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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Gold Point Lookout Site

Willamette NF hill north of Oakridge, OR: tree lookout from the 1920s, then towers; last 28-ft tower removed or destroyed 1968; trail #3468 leads toward the point, view blocked by trees.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Last 28-foot tower removed (register) or destroyed (firelookout.com) in 1968; no source describes remains; the Forest Service trail page says trees now obscure the view

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Public Forest Service trail #3468 reaches the top by a side trail, but the page lists a seasonal closure to all users (January 1 to July 31) and fire damage from the Bedrock Fire

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Trail climbs 1.8 miles from Logan Creek to the ridge, then a side trail goes up to the top; the page warns the trail may be impassable in some sections

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower28-foot treated timber L-4 tower (built 1959)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1924
Height
28 ft (8.5 m)
Elevation
3,959 ft (1,207 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.95264, −122.42746
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-gold-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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.7 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. 1924 BuiltFirst lookout a 90-foot tree with an enclosed crow's nest (register); Rex's page dates the tree to c.1920Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1925 StaffedLookout Frank Verdier builds a platform near the top of a firSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1927 StaffedSamuel L. Miller, a forestry student, serves as lookout fireman during summerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1928 Replaced by a new structureSources disagree: Rex's says a 37-foot tower was erected; firelookout.com says a 20-foot open cab replaced the tree cabSources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1936 Replaced by a new structureRegister: 30-foot round timber tower with 6x6 L-4 cab. Rex's: 35-foot timber tower with 14x14 cabSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1939 Replaced by a new structurefirelookout.com: 30-foot L-4 tower constructedSource: firelookout.com
  7. 1942 StaffedAWS cabin added; station activated August 11, 1942Sources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1943 Last staffedAWS station deactivated September 22, 1943Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1957 StaffedFormer observer Paul Puente stationed there from late May to early September 1957Source: firetower.org
  10. 1959 Replaced by a new structure28-foot treated timber tower builtSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  11. 1968 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com says destroyed. Both give 1968Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  12. No record between 1968 and 2011
  13. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: May 7, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  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.

Gold Point is a hill in Oregon's Willamette National Forest, about 14 to 15 miles north of Oakridge in Lane County.1,2 Its elevation is 3,959 feet.3

The first lookout here was a tree. One register dates it to 1924, when a 90-foot tree was fitted with an enclosed crow's nest.3 Another page says the tree was in place around 1920.2 In 1925 a lookout named Frank Verdier built a platform high in a fir, because he had been climbing a tree every day to take his observations.2

Towers came next, and the sources do not agree on their order. The register says a 30-foot round timber tower with a 6-by-6 cab went up in 1936.3 Rex's page lists a 37-foot tower erected in 1928 and a 35-foot timber tower with a 14-by-14 cab in 1936.2 The firelookout.com page describes a 20-foot open cab in 1928 and a 30-foot L-4 tower in 1939.1

A forestry student, Samuel Miller, was a lookout fireman on the point during the summer of 1927.2 In 1942 an Air Warning Service cabin was added.1,2 The post's record gives August 11, 1942 as its start and September 22, 1943 as its end, with the Eugene Filter Center listed for it.2 A former observer, Paul Puente, wrote in 2012 that he was stationed there from late May to early September 1957, between his freshman and sophomore years at university.3

A 28-foot treated timber tower went up in 1959.3,1 The register says it was removed in 1968, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.3,1

The Forest Service's Gold Point Trail #3468 reaches the top through a side trail, and its page notes that a fire lookout once stood on the point, although trees now block the view.4 The trail climbs 1.8 miles from Logan Creek to the ridge.4 The page says the Bedrock Fire affected the route and that parts may be impassable, and it lists a seasonal closure to all users from January 1 to July 31.4

No source describes what, if anything, remains of the tower footings or the cabin site on the summit today.

  1. Gold Point Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/goldpoint.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Gold Point - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/gold-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Gold Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/gold-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Gold Point Trail #3468, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/willamette/recreation/trails/gold-point-trail-3468 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Gold Point Lookout Site
Photo: 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: 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, 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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