Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon
Illahee Rock Lookout
Also known as Illahee Lookout
A 1922 fire camp and 1925 cupola on Illahee Rock, with a live-in tower from the 1950s; sources disagree on tower dates, height and staffing.
- Standing
- Access unknown
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Access unknown
We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- About 0.9 miles and 550 feet of climbing; the trail begins on a steep, rocky road that is too rough to drive
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerLive-in L-4 cab with catwalk on a 20-foot treated timber tower, beside a 1925 D-6 cupolaThe designs: L-4, D-6
- Built of
- Wood
- Built
- 1925
- Height
- 20 ft (6.1 m)
- Elevation
- 5,284 ft (1,611 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Douglas County, Oregon
- Coordinates
- 43.34873, −122.56294 sources disagree
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-or-illahee-rock
View from the cab
What you see from the 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.
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
- 1922 EventFire camp established with the site, per firelookout.com. The register dates the older cupola to 1922 instead.Sources: firelookout.com, nhlr.org
- 1925 BuiltD-6 cupola cabin, the first structure on the site per firelookout.com; Eugene Weekly also dates the cupola to 1925Sources: firelookout.com, eugeneweekly.com
- No record between 1925 and 1955
- 1955 Built20-foot tower with live-in cab and catwalk, per the register. firelookout.com gives 1956 and Eugene Weekly gives 1958 for the tower.Source: nhlr.org
- No record between 1955 and 1994
- 1994 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered December 30, 1994 as US 98, OR 13Source: nhlr.org
- TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.
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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Illahee Rock sits in the Umpqua National Forest, about 35 miles east-northeast of Roseburg.1,2 Firelookout.com says a camp was established there in 1922, and that the first structure, a D-6 cupola cabin, followed in 1925.2 Eugene Weekly describes the same 1925 cupola as one of two lookouts on the summit, the other a 1958 lookout atop a 30-foot tower.3 The register instead dates the older cupola to 1922 and the adjacent tower to 1955, and describes that tower as 20 feet high, with a live-in cab and catwalk.1 Firelookout.com gives 1956 for its 20-foot L-4 tower.2 The sources do not agree on when the tower went up or how tall it is.1,2,3
The cupola has since been lowered.1,2 The register says it was shortened some years ago, and firelookout.com says its roof was dropped down.1,2 The register says the tower is still staffed each year.1 Firelookout.com says the tower is available for emergencies.2 I could not confirm current staffing.
The site is on the National Historic Lookout Register, where it was listed on December 30, 1994.1 Eugene Weekly calls the trail up Illahee Rock little known, and says it reaches two of the state's oldest fire lookouts.3 The hike is 0.9 miles and gains 550 feet.3 The trail begins on a steep, rocky road that the article says is too rough to drive.3
- Illahee Rock Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/illahee-rock-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Illahee Rock Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/illaheerock.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Historic medicine, Eugene Weekly, https://eugeneweekly.com/2024/06/06/historic-medicine/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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 8.0 km (5.0 mi).
- NHLR: 43.34873, −122.56294
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 43.34940, −122.66170
The map uses the position from NHLR.
Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) Gave us: what it is built of, design, photos, 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
- OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures (opens another site) Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) (opens another site) Gave us: register numbers, links Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill, cherylhill.net) · No licence stated; facts only (name, agency, elevation, year built, design and height, status word, links). Posts' narrative and photos are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, 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
- NHLR register entry US 98 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Historic medicine (Eugene Weekly) (opens another site)
- FFLA Oregon lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Illahee Rock on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Illahee Rock on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
- Illahee Rock on Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) (opens another site)
- OpenStreetMap way 1353560217 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.