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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Grass Mountain Lookout Site (Lane County)

Also known as Grass Mountain

Lane County, OR lookout: 1933 CCC tower, R-6 replacement 1962, torn down by 1982; frame reportedly moved to Warner Ridge in 1986 (sources disagree); original summit today undocumented.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Original summit tower torn down by 1982. Sources differ on whether its frame moved to Warner Ridge in 1986 or a move failed and salvaged parts built the Warner Ridge tower. The Warner Ridge tower stands.

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 towerR-6 flat cab on a treated timber tower (1962); earlier 40-ft wooden 7x7 tower with ground cabin (1933)The design: R-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
5,162 ft (1,573 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.59214, −122.54360
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-grass-mountain-lane-county

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.

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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. 1933 BuiltFFLOS: 40' wooden 7x7' tower and ground cabin. Eugene newspapers (Aug 1933) reported a 50-ft and then a 52-ft tower under construction by CCC crews.Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1933 and 1949
  3. 1949 StaffedAir supply drop of 61 pounds to lookout Don McChesney (June 1949, Eugene Register-Guard item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1962 Replaced by a new structureTreated timber tower with R-6 cab replaced the 1933 ground house and tower; about 48,000 pounds hauled by mule. FFLOS gives 41 ft; Forest Lookouts gives 40 ft.Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1967 EventLookout inspection survey: in good condition but not manned; Forest Service wanted to dispose of itSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1968 Condition assessmentForest Engineer report (Oct 1968): salvage for Logger Butte considered; decision on disposal by July 1, 1969Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1982 RemovedTorn down by 1982 per FFLOSSource: firetower.org
  8. 1986 MovedFFLOS and firelookout.com: tower (minus cab) moved to nearby Warner Ridge. Forest Lookouts: move attempt failed; salvaged materials used in new Warner Ridge tower. Warner Ridge page: superstructure came from Grass Mountain in 1986.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1986 and 2010
  10. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 18, 2010; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  11. 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.

Grass Mountain stands in Lane County, about 12 miles south-southwest of Oakridge, on land shared by the Willamette and Umpqua national forests.1,2 A camp was set up on the summit in the 1920s, and a 40-foot wooden tower with a ground cabin went up in 1933.2 Eugene newspapers that August gave the height as 50 feet and then 52 feet. They reported that Civilian Conservation Corps men were at work on the 52-foot tower, and that every bit of material was packed nine miles up the Packard Creek trail.3

In June 1949 an air service dropped 61 pounds of food and supplies to the lookout, Don McChesney, because snow kept packhorses from reaching the station.3 By 1967 the Forest Service described the tower as in good condition but not manned, and it wanted to get rid of the structure.3

In 1962 the Forest Service replaced the old ground house and tower with a treated timber tower with an R-6 cab.3 Mules hauled about 48,000 pounds of materials to the summit.3 Sources give that tower 40 or 41 feet.2,3 In October 1968 a Forest Service engineer said the newer structure might be salvaged for use on Logger Butte, with a decision due by July 1969.3 The 1962 tower was torn down by 1982.2

The sources disagree about what happened next. The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register and firelookout.com say the tower, minus its cab, was moved to nearby Warner Ridge in 1986.2,1 The Forest Lookouts page says an attempt to move it failed, and salvaged materials went into a new tower on Warner Ridge.3

We found no source that describes what remains at the original summit today. The Warner Ridge tower, which Recreation.gov lists as Warner Mountain Lookout, is a replica cupola-style cabin on a 40-foot tower.4,5 Firelookout.com says it is staffed in summer and rented in winter. Its road is not plowed in winter, so visitors ski, snowshoe or ride snowmobiles 2 to 10 miles to reach it.5,4

  1. Grass Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/grassmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Grass Mountain Lookout Site (Lane County), Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/grass-mountain-lookout-site-lane-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Grass Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/grass-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Warner Mountain Lookout, Recreation.gov, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234189 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Warner Ridge Lookout, firelookout.com, https://firelookout.com/or/warner.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Grass Mountain Lookout Site (Lane County)
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1962
1962 (1962)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: 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

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