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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Laurel Hill Lookout Site

Also known as Laurel Mountain

Eastern Lane FPA lookouts on Laurel Mountain, Lane County OR: cabin built 1942, burned 1945 and rebuilt; all removed by 1979; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. All lookouts removed by 1979 per firetower.org and firelookout.com; no source describes what remains on the summit

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. No source describes public access to the summit today

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerSeries of towers: 1942 cab (on a 45-ft tree, or a seven-ft tower per another account), 1945 replacement (41 ft or 50 ft, sources differ), 25-ft treated timber tower from 1954The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1930
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
3,350 ft (1,021 m)
Agency
Eastern Lane FPA
Land
Unknown
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.64143, −123.00503
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-laurel-hill

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.

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. 1930 BuiltCamp built in 1930 per firetower.org only; firelookout.com does not mention itSource: firetower.org
  2. 1942 BuiltCab atop a 45-ft tree (firetower.org, firelookout.com); Forest Lookouts gives a hip-roof cab on a seven-ft towerSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  3. 1945 BurnedLookout cabin burned to the ground, March 1945, per a Forest Log item quoted on the Forest Lookouts site; cause not establishedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1945 RebuiltReplacement: planned 50-ft tower with 14x14 cabin and a 1945 live-in house on a 50-ft tower (Forest Lookouts); firetower.org says a 41-ft tower one mile west, firelookout.com says half a mile westSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  5. 1946 StaffedMary Bea Hall, an 18-year-old University of Oregon sophomore, reported fires from the lookout; the January 28, 1946 article says she had done the work for the last two summers and does not give the yearsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1954 Built25-ft treated timber tower: L-4 flat tower (firetower.org), or with an ODF live-in cab on the summit (firelookout.com)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1954 and 1979
  8. 1979 RemovedAll lookouts removed by 1979Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1979 and 2011
  10. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 25, 2011 as US 877, OR 244; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  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.

Laurel Hill, also called Laurel Mountain, is a summit in Lane County, Oregon.1,2 Firelookout.com puts it about 11 miles south of Cottage Grove.2 A 1945 Forest Log item quoted on the Forest Lookouts site puts it about 20 miles south.1 The Eastern Lane FPA administered the site.3,2

Sources differ on what the first lookout was. One account says a camp was built in 1930, with a cab set atop a 45-foot tree in 1942.3,2 Another describes a hip-roofed cab on a seven-foot tower, erected in 1942.1

The cabin burned to the ground in March 1945, according to a Forest Log item quoted on the Forest Lookouts site. The item said plans called for a new 50-foot tower with a 14-by-14 cabin on top, subject to securing the materials.1 A 1945 Eastern Lane District annual report, also quoted there, describes a live-in lookout house on a 50-foot tower that cost $1,900.1 Firetower.org and firelookout.com both describe a 41-foot treated timber tower built in 1945, placed one mile west of the earlier site on firetower.org and half a mile west of the summit on firelookout.com.3,2 The sources do not agree on that tower's height or location, and we could not settle it.

A 25-foot tower followed in 1954. Firetower.org calls it an L-4 flat tower, and firelookout.com describes it with a live-in cab on the summit.3,2

An article dated January 28, 1946, quoted on the Forest Lookouts site, profiles Mary Bea Hall, an 18-year-old University of Oregon sophomore posted to the remote summit.1 The article says she had done that work for the last two summers and credits her with reporting every fire across a 256-square-mile expanse of Douglas fir that could be seen from the summit.1

Firetower.org and firelookout.com both say the lookouts were all removed by 1979.3,2 Neither source describes what, if anything, remains on the summit now, or whether visitors may go there. Check with the land managers before you plan a trip.

The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register lists the site as US 877, OR 244. It was registered on March 25, 2011, on the nomination of Ray Kresek.3

  1. Laurel Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/laurel-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Laurel Hill Fire Lookout Towers, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/laurelhill.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Laurel Hill Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/laurel-hill-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Laurel Hill Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1945
1945 (1945)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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: 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
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, staffing, 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

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