FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Jackson County, Oregon

Mount Stella Lookout

Rogue River NF lookout: first L-4 tower c.1932, replaced by a 30-ft tower in 1946 or 1947, last used in the 1980s, NRHP 2000, NHLR 2003.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab; original 20-foot timber tower (c.1932), replaced by a 30-foot treated timber L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
4,665 ft (1,422 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Jackson County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.93757, −122.43468
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-mount-stella

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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. 1931 EventSite selected and work started, per a Rogue River National Forest history quoted by Forest LookoutsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 BuiltFirst lookout: 20-foot timber tower with L-4 cab; NHLR says it went into service in 1932; Forest Lookouts says c.1932Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 EventAircraft Warning Service station activated August 11, 1942Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1943 EventAircraft Warning Service station deactivated June 14, 1943Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1946 Replaced by a new structure30-foot treated timber L-4 tower; firelookout.com dates it to 1946, NHLR says 1947Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  6. 1947 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  7. No record between 1947 and 1985
  8. 1985 Last staffedApproximate year: NHLR says standby since the mid 1980s; firelookout.com says last used in the 1980sSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1985 and 2000
  10. 2000 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesListed on the National Register of Historic Places; NPGallery record dated 12/29/2000Sources: npgallery.nps.gov, wikidata.org
  11. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterNational Historic Lookout Register registration date March 31, 2003Source: nhlr.org
  12. 2007 Condition assessmentSurveyed to see whether it could be restored and used as a rental; stabilization needed soon or it may be lost.Source: firelookout.org
  13. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Mount Stella sits in the Rogue River National Forest, about 14 miles west of Crater Lake in Jackson County, Oregon.1,2

Work on the site started in 1931, according to a regional forest history quoted by one lookout-history site.3 The first lookout was a 20-foot timber tower with an L-4 cab, and it was in service around 1932.1,2,3

A 30-foot treated timber tower later replaced that first one, carrying a newer L-4 cab. The register dates the replacement to 1947, while firelookout.com dates the tower to 1946, so the year is disputed.1,2

In 1942 the site became an Aircraft Warning Service station, which was deactivated in June 1943.3 A 1943 newspaper item about women lookouts named Mount Stella as one of their posts.3

The register says the lookout has been on standby since the mid 1980s. Firelookout.com says it was last used in the 1980s and is now abandoned.1,2 The National Register of Historic Places listed the site in 2000, and the National Historic Lookout Register recorded it on March 31, 2003.4,5,1

Today the sources do not say whether the cab can be entered or whether visitors are allowed. The firelookout.com page calls the tower abandoned, so nothing here shows it is open to the public.2 Check with the Forest Service before going near it.

  1. Mount Stella Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/mount-stella-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Mt. Stella Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/mtstella.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Mount Stella, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/mount-stella.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Mt. Stella Lookout, National Register of Historic Places, NPGallery, https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/00000511 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Mount Stella Lookout, Wikidata, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q86927085 (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mount Stella Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Outhouse at site in September 2025
Outhouse at site in September 2025 (2025)Photo: Sarah Gorham, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Mt. Stella in 1943
Mt. Stella in 1943 (1943)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, Harold C Chriswell, and Howard Verschoor, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Stella L.O.
Mt. Stella L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, Harold C Chriswell, and Howard Verschoor, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Stella L.O.
Mt. Stella L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, Harold C Chriswell, and Howard Verschoor, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Stella in 1998
Mt. Stella in 1998 (1998)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, the Dave Bula collection, Harold C Chriswell, and Howard Verschoor, via firelookout.com · 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 year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1947
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1946
    • Wikidata: 1933
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1946

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: design, photos, 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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: register numbers, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: register numbers, links Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill, cherylhill.net) · No licence stated; facts only (name, agency, elevation, year built, design and height, status word, links). Posts' narrative and photos are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  8. 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

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