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Fire lookout · Lincoln County, Oregon

Cougar Mountain Lookout Site

Siuslaw NF lookout in Lincoln County, Oregon: an L-4 cab from the early 1930s, a 41-foot tower put up in 1954, and the tower removed after the 1970 fire season.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed after the 1970 fire season per Rex's page; the register says only that it has since been removed, and firelookout.com gives no removal date

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 tower41-foot treated timber L-4 tower (1954) with an L-4 cab; the first L-4 cab dates to the early 1930sThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1931
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
1,825 ft (556 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Siuslaw National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lincoln County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.95532, −123.86337
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-cougar-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 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. 1931 BuiltThe register dates the first L-4 cab to the early 1930s; the earliest dated record is a September 1931 Forest Service plan for a fireman's cabin, with project approval on September 12, 1931Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1938 EventA garage was built at the siteSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 EventActivated March 18, 1942, listed under the Portland Filter CenterSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1943 StaffedLookout Irvin Hussey named in a February 1943 Oregonian story about a shooting reported from the postSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1954 BuiltA 41-foot treated timber L-4 tower with a cab was erected; Rex's page gives the estimated cost as $4,252Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1954 and 1970
  7. 1970 RemovedTower removed after the 1970 fire season per Rex's page; no other source gives a removal yearSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  8. 1970 Last staffedFinal year the lookout was staffedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1970 and 2010
  10. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: November 8, 2010Source: FFLOS register entry
  11. 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.

Cougar Mountain, in the Siuslaw National Forest in Lincoln County, got its first cab in the early 1930s.1,2 A September 1931 letter says the Forest Service planned a fireman's cabin there and wanted the material up the mountain before the heavy fall rains.3 In 1954 a 41-foot treated timber L-4 tower went up, and Rex's page gives its estimated cost as $4,252.1,3

Rex's page says a garage went up in 1938, and it lists the post as activated on March 18, 1942, under the Portland Filter Center.3 A February 1943 Oregonian story says a man walked to the lookout after a shooting and reported it to Lookout Irvin Hussey.3 Rex's page marks 1970 as the last year the lookout was staffed.3

Rex's page says the tower came down after the 1970 fire season.3 The register says it has since been removed, and firelookout.com's header leaves the tower's end date open with only a question mark.1,2

None of the sources we read describes what, if anything, remains on the mountain today. The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register still lists the site.1

  1. Cougar Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/cougar-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Cougar Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/cougarmtn44.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Cougar Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/cougar-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cougar Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
L-4 cab in the 1940s
L-4 cab in the 1940sPhoto: 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: 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, 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.