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Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Oregon

Cannibal Mountain Lookout Site

Siuslaw NF lookout: 40-ft pole L-4 built 1934, replaced by 53-ft L-4 in 1948, staffed to 1973, sold and removed 1975; a 1977 emergency-use claim conflicts.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Sold and removed in 1975 according to three sources. The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says it was used for emergencies in 1977 before removal.

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 tower40-ft pole L-4 (1934); 53-ft treated timber L-4 (1948)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
53 ft (16.2 m)
Elevation
1,946 ft (593 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lincoln County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.34875, −123.88651
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-cannibal-mountain

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 4.2 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. 1934 Built40-ft pole L-4 tower first on the site (register); Oregon Forest Lookouts and ORWW also date a 1934 tower.Sources: firetower.org, orww.org
  2. 1942 EventActivated March 12, 1942, Eugene Filter Center.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1948 Replaced by a new structure53-ft treated timber L-4 tower with 14x14 cab replaced the 1934 tower; bids invited August 1948.Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1948 and 1973
  5. 1973 Last staffedFinal year the tower was staffed; last staffed lookout on the Forest (Oregon Forest Lookouts).Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1975 RemovedSold for salvage and removed; cab converted into a chicken house by the buyer.Sources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, orww.org
  7. 1977 EventRegister says the tower was used for emergencies in 1977 before it was removed. Conflicts with the 1975 removal (see resolved_conflicts).Source: firetower.org
  8. No record between 1977 and 2010
  9. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered September 23, 2010, nominated by Ray Kresek (US 675, OR 107).Source: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Cannibal Mountain sits in the Siuslaw National Forest in Lincoln County, Oregon, at 1,946 feet.1 It lies about 22 miles south-southeast of Newport.2

The first lookout went up in 1934 as a 40-foot pole L-4 tower.1,3 A May 1934 item in the Eugene Register-Guard, quoted by the Oregon Forest Lookouts site, said a tower was planned for the mountain in the Waldport district.4

In August 1948 the Forest Service asked for bids on a prefabricated, treated 53-foot tower with a 14-by-14-foot cab.4 That taller tower replaced the first one the same year.1

The tower was staffed until 1973, and the Oregon Forest Lookouts site calls it the last of the forest's staffed lookouts.4

In 1975 a buyer took the tower away for salvage and converted its cab into a chicken house.2,4,3

The Former Fire Lookout Sites register instead says the tower served in emergencies in 1977 before it was taken down.1 That date conflicts with the 1975 removal given by the other three sources, so this account follows 1975.2,4,3

None of the sources describes what, if anything, remains on the mountain today, or whether visitors can reach the site.

  1. Cannibal Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/cannibal-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Cannibal Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/cannibalmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Cannibal Mountain Lookout, Osbornes Project, Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project, http://www.orww.org/Osbornes_Project/Lincoln/Cannibal_Mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Cannibal Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Forest Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/cannibal-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cannibal Mountain 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, height, 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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