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Fire lookout · Linn County, Oregon

Kinney Ridge Lookout Site

Linn County, OR cabin site: a 1936 cabin, a 1950 L-4 cabin, removed or destroyed in 1960; a social media post reports footings still on the ridge.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cabin removed in 1960 per the register and Forest Lookouts (destroyed per firelookout.com); an undated social media post reports footings still on the ridge

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. On Willamette National Forest land; no source read describes a road, trail, or closure

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab1936 cabin; 1950 L-4 lookout cabinThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,398 ft (731 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Linn County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.68678, −122.22257 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-kinney-ridge

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. 1936 BuiltFirst cabin on the ridge; the register, firelookout.com and a Facebook post all date it to 1936Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, facebook.com
  2. 1937 EventPanorama photograph taken; the register caption credits the National Archives Pacific Northwest RegionSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1950 Replaced by a new structureNew cabin built one-fourth mile above Detroit Reservoir; Forest Lookouts calls it an L-4 cabinSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1960 RemovedRegister and Forest Lookouts say removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1960 and 2011
  6. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered May 8, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  7. 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 Kinney Ridge lookout stood in Linn County, Oregon, in the Willamette National Forest, about 5 miles southwest of Detroit.1,2

The first cabin on the ridge dates from 1936.1,2,3 A panorama photograph of the lookout dates from 1937, and the register credits the National Archives Pacific Northwest Region with the image.1 In 1950 a new cabin went up about a quarter mile above Detroit Reservoir, which Forest Lookouts describes as an L-4 lookout cabin.1,4

The cabin was removed in 1960, according to the register and Forest Lookouts.1,4 Firelookout.com instead says it was destroyed that year.2 The sources do not say which account is right.

The register lists the site with a registration date of May 8, 2011, and Ray Kresek as the nominator.1 An undated Facebook post by The Oregon Challenge says the old footings and a folding chair are still on the ridge.3 That post is the only source we read that describes the site as it is now. The U.S. Forest Service administers the land in the Willamette National Forest, but no source we read says whether the ridge is open to visitors or how to reach it.1

  1. Kinney Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/kinney-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Kinney Ridge Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/kinneyridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Kinney Ridge Lookout post, The Oregon Challenge (Facebook), https://www.facebook.com/OregonChallenge/videos/kinney-ridge-lookout-was-built-in-1936-and-removed-in-1960-it-was-nifty-to-find-/861499802989141/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Kinney Ridge, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/kinney-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Kinney Ridge Lookout panoramic 6-4-1937
Kinney Ridge Lookout panoramic 6-4-1937 (1937)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, 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 1.4 km (0.8 mi).

    • FFLOS: 44.68678, −122.22257
    • FFLA: 44.68320, −122.20620
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 44.68320, −122.20620
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 44.69210, −122.23060

    They share a register number.

    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: 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, access, 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.