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Fire lookout · Josephine County, Oregon

Canyon Peak Lookout Site

Canyon Peak, Josephine County OR: L-4 cab built 1941 on the Siskiyou NF, removed in the 1960s; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed in the 1960s by the register's account; no source describes remains on the summit

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
Ground-level cabL-4 cab, 14 by 14 (units not stated)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1941
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,903 ft (1,494 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Josephine County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.19483, −123.81790
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-canyon-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.9 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. 1941 BuiltTrail built to the peak, then a 14 by 14 L-4 lookout house erected; Josephine County list gives an L-4-36 ground houseSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, josephinelookouts.blogspot.com
  2. No record between 1941 and 1958
  3. 1958 StaffedJune 1958 newspaper item: a man appointed to the post but not yet sent; July 1958 a stationed lookout's husband was present for the summerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1960 RemovedRegister says removed sometime in the 1960s; firelookout.com says abandoned in the 1960s; exact year not documentedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, josephinelookouts.blogspot.com
  5. No record between 1960 and 2019
  6. 2019 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 12, 2019; nominated by Tammy McLeodSource: firetower.org
  7. 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.

Canyon Peak sits about nine miles west-northwest of Cave Junction, in Josephine County, at 4,903 feet.1,2 A trail was built up to the summit, and in 1941 a 14-by-14 L-4 lookout cab went up on top.3,1 The Josephine County list calls it an L-4-36 ground house built that year.4 The U.S. Forest Service administered the lookout, which sits in the Siskiyou National Forest.1

Planning papers from May 1940 described the position as inaccessible country and named lightning as its main risk.3

The only staffing we found comes from Medford Mail Tribune items, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page. It reported in June 1958 that a man had been named to the post but had not yet been sent there.3 A camping party that stopped at the lookout in July 1958 found the husband of one member stationed there for the summer.3

The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says the cab was removed sometime in the 1960s.1 Another site says it was abandoned in the 1960s and is now gone.2 The Josephine County list marks its removal with a question mark.4

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today, or whether visitors can reach it.1

  1. Canyon Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/canyon-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Canyon Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/canyonpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Canyon Peak, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/canyon-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Josephine County Fire Lookouts, Josephine County Fire Lookouts blog, https://josephinelookouts.blogspot.com/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Canyon Peak Lookout 1944
Canyon Peak Lookout 1944 (1944)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, 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, 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: what it is built of, design, 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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