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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Elephant Mountain Lookout Site

Douglas County, OR: 20-foot pole L-4 lookout on the Umpqua National Forest, dated 1928-1933 by sources and removed in 1962 or 1963; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 1962 or 1963; no source describes what remains at the site

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 pole L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1928
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
5,868 ft (1,789 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.28116, −122.22768 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-elephant-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.

Downloads about 3.8 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. 1928 BuiltForest Lookouts: c.1928 20-foot round pole tower with an open platform; no other source we read mentions itSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 BuiltForest Lookouts: 14 x 14 L-4 lookout house on a 20-foot round timber towerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com: 20-foot pole L-4 towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  4. 1933 EventPanorama photos taken by Lester Moe and Robert Cooper, August 6, 1933Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1934 EventAllotment of $6,000 for a stub road to the lookout in the Diamond Lake district; item dated July 17, 1934 (Roseburg News-Review, quoted by Forest Lookouts)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1936 EventPanorama photos taken by James Rittenhouse, August 19, 1936Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1936 and 1962
  8. 1962 RemovedForest Lookouts gives 1962Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1963 RemovedRegister says removed in 1963; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1963Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  10. No record between 1963 and 2010
  11. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 10, 2010; nominated by Ray KresekSource: 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.

The Elephant Mountain lookout stood in Douglas County, Oregon, on the Umpqua National Forest.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register gives its design as a 20-foot pole L-4 tower, built in 1933.1 Firelookout.com gives the same year and tower, and places it 34 miles south-southeast of Oakridge.2

The Forest Lookouts history tells a different start. It describes a 20-foot round pole tower with an open platform around 1928, and a 14-by-14-foot L-4 lookout house on a 20-foot timber tower in 1932.3 The sources disagree on when the lookout was built, and we could not settle which account is right.1,2,3

Lester Moe and Robert Cooper made panorama photos on August 6, 1933, and James Rittenhouse made one on August 19, 1936.3 In July 1934 a Roseburg newspaper item, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, reported an allotment of $6,000 for a stub road to the lookout in the Diamond Lake district.3

The register says the tower was removed in 1963, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1,2 The Forest Lookouts page gives 1962 for its removal.3 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register listed the site on December 10, 2010, on the nomination of Ray Kresek.1

The register page carries a photo of the lookout site captioned with the year 2007.1 No source we read describes what remains at the site today. Both sources record the tower as removed or destroyed, so neither reports a tower still standing.1,2

  1. Elephant Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/elephant-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Elephant Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/or/elephantmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Elephant Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/elephant-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Elephant Mountain Lookout 1942
Elephant Mountain Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Elephant Mountain Lookout 1942
Elephant Mountain Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Elephant Mountain Lookout 1932
Elephant Mountain Lookout 1932 (1932)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Elephant Mountain Lookout site 2007
Elephant Mountain Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 2.3 km (1.5 mi).

    • FFLOS: 43.28116, −122.22768
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 43.30123, −122.23643

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: design, 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.