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Fire lookout · Curry County, Oregon

Mount Emily Lookout Site - SNF

Also known as Mount Emily

Siskiyou lookout on Mount Emily, Curry County: cupola cabin dated 1922, rebuilt after 1925 lightning, 20 ft L-4 tower 1948-1973; a 1942 bombing was spotted from it.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Register says the L-4 tower was removed in 1973; firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. A Forest Service trail built in 1975 leads visitors to a platform over the Wheeler Ridge bombing site. No source describes access to the old summit lookout.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Forest Service trail to the Wheeler Ridge bombing site, ending at a viewing platform.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 tower (1948), replacing a D-6 cupola cabinThe designs: L-4, D-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1922
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
2,926 ft (892 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Curry County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.10237, −124.15280 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-mount-emily-lookout-site-snf

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 3.8 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. 1917 EventTelephone line built up Mount EmilySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1919 First staffedMrs. Nellie W. Milbury kept watch during the 1919 seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1922 BuiltD-6 cupola cabin per the register; a September 1922 Siskiyou Bulletin item said the lookout had not yet been constructedSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1925 RebuiltLightning tore two sides off the roof and broke the windows; cabin rebuiltSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1928 AlteredNew Osborne fire finder installedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1928 StaffedLookout Will Lane cooked a noon dinner for a hiking party in JulySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1941 StaffedStation staffed 100 days and reported to Gold Beach by telephoneSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1942 FireJapanese floatplane dropped two incendiary bombs; lookout Howard Gardner spotted the smoke and reported itSources: en.wikipedia.org, theclio.com
  9. 1944 StaffedMr. and Mrs. L. Rauch on the lookout for the summerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1948 Replaced by a new structure20 ft treated timber L-4 tower replaced the cupolaSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  11. No record between 1948 and 1963
  12. 1963 StaffedMiriam Christensen, the only woman lookout on the Chetco DistrictSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  13. 1973 RemovedRemoved per the register; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  14. 1975 EventForest Service trail and sign built to the bombing siteSource: theclio.com
  15. No record between 1975 and 2006
  16. 2006 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesWheeler Ridge Japanese Bombing Site listed on the National Register; the bombing site, not the lookoutSource: theclio.com
  17. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: December 10, 2010Source: FFLOS register entry
  18. 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.

Mount Emily stands about seven miles northeast of Brookings in Curry County, Oregon.1 A telephone line was built up the mountain in 1917, and Mrs. Nellie W. Milbury kept watch on Mount Emily during the 1919 season.2

Sources disagree on the first cabin. The register gives a D-6 cupola cabin built in 1922.3 A September 1922 Siskiyou Bulletin item said the lookout had not yet been constructed, and a 1923 Gold Beach paper described a new building at the station.2 Lightning struck the cabin in 1925, tore two sides off the roof and broke the windows, and the cabin was rebuilt.3,2

The station got a new Osborne fire finder in 1928, and that July the lookout, Will Lane, cooked a noon dinner for a hiking party.2 It was staffed for 100 days in 1941, and the Rauches spent the summer of 1944 on the lookout.2 In 1963 Miriam Christensen was the only woman lookout on the Chetco District.2

On September 9, 1942, a Japanese floatplane, launched from a submarine, dropped two incendiary bombs in an attempt to start a forest fire.4 Howard "Razz" Gardner, stationed on Mount Emily, saw the smoke and reported it.4,5 A Herald and News account quoted on the lookout history site spells his name Gardiner.2 The bombs were dropped from the wrong height, so only a few small fires started, and two men on the scene kept them under control.4 According to Wikipedia, no enemy aircraft had bombed the contiguous United States before this attack.4

In 1948 a 20-foot treated timber L-4 tower replaced the cupola.3 The register says it was removed in 1973. Firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.3,1

The U.S. Forest Service built a trail to the Wheeler Ridge bombing site in 1975, and a viewing platform there lets visitors see the remains of the site.5 The National Register of Historic Places listed the bombing site in 2006.5 No source I read describes what remains of the lookout tower on the summit.

  1. Mt. Emily Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/mtemily.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Mount Emily - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/mount-emily1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Mount Emily Lookout Site - SNF, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/mount-emily-lookout-site-snf/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Lookout Air Raids, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookout_Air_Raids (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Wheeler Ridge Japanese Bombing Site, Clio, https://theclio.com/entry/16526 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Emily Lookout Site - SNF
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cupola cabin
Cupola cabinPhoto: 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 the location by 5.3 km (3.3 mi).

    • FFLOS: 42.10237, −124.15280
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 42.06980, −124.10590

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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: 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, access, 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

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