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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Eagles Rest Lookout Site

L-5 ground cabin on a rocky point near Dexter, Oregon, built 1933, staffed in the 1930s and removed in 1971; now a hiking viewpoint.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The lookout house was removed in 1971. The rocky point is now a trail viewpoint.

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. Oregon Hikers describes a trail hike to the old lookout site. The sources mention no closure or gate.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Lower trailhead 2.3 miles from the summit with 1,400 ft of gain; upper trailhead 0.5 miles from the summit. Open year round except after winter snows.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab10x10-foot Aladdin L-5 ground cabin (Rex's page); L-5 ground cabin (FFLOS)The design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1932
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,022 ft (921 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Willamette National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.84678, −122.74766
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-eagles-rest

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 4.1 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. 1932 BuiltFirelookout.com dates the L-5 cab to 1932; conflicts with the 1933 sourcesSource: firelookout.com
  2. 1932 EventAugust 24, 1932 Eugene Guard item lists a new lookout house at Eagles Rest among six plannedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 BuiltBuilt as a 10x10 Aladdin L-5 ground cabin; FFLOS also gives 1933Sources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  4. 1933 StaffedEugene Guard, August 20, 1933: J.N. Smithson stationed at the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1934 EventPanorama photographs taken June 11, 1934 by Robert CooperSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1936 StaffedCorvallis Gazette-Times: Bill Wilt stationed at the lookout for the summer; called back to patrol duty in October (article dated October 8, 1936)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1937 EventLantern stamped U.S. Forest Service taken from the lookout house in fall 1937 after unlawful entrance (per the April 1938 report); a man was found guilty of possessing the stolen property on March 4, 1938Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1937 and 1971
  9. 1971 RemovedLookout house removedSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  10. No record between 1971 and 2010
  11. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 10, 2010Source: firetower.org
  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.

Eagles Rest is a rocky point in the Willamette National Forest that once held a lookout cabin.1 The cabin was a 10-by-10-foot Aladdin L-5 ground cabin, built in 1933.1,2 Firelookout.com dates it to 1932 instead.3 An August 1932 Eugene Guard item had already listed a new lookout house at Eagles Rest among six planned.1

In August 1933 the Eugene Guard reported that J.N. Smithson had joined the Forest Service and was posted at the lookout.1 Corvallis Gazette-Times items from 1936 say Bill Wilt spent the summer at the lookout, and in October he was called back to patrol duty.1

In the fall of 1937 someone gained unlawful entrance to the lookout house. A newspaper report from April 1938 said an electric lantern stamped U.S. Forest Service had evidently been taken from it, and that a man was found guilty on March 4 of possessing the stolen property.1

The lookout house was removed in 1971.2,3,4

The point is still a destination for hikers.5 Oregon Hikers describes the summit as a former lookout site with an open outlook to the southeast and west.5 The lower trailhead is 2.3 miles from the summit, and the trail passes the historic Ash Swale Shelter, which was built to serve the pack animals that once supplied the area's lookouts.5,4

A Coast and Geodetic Survey description from 1953 places a survey station on the same rocky point, six miles southeast of Dexter.1 The sources do not say whether that survey mark survives.1

To reach the trailhead, Oregon Hikers gives this route: from I-5 exit 188, head east on Highway 58, drive 20.8 miles, turn right onto Goodman Creek Road, and continue 3.2 miles.4 The guide lists the hike as year round, except after winter snows, and mentions no closure.4

  1. Eagles Rest, Forest Lookouts (Rex's Fire Lookout Page), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/eagles-rest.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Eagles Rest Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/eagles-rest-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Eagles Rest Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/eaglesrest.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Eagles Rest Hike, Oregon Hikers Field Guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Eagles_Rest_Hike (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Eagles Rest Viewpoint, Oregon Hikers Field Guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Eagles_Rest (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Eagles Rest Lookout 1933 - 1971
Eagles Rest Lookout 1933 - 1971 (1933)Photo: Ron Kemnow 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, 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, 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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