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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Lookout Mountain Lookout Site (Douglas County)

Also known as Lookout Mountain

Douglas County lookout on Lookout Mountain, Umpqua NF: 1924 D-6 cupola cabin, 1949 30-foot L-4 tower, abandoned 1966, removed or destroyed 1983; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1983 per the register; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1983; no source describes what remains

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
Cab on a tower30-foot timber tower with an L-4 cab (1949), after a D-6 cupola cabin (1924)The designs: L-4, D-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1924
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
5,015 ft (1,529 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.26043, −122.73879
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-lookout-mountain-douglas-county

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 4.3 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. 1924 BuiltD-6 cupola ground cabinSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1936 StaffedHarry Willis returned to his station for further duty (News-Review, Nov 26, 1936)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1949 Built30-foot timber tower with an L-4 cab and cabinSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1955 DestroyedCupola cabin destroyed (firelookout.com)Source: firelookout.com
  5. 1966 AbandonedAbandoned per register and firelookout.com; a 1972 letter describes recent useSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  6. 1972 Condition assessmentLetter tied to a July 5, 1972 inspection: emergency lookout about four days a season, $1,000-$1,500 repairs, recommended disposalSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1983 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1983 and 2011
  9. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 25, 2011 as US 880, OR 247Source: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Lookout Mountain stood in Douglas County on the Umpqua National Forest, about 30 miles east of Roseburg.1

In 1924 a D-6 cupola cabin, built on the ground, was put up here.2,1 A 30-foot timber tower with an L-4 cab followed in 1949.2,1,3

A News-Review item dated November 26, 1936 reported that Harry Willis, a veteran lookout in the North Umpqua district, had been sent back to his station for additional duty.3

The register and firelookout.com agree on the 1966 abandonment and the 1983 end, though one says removed and the other says destroyed.2,1 firelookout.com also dates the destruction of the cupola cabin to 1955.1

A letter tied to a July 5, 1972 inspection says the lookout had been used as an emergency lookout for about four days a season.3 It estimated $1,000 to $1,500 in repairs and recommended abandoning the structure and disposing of it.3 That letter sits poorly with the 1966 abandonment date, since it describes recent use.2,3

The register lists the site as removed.2 We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today, or whether the public can visit.

  1. Lookout Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/lookoutmtn64.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Lookout Mountain Lookout Site (Douglas County), Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/lookout-mountain-lookout-site-douglas-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Lookout Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/lookout-mountain9.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Lookout Mountain Lookout 1927
Lookout Mountain Lookout 1927 (1927)Photo: Carl Neal, Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout Mountain Lookout 1956
Lookout Mountain Lookout 1956 (1956)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lookout Mountain Lookout 1948
Lookout Mountain Lookout 1948 (1948)Photo: 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: design, 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, height, 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

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