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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Green Butte Lookout Site (Douglas County)

Also known as Green Butte

Green Butte's 20-foot wooden L-4 tower in the Umpqua National Forest, built in 1933 and removed in 1964; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1964 per FFLOS; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1964

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 wooden L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,901 ft (1,189 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.85620, −123.00164
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-green-butte-douglas-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1932 EventAnnounced by the Roseburg News-Review as one of nine planned lookout houses, with Green Butte among themSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 Built20-foot wooden L-4 tower per FFLOS and firelookout.comSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  3. 1933 EventPanorama photographs by William Birchall and Lester Moe dated August 14, 1933Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1941 StaffedBob Harris stationed at the lookout by the Forest Service; the News-Review item is dated October 24, 1941Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1945 StaffedSarah Neiderheiser named as lookout for the Green Butte station at Tiller in a July 10, 1945 itemSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1945 and 1964
  7. 1964 RemovedFFLOS says removed in 1964; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1964Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1964 and 2010
  9. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 19, 2010Source: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Green Butte stands in the Umpqua National Forest, about 19 miles east-southeast of Canyonville in Douglas County.1,2

In July 1932 the Roseburg News-Review reported plans for nine new lookout houses, one of them on Green Butte between Elk Creek and Cow Creek.3 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register dates the tower to 1933, when it was a 20-foot wooden L-4 design.2,1 The Oregon Lookouts page dates a set of panorama photographs by William Birchall and Lester Moe to August 14, 1933.3

In 1941 the Forest Service stationed Bob Harris at the lookout, and once the fire season ended he and his new wife moved to Pinehurst.3 In July 1945 the News-Review named Sarah Neiderheiser as the lookout for the Green Butte station at Tiller.3

The register says the tower was removed in 1964.2 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year, so the sources differ on whether it was taken down or lost.1 The Oregon Lookouts page lists it as removed, without a date.3

No source in this research describes what, if anything, is left at the site today.2,1,3 The register includes a 2007 photograph captioned as the Green Butte Lookout site, but this research did not inspect the image, so it cannot say what the site looks like now.2 None of the three sources gives access or closure information, so anyone planning a visit should check current access with the Umpqua National Forest first.2,1,3

  1. Green Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/greenbutte63.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Green Butte Lookout Site (Douglas County), Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/green-butte-lookout-site-douglas-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Green Butte, Oregon Lookouts (Forest Lookouts), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/green-butte2.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Green Butte Lookout 1942
Green Butte Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Green Butte Lookout site 2007
Green Butte 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.

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, staffing, 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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