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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Dome Rock Lookout Site - UNF

Also known as Dome Rock

Lane County L-4 ground lookout on Dome Rock, Oregon, built c.1936 or 1948, destroyed in September 1968; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed 17 September 1968 per a fire control note quoted on Rex's page; the register says gone by 1969

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 cabL-4The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,740 ft (1,750 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.45151, −122.40450
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-dome-rock-lookout-site-unf

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 3.5 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. 1936 BuiltFirelookout.com gives an L-4 cab on the north point in 1936; Rex's page gives a lookout house built c.1936Sources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1948 BuiltRegister gives 1948 for its L-4 cab on the north point; Rex's page gives a 14x14 L-4 ground house constructed in 1948Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1953 EventCoast and Geodetic Survey station description: survey station at the apex of a wooden lookout house about 100 feet below the highest point of Dome RockSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1967 Event1967 Lookout Inspection Survey: hardly ever visited; used, but not normally, in extreme situationsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1968 DestroyedRex's page quotes a note dated 9-17-68 saying Dome Rock was destroyed; firelookout.com says gone 1968Sources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1969 EventRegister says the cab was gone by 1969Source: firetower.org
  7. No record between 1969 and 2010
  8. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: December 10, 2010Source: FFLOS register entry
  9. 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.

Dome Rock is a summit in Lane County, Oregon, about 21 miles south of Oakridge, at roughly 5,740 feet.1,2 Firelookout.com dates a lookout cab on the north point to 1936.2 Rex's Fire Lookout Page says a lookout house was built around 1936, and that a 14-by-14 L-4 ground house was constructed in 1948.3 The register dates its north-point cab to 1948, so the sources disagree about the first date.1 The register also carries photographs captioned 1942, which suggests a lookout was standing there before the 1948 date.1

The register and firelookout.com place the site in the Umpqua National Forest, while Rex's page names the Willamette National Forest.1,2,3 A 1967 inspection survey, quoted on Rex's page, said almost nobody visited the lookout, and that it was used in extreme conditions but not routinely.3

Rex's page quotes a note to the supervisor's office from the fire control officer, which says Dome Rock was destroyed on September 17, 1968.3 Firelookout.com also says it was gone in 1968.2 The register gives a later date and says the cab was gone by 1969.1

A 1953 Coast and Geodetic Survey station description, also quoted on Rex's page, placed the survey station at the top of a wooden lookout house about 100 feet below the peak's highest point.3 It said the truck road ended at Big Pine Opening, and that the Dome Rock trail ran about five miles south from there to the summit.3

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today, or whether the route is open to visitors.

  1. Dome Rock Lookout Site - UNF, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/dome-rock-lookout-site-unf/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Dome Rock Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/domerock62.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Dome Rock, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/dome-rock1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Dome Rock Lookout
Dome Rock LookoutPhoto: Rex Kamstra collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Dome Rock Lookout 1942
Dome Rock Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Rex Kamstra collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Dome Rock Lookout 1942
Dome Rock Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Rex Kamstra collection, via 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, 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: what it is built of, design, 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, 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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