FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Yamhill County, Oregon

Mount Hebo Lookout Site

Siuslaw NF summit lookouts from 1913; the last tower, a 67-ft L-4 cab on a timber tower, was removed in 1978; no source describes the summit site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Last tower removed in 1978; no source we read describes what remains on the summit today

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 2013 Pew Trusts fact sheet says the Pioneer-Indian Trail is still in use by hikers today; no source we read describes the former lookout site today

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Pioneer-Indian Trail, still used by hikers (Pew Trusts, 2013)

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerCupola cabin (1924), then a 53-ft L-4 tower (1937) and a 67-ft treated timber tower with L-4 cab (1950)The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1924
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
3,154 ft (961 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Siuslaw National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Yamhill County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.21987, −123.72479 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-mount-hebo

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. 1913 EventThree observation points on the summit with tent living quartersSource: firetower.org
  2. 1913 First staffedA lookout man was established permanently on the summit (Eugene Daily Guard item, July 1913)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1922 StaffedForest inspector instructed the Hebo lookout in fire findingSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1924 BuiltCupola cabin on the northeast summit; 30-ft structure on the southwest summit (register says platform, Forest Lookouts says tower)Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1937 Built53-ft L-4 tower on the east summit; a December 1936 newsletter item says a tower had recently been completedSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1950 Built67-ft treated timber tower with L-4 cab on the northwest summitSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1950 and 1978
  8. 1978 RemovedLast tower removedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1978 and 2010
  10. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 10, 2010 as US 712, OR 123Source: 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.

Mount Hebo sits in the Siuslaw National Forest in Yamhill County, about 20 miles south-southeast of Tillamook.1,2 A lookout man was stationed there by 1913.3 That July a Eugene paper reported a newly finished phone line to the peak and a permanently assigned observer posted there.3 The register lists three observation spots on the summit that year, with tents as living quarters.1 In 1922 a forest inspector went up to instruct the Hebo lookout in fire finding.3

In June 1923 work was under way on a lookout house atop the mountain.3 The register says a cupola cabin went up on the northeast summit in 1924, with a 30-foot platform on the southwest summit.1 The Forest Lookouts history calls that southwest structure a tower.3

A December 1936 item in a Forest newsletter, as quoted by the Forest Lookouts history, reported that a new tower and house had just been finished on the mountain.3 The register and the Forest Lookouts history both date a 53-foot tower on the east summit to 1937.1,3 In 1950 a 67-foot tower of treated timber, topped by an L-4 cab, went up on the northwest summit.1,3 The last tower was removed in 1978.1,2,3

A 2013 Pew Trusts fact sheet calls the lookout a popular day hike and says hikers still use the Pioneer-Indian Trail.4 The other sources date the last tower's removal to 1978,1,2,3 so it is unclear what the fact sheet means by the lookout. We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains of the lookout site today.

  1. Mount Hebo Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/mount-hebo-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Mount Hebo Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/hebo.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Mount Hebo, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/mount-hebo.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Protecting O&C Lands: Mount Hebo, Pew Charitable Trusts, https://www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2013/06/26/oclandsmtheboweb.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Hebo Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1924
1924 (1924)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 the location by 2.4 km (1.5 mi).

    • FFLOS: 45.21987, −123.72479
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 45.21450, −123.75500

    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: 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, 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

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