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Fire lookout · Lake County, Oregon

Cougar Peak Lookout Site

Fremont NF lookout in Lake County, Oregon: a D-6 cupola cabin built in 1923, replaced by a hip-roof house in 1954, and gone in 1972.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The register says the D-6 cupola cabin was removed in 1972; Rex's page says the house burned, and firelookout.com says it was destroyed in 1972

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 cabD-6 cupola cabin (1923), a 12-by-12 house with a cupola; replaced in 1954 by a 14-by-14 hip-roof houseThe design: D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1923
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,919 ft (2,414 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Fremont National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lake County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.30700, −120.63035
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-cougar-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 4.3 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. 1923 BuiltRex's page quotes August and October 1923 items on the new house, which was completed and painted by October; the register and firelookout.com both give 1923 as the build yearSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1924 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Jack Glasson had been at the station continuously since April 16, per a Lake County Examiner item quoted on Rex's pageSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1938 FireVisitors had a first-class view of the Black Cap fire from the lookout, per a Lake County Examiner item quoted on Rex's pageSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1938 StaffedJoe Frizzell was the lookout on duty in September 1938Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1938 and 1954
  6. 1954 Replaced by a new structureA 14-by-14 hip-roof lookout house replaced the old cupola house; total cost $4,171.93, with no catwalkSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1954 and 1969
  8. 1969 EventThe 1969 lookout inventory shows the lookout used for emergency detectionSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1972 DestroyedThe register says removed, firelookout.com says destroyed, and Rex's page says it burnedSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  10. No record between 1972 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: May 20, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  12. 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 Peak, on the Fremont National Forest about 16 miles northwest of Lakeview in Lake County, got its lookout house in 1923.1,2 Rex's page quotes two 1923 items. One says the new house was nearly complete in August, and the other says it was finished and being painted by October.3 The register calls it a D-6 cupola cabin, and a later account describes a 12-by-12 house on the summit.1,3

Rex's page quotes a 1924 Lake County Examiner item saying Mr. and Mrs. Jack Glasson had been at the station since April 16.3 In September 1938 Joe Frizzell was the lookout on duty, and a Lake County Examiner item says visitors had a first-class view of the Black Cap fire from the lookout.3

In 1954 a 14-by-14 hip-roof house replaced the old cupola house, and Rex's page gives the total construction cost as $4,171.93.3 By 1969 the lookout was listed for emergency detection.3

In 1972 the house was lost, but the sources describe its end differently. The register says it was removed, firelookout.com says it was destroyed, and Rex's page says it burned.1,2,3

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

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

Photos

Photo of Cougar Peak 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: 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, 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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