FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Linn County, Oregon

Jumpoff Joe Lookout Site

Also known as Jumpoff Joe Mountain

Willamette National Forest L-4 cab on Jump-Off Joe, built 1935-36, staffed in the late 1930s and 1943, and removed in 1965. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed in 1965; no source describes what remains at the site today

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-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,285 ft (1,306 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Linn County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.36956, −122.18224
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-jumpoff-joe

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 4.1 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. 1935 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com give 1935 for the L-4 cab; Forest Lookouts quotes a 1935 plan and dates the L-4 house to 1936Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1937 StaffedWayne Wood on duty for the summer, per a Lebanon Express item quoted by Forest LookoutsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1939 StaffedWilliam C. Cook named emergency lookout fireman, per an Albany Democrat-Herald item quoted by Forest LookoutsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1943 StaffedStaffed by volunteers from Mountain States Power Company using their vacation timeSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1943 and 1965
  6. 1965 RemovedRegister and Forest Lookouts say removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1965 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: May 8, 2011Source: firetower.org
  9. 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 Willamette National Forest planned a new glass-enclosed lookout on Jump-Off Joe in 1935, and a Forest Lookouts page says an L-4 house went up there in 1936.1,2 The register and firelookout.com give 1935 for the L-4 cab.1,3

The cab sat on a large flat rock with a sheer cliff on its north side.2 From the cab, a fireman could survey the upper South Santiam basin.2

Newspaper items quoted by Forest Lookouts document staffing in three years. In 1937 Wayne Wood was on duty there for the summer, and in 1939 William C. Cook was named emergency lookout fireman. In 1943 volunteers from Mountain States Power Company used their vacation time to staff the lookout.2

The cab came down in 1965. The register and Forest Lookouts call it removed, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1,2,3

No source I found describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether the public may visit it.

  1. Jumpoff Joe Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/jumpoff-joe-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Jump Off Joe, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/jump-off-joe.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Jumpoff Joe Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/jumpoffjoe.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Jumpoff Joe Mountain Lookout 1936
Jumpoff Joe Mountain Lookout 1936 (1936)Photo: Alice Bowerman, 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.

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.