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Fire lookout · Jackson County, Oregon

Fredenburg Lookout Site

Also known as Fredenburg Butte

Jackson County lookout 3 miles north of Butte Falls: a 30-foot tower on Fredenburg Butte, dated 1935 or 1937, removed 1969; staffed 1936-41.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 1969 (firelookout.com says destroyed); the ground cabin was torn down in 1960

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 tower30-foot wooden L-4 tower with a 14x14 cabinThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1920
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
4,320 ft (1,317 m)
Agency
Oregon Dept. of Forestry
Land
Unknown
Location
Jackson County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.58378, −122.54796
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-fredenburg

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 3.6 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. 1920 Builtcupola-style lookout house on the butte; firelookout.com lists a D-6 cupola cabin in 1920Sources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1920 and 1935
  3. 1935 Builtforty-foot round-pole tower with 14x14 cabin, per a Rogue River National Forest history quoted by Forest Lookouts; the register and firelookout.com date the 30-foot tower to 1937Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1936 StaffedMrs. Ira Tungate at the lookout station when she discovered a 30-acre fire on Ginger Creek in AugustSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1941 StaffedCharles (Jiggs) Shepardson employed as lookout; released from duty September 21Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1942 Eventlisted as part of the Roseburg Filter Center from September 11, 1942Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1943 Closeddeactivated June 14, 1943; a June 15, 1943 letter says the engineer understood the Rogue River forest had marked it for eliminationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1943 and 1960
  9. 1960 Removedground cabin torn downSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1969 Removedlookout removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1969 and 2010
  12. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites Registerregistered December 18, 2010Source: 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.

Fredenburg Butte stands about three miles north of Butte Falls in Jackson County, Oregon, at an elevation of 4,320 feet.1 By about 1920 a cupola-style lookout house had been built on the butte.1,2

The round-pole tower that followed has two dates. A history of the Rogue River National Forest, as transcribed by Forest Lookouts, puts a forty-foot round-pole tower with a 14-by-14 cabin on the butte in 1935.2 That history says the station was linked to the Jackson County Fire Patrol Association, which was to staff it and look after it during fire season.2 The former lookout site register and firelookout.com both date the tower to 1937 and give its height as 30 feet.3,1 A Forest Service engineering memo from August 1942 puts the tower at 30 feet and lists a 14-by-14 Aladdin-type cabin, which matches the shorter height.2

In August 1936 Mrs. Ira Tungate, the widow of a state forest patrolman, discovered a 30-acre fire on Ginger Creek, about three miles southeast of Butte Falls, at the lookout station. State and CCC crews were fighting it overnight.2 A newspaper of the time reported that she was thought to be the Forest Service's only woman lookout.2 In 1941 Charles "Jiggs" Shepardson worked as the lookout until he was released from duty on September 21.2

From September 11, 1942, to June 14, 1943, the station was listed as part of the Roseburg Filter Center.2 In a June 15, 1943 letter to the state forester, a Forest Service engineer said he understood the Rogue River forest had notified the state warden that Fredenburg was one of the posts to be eliminated. He asked to be given a few days' notice before the post was inactivated.2

Upkeep records run from 1951 to 1965, and the ground cabin was torn down in 1960.2 The lookout tower was removed in 1969.3,2 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year, so the sources differ on how it ended.1

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains on the butte now, or says whether the site is open to visitors. Check with the land manager before going.

  1. Fredenburg Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/fredenburgbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Fredenburg Butte, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/fredenburg-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Fredenburg Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/fredenburg-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Fredenburg Butte Lookout 1937 - 1969
Fredenburg Butte Lookout 1937 - 1969 (1937)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Fredenburg Lookout site 2007
Fredenburg Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, 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, 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, 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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