FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Kelly Butte Lookout

1950 L-4 lookout on Weyerhaeuser land in Douglas County, staffed into the 2000s, removed 2007 or 2008 for rot or safety; not rebuilt.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 2007 or 2008 (sources differ). NHLR says there are no plans to rebuild it.

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
Trail
No tower remains to climb. A November 2011 visit report on the NHLR page describes the trail from the south side as in good shape.

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab with catwalk on a tall timber tower (70-foot logs per NHLR)The design: L-4
Built of
Logs
Built
1950
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
2,493 ft (760 m)
Agency
Coos Forest Protective Association (land administered with Weyerhaeuser Company)
Land
Unknown
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.39402, −123.74844
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-kelly-butte

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 its recorded height.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1950 BuiltBuilt by the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company and staffed by the Coos Forest Protective Association. A June 1950 newspaper says construction had started and planned a 65-foot tower.Sources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1953 StaffedA newspaper item mentions an observer who spent seven weeks at the lookout.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1967 StaffedA newspaper item reports that the station had opened, with others to be manned shortly.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1967 and 2000
  5. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 1, 2000.Source: nhlr.org
  6. 2007 RemovedNHLR says wood rot was found in one tower leg and the lookout was removed that year. FFLOS and firelookout.com also give 2007.Sources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. 2008 RemovedWestern Region annual report 2008 says the Coos association removed it for safety reasons. Oregon lookouts page dates the removal to 2008.Sources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.org
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 24, 2011.Source: 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.

Kelly Butte, in Douglas County, got a lookout in 1950.1 The Weyerhaeuser Timber Company built it on its own land, and the Coos Forest Protective Association staffed it.2,1,3

The tower was a tall timber structure with an L-4 cab and a catwalk.1,3 Height reports disagree. A 1950 newspaper planned the tower at 65 feet, one lookout page gives 50 feet, and the NHLR describes 70-foot logs.2,1

A September 1953 newspaper item says an observer had spent seven weeks at the lookout, and a June 1967 item reports that the station had opened.2 A register page says the lookout was staffed into the 2000s.3

The NHLR says wood rot was found in one tower leg in 2007, and the lookout was removed that year.1 Two other pages also give 2007.3,4 A 2008 Western Region report says the Coos association removed it for safety reasons, without giving a date in that passage.5 An Oregon lookouts page dates the removal to 2008, and says the removal cleared the way for a Forest Watch camera, which was moved to Ivers Peak.2

The NHLR says there are no plans to rebuild the tower.1 The same page carries a November 2011 visit report that calls the trail from the south side in good shape. That visit postdates the 2007 removal the page records, so it says little about the site now.1 No source here describes what remains at the summit now, or whether the site is open to visitors.1

  1. Kelly Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/kelly-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Kelly Butte - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/kelly-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Kelly Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/kelly-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Kelly Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/kellybutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Western Region Annual Report 2008, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-wdep-2008.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Kelly Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Kelly Butte Lookout
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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 whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered. firelookout.com lists it, but not on its map of standing lookouts.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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
  2. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: what it is built of, register numbers, 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: design, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, 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

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