FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Marion County, Oregon

Henline Mountain Lookout Site

Marion County, OR Forest Service L-4 cabin, built 1934 (sources differ on builder), last staffed 1963, removed 1967; trail reaches the old site; no remains described.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cabin removed in 1967 per two sources; no source describes any remains at the site

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Reached on foot: the Henline Mountain Trail #3352 ends at the old lookout site (Oregon Hikers field guide)

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Henline Mountain Trail #3352 ends at the old lookout site

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab on a ground cabin (1934)The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,116 ft (1,255 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Marion County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.85424, −122.31251 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-henline-mountain

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 4.0 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. 1930 First staffedSeason at the 'Henline mountain station' per a 1930 newspaper item; the station predates the 1934 cabin in the sourcesSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 EventNewspaper reports a lookout house being completed on Henline mountain (October 22, 1933)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1934 BuiltCabin built; the register credits the USFS, the Oregon Hikers field guide says probably the CCCSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonhikers.org
  4. 1945 StaffedLyle Rush stationed at the lookout that summer (newspaper)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1945 and 1960
  6. 1960 StaffedLookout fell about 20 feet from the trail on the way back to his post; legs temporarily paralyzed per newspaperSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1963 Last staffedLast season the lookout was staffedSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, oregonhikers.org
  8. 1967 RemovedLookout removed; the register says gone by 1967Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1967 and 2010
  10. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: August 25, 2010Source: FFLOS register entry
  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.

The Henline Mountain lookout stood on a ridge in the Willamette National Forest, in Marion County, Oregon, at about 4,116 feet.1,2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register places the Forest Service cabin on the south-southeast end of that ridge, about a mile from the summit.1

A lookout station was already in use on the mountain by 1930.3 A 1930 newspaper item describes a young man who spent that summer alone on the mountain, with 14 visitors in all, and whose provisions were packed up every ten days over a distance of 15 miles.3 An October 1933 newspaper item said a lookout house was being finished on the mountain.3 The register and the Oregon Hikers field guide both date the cabin to 1934.1,4 They differ on who built it: the register credits the Forest Service, while the field guide says the Civilian Conservation Corps probably did.1,4 The cab was an L-4 design.2

A lookout was posted there in the summer of 1945.3 In August 1960 a lookout returning to his post at about 3:30 a.m. fell roughly 20 feet from the trail. X-rays showed no broken bones, but the newspaper reported that his legs were temporarily paralyzed.3 The lookout was last staffed in 1963, and the cabin was removed in 1967.3,4

Today the old site is the end of the Henline Mountain Trail #3352, so hikers can reach it on foot.4 The field guide lists Mount Beachie, Battle Ax and Mount Jefferson among the peaks in view.4 The register lists the Forest Service as administrator.1 We found no source that describes footings, a foundation or any other remains at the site, so we cannot say what is left there now.

  1. Henline Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/henline-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Henline Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://www.firelookout.com/or/henlinemtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Henline Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Oregon Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/henline-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Henline Mountain Lookout Site, Oregon Hikers Field Guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Henline_Mountain_Lookout_Site (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Henline Mountain Lookout 1962
Henline Mountain Lookout 1962 (1962)Photo: Carl Lacey, Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Henline Mountain Lookout
Henline Mountain LookoutPhoto: Howard Verschoor collection, 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 1.3 km (0.8 mi).

    • FFLOS: 44.85424, −122.31251
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 44.86429, −122.32050

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

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: 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, 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

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