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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Dean Mountain Lookout Site

Douglas County, OR lookout on Dean Mountain in the Elliott State Forest; cupola cabin 1920s, 1946 tower, removed or destroyed 1966.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1966; no source we read describes the site today

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 tower20-foot wooden tower with 8-by-8 cab and cabin (1946 replacement of a cupola cabin)The design: Cupola house
Built of
Wood
Built
1914
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
1,819 ft (554 m)
Agency
Coos Forest Protective Association
Land
Unknown
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.61450, −123.97977
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-dean-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.

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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. 1914 BuiltOriginal shake cabin, built around 1914 per the Elliott pageSource: sites.google.com
  2. 1915 First staffedForest Service used the summit from about 1915 (Elliott page); June and August 1915 newspaper items describe a planned outlook station and a telephone line to the lookout stationSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, sites.google.com
  3. 1920 BuiltElliott page dates a ground-based 16-by-16 cupola cabin to 1920Source: sites.google.com
  4. 1922 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com date a 20-foot cupola cabin to 1922Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  5. 1929 EventCoos Forest Protective Association takes over fire protection from the Forest ServiceSource: sites.google.com
  6. No record between 1929 and 1946
  7. 1946 Replaced by a new structureCupola cabin replaced by a 20-foot wooden tower with an 8-by-8 cab and a cabinSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1946 and 1966
  9. 1966 EventSix teenage boys apprehended after a severe case of vandalism at the lookout; case cleared up (September 1966 item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1966 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com says destroyed; Elliott page gives no method for Dean's MountainSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, sites.google.com
  11. No record between 1966 and 2010
  12. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 9, 2010; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  13. 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.

Dean Mountain rises to about 1,819 feet in Douglas County, Oregon, about ten miles southeast of Reedsport.1,2 It is within the Elliott State Forest.3

The Elliott State Forest history page, drawing on a book by Jerry Phillips, says the earliest Siuslaw lookouts were built between 1910 and 1914, and that one of them was on Dean's Mountain.3 It says a simple ground house served the summit for the first 25 years.3 A June 1915 newspaper report described an outlook station planned for the summit, with a guard to be placed there by August.4 An August report said a telephone line to the lookout station was nearly complete.4

The sources disagree on when the cupola cabin went up.1,2,3 The register and firelookout.com say a 20-foot cupola cabin was built in 1922.1,2 The Elliott page says a ground-based 16-by-16-foot cabin with a cupola was built in 1920 to replace an earlier shake cabin, which it dates to about 1914.3 In 1946 a 20-foot wooden tower with an 8-by-8 cab and a cabin replaced the cupola cabin, according to the register and firelookout.com.1,2

The Forest Service used the summit from about 1915 until about 1929, when the Coos Forest Protective Association took over fire protection.3 The Elliott page calls Dean's Mountain one of the oldest, longest-occupied and best-known lookouts in Oregon.3

In September 1966 six teenage boys were apprehended for a severe case of vandalism at the lookout, and the case was cleared up.4

The register says the lookout was removed in 1966, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1,2 The Elliott page says the Department of State Lands decided Elliott lookouts were dangerous and had them removed or set on fire. It does not describe how Dean's Mountain came down.3

Only one lookout still stands on the Elliott, the Cougar Pass tower.3 The Elliott page says the other three, Dean's Mountain among them, exist only in historical photographs, memories and written descriptions.3 We found no source that describes what, if anything, is on the summit now or whether the public may reach it.3

  1. Dean Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/dean-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Dean Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra), https://www.firelookout.com/or/deanmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Elliott Secrets: Lookouts, Elliott Secrets (Google Sites), https://sites.google.com/view/elliottsecrets/lookouts (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Deans Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Ron Kemnow), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/deans-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Dean Mountain Lookout 1917 - 1946
Dean Mountain Lookout 1917 - 1946 (1917)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Dean Mountain Lookout
Dean Mountain LookoutPhoto: 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, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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: 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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

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