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Fire lookout · Linn County, Oregon

Crescent Mountain Lookout Site

Linn County, OR lookout site in Willamette NF: 1914 shelter, 1938 cab replacement, staffed 1920s-40s, gone by 1980; remnants remain at the summit per trail sources.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned by 1953 and gone by 1980 per FFLOS; remnants of the lookout remain at the summit per Forest Service trail page and hiking guide

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Forest Service trail #3384 with trailhead off Highway 20 via Lava Lake Road; check Forest Service fire closures before going

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Hike the Crescent Mountain trail to the summit; remnants of the old lookout are on top

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab1914 alidade shelter; 1922 D-6 cupola cabin; L-4 cab from 1938 (non-tower type per Oregon Lookouts)The designs: L-4, D-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1914
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,750 ft (1,753 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Willamette National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Linn County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.44666, −122.09270
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-crescent-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1908 EventPatrol lookout with a compass for sighting azimuths (Oregon Lookouts only)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1914 BuiltSources disagree: FFLOS says an alidade shelter; Oregon Lookouts says a cupola-style lookout houseSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1922 BuiltD-6 cupola cabinSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  4. 1925 First staffedLookouts placed on Crescent and Coffin Mountains (newspaper note)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1930 StaffedGordon Gilkey, observer for the summer; daily fire and rainfall reports to Fish Lake dispatcherSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1933 StaffedAlbeen Nothiger stationed as lookout during the fire seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1936 StaffedAlbyn Nothiger still stationed at Crescent Mountain (Sept 10, 1936 item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1938 Replaced by a new structureCabin damaged by snow and dry rot in foundation timbers; replaced with L-4 cab, non-tower designSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1945 StaffedLookout station worker since June 3, 1945 (newspaper accounts)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1953 AbandonedLookout house abandoned (Oregon Lookouts)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1953 and 1980
  12. 1980 RemovedGone by 1980 per FFLOS; Oregon Lookouts lists Removed without a dateSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  13. No record between 1980 and 2011
  14. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 25, 2011 as US 948, OR 306Source: firetower.org
  15. 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.

Crescent Mountain rises in the Willamette National Forest in Linn County, Oregon, at about 5,750 feet.1 The sources disagree about the first structure. The Forest Fire Lookout Association says a shelter for an alidade, a sighting instrument, went up in 1914.1 The Oregon Lookouts page instead lists a patrol lookout in 1908 and a cupola-style lookout house in 1914.2 Its 1930 note gives the height as 7,750 feet, while a 1939 note gives 5,700 feet.2

The Forest Fire Lookout Association dates a D-6 cupola cabin to 1922, and says an L-4 cab replaced it in 1938.1,3 The Oregon Lookouts page gives the reason for the 1938 change. Snow and dry rot had hurt the timbers under the old cabin.2 The new design put glass on every side of the ground floor, so fire-finding gear no longer had to sit above the building.2

A 1925 note reports that lookouts were placed on Crescent and Coffin Mountains.2 In 1930 Gordon Gilkey spent the summer there as an observer, recording lightning fires and rainfall each day and reporting to a dispatcher at Fish Lake.2 Albeen Nothiger was stationed there during the fire season in 1933.2 A 1936 item spells him Albyn Nothiger and says he was still stationed at Crescent Mountain.2 A 1939 note names H. Nothinger as the fireman. The page spells the name more than one way.2

The Oregon Lookouts page says the lookout house was abandoned in 1953 and later removed.2 The Forest Fire Lookout Association says it was gone by 1980.1

Remnants of the lookout are still on the summit.4,5 The Forest Service trail page gives the route as about 41.8 miles east on Highway 20 from Sweet Home, then Lava Lake Road to the trailhead, and says remnants of the old lookout remain.4 A hiking guide describes remnants of the old fire lookout at the summit as well.5 Check Forest Service notices for fire closures before you go.

  1. Crescent Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/crescent-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Crescent Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/crescent-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Crescent Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/crescentmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Crescent Mountain Trail #3384, Willamette National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/willamette/recreation/trails/crescent-mountain-trail-3384 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Crescent Mountain, Hike Oregon, https://www.hikeoregon.net/crescent-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Crescent Mountain Lookout 1922 - 1938
Crescent Mountain Lookout 1922 - 1938 (1922)Photo: Edna Temple photo, 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: 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, 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

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