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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Frissell Point Lookout Site

Willamette NF lookout site: tent station c.1914, cab built c.1930 (sources give 1928, 1930 or 1931), abandoned and burned in 1968; registers say it is now gone.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned in 1968 and disposed of by burning; the register says it is now gone

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
Trail
Frissell Trail #3512 climbs from the Frissell South Trailhead to Frissell Ridge, with views over the McKenzie River Valley

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabD-6 cab; a 1967 memo calls it a standard-type lookout of 196 square feetThe design: D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1930
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,144 ft (1,568 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.21166, −122.10141
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-frissell-point

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1914 EventEstablished as a tent camp with an alidade for locating fires (register: about 1914)Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1919 Staffed1919 season: Dorothy Andrews, twin of Martha, at Frissell Point, per a July 1920 Sunday Oregonian itemSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1920 StaffedWalter Sackman reported at the lookout in September 1920Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1921 StaffedEthel Neal (also printed Neil) at the station; a cougar near her cabin was reported in August 1921Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1924 StaffedWallace Halsey described as forest ranger at the lookout stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1930 BuiltRegister: D-6 cab erected 1930; a July-August 1930 newspaper item describes construction; firelookout.com gives 1928 and a 1967 memo gives 1931Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1931 StaffedHorace Smith described as fire lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1931 and 1967
  9. 1967 Condition assessmentForest Service memo: not manned for a couple of years; disposal proposed and agreed by fire controlSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1968 AbandonedRegister and firelookout.com: abandoned in 1968Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  11. 1968 BurnedDisposed of by burning, per the lookout historySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. No record between 1968 and 2011
  13. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 25, 2011 as US 954, OR 312Source: firetower.org
  14. 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.

Frissell Point sits in the Willamette National Forest, about four miles northeast of McKenzie Bridge.1 Newspapers from 1920 to 1931 gave seven to 15 miles from McKenzie Bridge.2 The earliest station the sources describe was a tent camp with an alidade for locating fires, which the register dates to about 1914.3,2 By July 1930 the forest had announced a new lookout house for the point.2 By that August crews were cutting its material to be packed up by horse, and until then the lookout had been stationed in a tent.2 The cab's build date is disputed. The register says 1930, a firelookout.com listing says 1928, and a 1967 Forest Service memo describes a standard-type lookout built in 1931.3,1,2

A June 1920 Oregon Daily Journal item said a university sophomore from Eugene would spend that summer there as lookout, with her mother and sister along.2 The same item said the trip up from McKenzie Bridge could be made only on foot or by packhorse.2 A July 1920 Sunday Oregonian item, describing the 1919 season, named Dorothy Andrews, one of twin sisters, at Frissell Point, while her sister Martha was on Horsepasture Mountain.2 The surname differs from the 1920 item, and the sources do not say whether these were the same woman.2 Other names in the papers include Walter Sackman in September 1920, and Ethel Neal (also printed as Neil) in 1921. In August 1921 a report on a forest supervisor's tour of the lookouts included her account of a cougar that came out near her cabin.2 In 1924 the paper called Wallace Halsey a forest ranger at Frissell Point, and in 1931 Horace Smith was the fire lookout.2

By 1967 a Forest Service memo said the lookout had not been manned for a couple of years, was no longer in the detection system, and had no plans for future use. Fire control staff agreed to its disposal.2 The memo also noted that the point was on maps as a triangulation station, so a survey marker there might need resetting to avoid losing it.2 The lookout history says the structure was disposed of by burning in 1968.2 The register says it was abandoned that year and is now gone.3

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains at the site today. The Forest Service's Frissell Trail #3512 climbs from the Frissell South Trailhead to Frissell Ridge, with views over the McKenzie River valley, and the trail page asks visitors to check with the local ranger station about conditions.4 No source we read ties that trail to the old lookout site, and none says whether the site itself is open to visitors.

  1. Frissell Point Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/frissellpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Frissell Point - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/frissell-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Frissell Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/frissell-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Frissell Trail #3512, USDA Forest Service, Willamette National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/willamette/recreation/trails/frissell-trail-3512 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Frissell Point Lookout 1928 - 1968
Frissell Point Lookout 1928 - 1968 (1928)Photo: Mark Swift 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, 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: 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, 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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