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Fire lookout · Clackamas County, Oregon

Eagle Creek Lookout Site

Clackamas County, OR; USFS L-4 ground cab, built 1937 per FFLOS; a 1934 photo caption and a 1953 report date its loss differently; gone by 1957. No site description found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. FFLOS and firelookout.com say gone by 1957; a 1953 district report says it was condemned and destroyed that year; no source describes the site now

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-4 ground cab, set about 1/8 mile east of and below a minor summitThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1937
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,600 ft (793 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Clackamas County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.30736, −122.12375
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-eagle-creek

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 4.2 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. 1934 EventPanorama photo of the lookout captioned March 20, 1934, three years before the 1937 build dateSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1937 BuiltBuilt by the USFS as an L-4 ground cab, about 1/8 mile east of and below a minor summitSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  3. No record between 1937 and 1953
  4. 1953 DestroyedCondemned and destroyed that year per a 1953 Estacada District historical report, quoted in a February 10, 1954 note; the loss left one full-time lookout in the districtSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1957 RemovedGone by 1957 per FFLOS and firelookout.comSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  6. No record between 1957 and 2010
  7. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 18, 2010, nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  8. 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.

The Eagle Creek lookout was an L-4 cab set on the ground in Clackamas County, Oregon.1 The Forest Service built it in 1937, about an eighth of a mile east of a minor summit and below it.1 The spot lies about 11 miles east of Estacada, in the Mount Hood National Forest.2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register puts the site at 2,600 feet, or 792 meters.1

A panorama photo of the lookout is captioned March 20, 1934, three years before the 1937 build date.1,3 The photo date and the build date do not line up.1,3

A February 10, 1954 note, quoting a 1953 Estacada District historical report, says the tower was condemned and destroyed that year. It adds that after the loss, the district had one full-time lookout left.3

The sources date its end differently. The 1953 report says it was destroyed that year, while the register and firelookout.com say only that it was gone by 1957.1,2,3 The register added the site on August 18, 2010, on the nomination of Ray Kresek.1

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains at the site now, or whether the land is open to visitors. The register gives its coordinates as N 45.307360°, W 122.123750°.1

  1. Eagle Creek Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/eagle-creek-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Eagle Creek Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/eaglecreek.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Eagle Creek Ridge, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/eagle-creek-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Eagle Creek Lookout panoramic 3-20-34
Eagle Creek Lookout panoramic 3-20-34Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, 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, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, staffing, 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.