closure notice.4 No source we read describes the tower site today. Winter roads to the cabin go unplowed, so the Forest Service recommends a high-clearance or four-wheel-drive vehicle.3

  1. Butler Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/butler-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Butler Butte, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/butler-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Butler Butte Cabin, Umpqua National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/umpqua/recreation/butler-butte-cabin (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Butler Butte Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/butlerbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Butler Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Butler Butte in 1928
Butler Butte in 1928 (1928)Photo: the Howard Verschoor collection, the Fire Lookout Museum, and the U.S. Forest Service, via firelookout.com · source
Butler Butte L.O.
Butler Butte L.OPhoto: the Howard Verschoor collection, the Fire Lookout Museum, and the U.S. Forest Service, via firelookout.com · source
Butler Butte in 1942
Butler Butte in 1942 (1942)Photo: the Howard Verschoor collection, the Fire Lookout Museum, and the U.S. Forest Service, via firelookout.com · source
Butler Butte in 1943
Butler Butte in 1943 (1943)Photo: the Howard Verschoor collection, the Fire Lookout Museum, and the U.S. Forest Service, via firelookout.com · source
Butler Butte in 1999
Butler Butte in 1999 (1999)Photo: the Howard Verschoor collection, the Fire Lookout Museum, and the U.S. Forest Service, via firelookout.com · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Standing

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: wartime use, design, height, dates, photos, 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, height, status, agency, access, 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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