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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Cinnamon Butte Lookout

Umpqua National Forest lookout first built in 1934; the R-6 tower standing now was moved here in 1976, and the site is staffed in summer.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. Road to the top; staffed in summer. A 2023 visitor was allowed up with staff permission, so ask staff before going up.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
From the Highway 230 and 138 junction, drive north 7.9 miles on 138, turn onto gravel Road 4793, then drive about 1.5 miles of dirt road to the lookout (2023 visit).
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flattop cab with catwalk on a treated timber towerThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
6,410 ft (1,954 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.24090, −122.10955
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-cinnamon-butte

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

Downloads about 3.8 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 BuiltCCC completed an L-4 cab on a timber tower; Forest Lookouts says 35 feet, firelookout.com and the register say 30 feetSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1939 StaffedNewspaper counts Cinnamon Butte among two manned lookouts in the districtSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1939 and 1955
  4. 1955 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  5. 1955 EventR-6 tower first erected on Buster ButteSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  6. No record between 1955 and 1976
  7. 1976 MovedR-6 tower moved from Buster Butte to Cinnamon Butte; it is the tower standing todaySources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, cherylhill.net
  8. No record between 1976 and 2003
  9. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 31, 2003 as US 486Source: nhlr.org
  10. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Cinnamon Butte's lookout stands in the Umpqua National Forest, about 19 miles north of Crater Lake.1 The first lookout here was an L-4 cab on a timber tower, completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934.2,3 Sources disagree on that tower's height: Forest Lookouts gives 35 feet, while firelookout.com and the register give 30.2,3,1

In 1955 an R-6 tower was first erected on Buster Butte. In 1976 it was moved to Cinnamon Butte, where it still stands.2,1,4 The register gives the moved tower as 44 feet, while firelookout.com says 41.2,1

Staffing goes back a long way. A 1939 newspaper counted Cinnamon Butte among two manned lookouts in its district.3 By 1961 a Forest Service observer, Alan Madson, had been posted there for five summers.3 The register lists the site as registered on March 31, 2003.2

Firelookout.com says the lookout is staffed in the summer.1 A 2023 visitor reported a road climbing to the summit, with a 1.5-mile dirt stretch leading up from a gravel road.4 That visitor also wrote that the lookout gave permission to climb, so ask the staff before going up.4 The register says the lookout remains active.2

  1. Cinnamon Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/cinnamonbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Cinnamon Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/cinnamon-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Cinnamon Butte, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/cinnamon-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Cinnamon Butte, Every Lookout in Oregon, Cheryl Hill, https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2023/08/25/cinnamon-butte/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cinnamon Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cinnamon Butte in 1941
Cinnamon Butte in 1941 (1941)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Howard Verschoor, via firelookout.com · source
Cinnamon Butte L.O.
Cinnamon Butte L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum and Howard Verschoor, via firelookout.com · 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.

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 the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1955
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1934
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1976

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: design, 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: 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: register numbers, links Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill, cherylhill.net) · No licence stated; facts only (name, agency, elevation, year built, design and height, status word, links). Posts' narrative and photos are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.