FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Hemlock Butte Lookout Site (Lane County)

Also known as Hemlock Butte

Willamette NF L-5 cab; built 1933 or 1934 (sources disagree), staffed in the 1930s, abandoned in the 1940s, gone by 1962; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The Oregon list marks it removed. The register and firelookout.com say gone by 1962; the Oregon list says abandoned in the 1940s.

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
Ground-level cabL-5 cab; 10x10 per the Oregon list (no unit given)The design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,804 ft (1,769 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.57348, −122.20004
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-hemlock-butte-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 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 EventEugene Guard item, August 24, 1932, says new lookout houses will be built, Hemlock mountain among them. A plan, not confirmation of construction.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 BuiltL-5 cab per the register and firelookout.com.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  3. 1933 EventPanorama photo taken by James Rittenhouse, dated September 1, 1933, on the Oregon list.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1934 BuiltOregon list says a 10x10 L-5 lookout house was built in 1934. Conflicts with the 1933 date.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1934 StaffedClayton Kelsay sent to the emergency station on Hemlock mountain to serve as lookout fireman (Eugene Register-Guard, September 23, 1934).Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1938 StaffedGordon Stanely burned on the arms at his Hemlock Butte station; Horace Lundberg took his place for several days (Eugene Guard, August 18, 1938).Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1940 AbandonedOregon list says the lookout was abandoned in the 1940s.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1940 and 1962
  9. 1962 RemovedRegister and firelookout.com say gone by 1962. No exact removal date is given.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  10. No record between 1962 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered May 8, 2011, on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register.Source: firetower.org
  12. 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.

Hemlock Butte sits in the Willamette National Forest, about 18 miles southeast of Oakridge in Lane County, at 5,804 feet.1,2

The lookout was an L-5 cab.1,2 The Oregon lookouts list gives its size as 10x10.3 The register and firelookout.com both say it was built in 1933.1,2 The Oregon list gives 1934 instead.3 Its entry begins with an August 1932 newspaper item that planned new lookout houses, with Hemlock Mountain among the sites.3 The sources disagree by a year, and they do not settle which date is right.

The Oregon list quotes newspapers for the lookout's staffing.3 In September 1934 the Eugene Register-Guard reported that Clayton Kelsay had been sent to an emergency post on Hemlock Mountain as a lookout fireman, to stay until the rains began.3 In August 1938 the Eugene Guard reported that Gordon Stanely had been burned on the arms at his station, and that Horace Lundberg covered his post for several days.3

The Oregon list says the lookout was abandoned in the 1940s.3 The register and firelookout.com say it was no longer there by 1962.1,2 No source gives an exact removal date.1,2,3

The register lists the site as registered on May 8, 2011, with the U.S. Forest Service as administrator.1

The Oregon list marks the lookout as removed.3 No source describes what remains at the site today or whether visitors can reach it.1,2,3

  1. Hemlock Butte Lookout Site (Lane County), Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/hemlock-butte-lookout-site-lane-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Hemlock Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/hemlockbutte78.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Hemlock Butte, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/hemlock-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Hemlock Butte Lookout Site
Hemlock Butte Lookout SitePhoto: 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, 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: what it is built of, design, 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, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.