FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Olallie Mountain Lookout

L-4 ground house on Olallie Mountain, Willamette NF, Oregon; build year disputed (1930-1932); burned in 2019, cause under investigation; the FS trail still reaches the summit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned in 2019; no source describes what, if anything, remains on the summit

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. Forest Service trail #4100 runs to the top of Olallie Mountain; the agency asks visitors to contact the local ranger station for current trail conditions

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
From Pat Saddle Trailhead, take Olallie Trail #3529 south 2 miles to reach trail #4100, which begins a steep climb to the summit

Facts

Status
Gone sources disagree
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 ground house, 14 x 14 ftThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1930
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,592 ft (1,704 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Willamette National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.02872, −122.06814
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-olallie-mountain

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.9 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 EventLookout-fireman station established, c.1924 (Rex's page)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1930 BuiltNHLR says built by the Forest Service in 1930; disputedSource: nhlr.org
  3. 1931 BuiltMorning Oregonian item of September 3, 1931, quoted on Rex's, says a new cabin had just been completed; disputedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1931 StaffedPaul Deuber named as forest lookout on the mountain (Eugene Guard, July 27, 1931, quoted on Rex's)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1932 Builtfirelookout.com gives 1932 for the L-4 cab; disputedSource: firelookout.com
  6. 1933 StaffedSummer lookout fireman on the mountain (Corvallis Gazette-Times, quoted on Rex's)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1933 and 1991
  8. 1991 EventOregon Lookout Association founded at the siteSource: nhlr.org
  9. 1995 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the NHLR January 16, 1995 as US 101Source: nhlr.org
  10. No record between 1995 and 2019
  11. 2019 BurnedBurned in 2019; Forest Service says fall 2019 and the cause remains under investigation; Rex's gives an undetermined winter dateSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov
  12. 2019 Removed'Removed' field on NHLR detail page: "2019".Source: NHLR register entry
  13. 2021 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register January 8, 2021 as US 2063Source: firetower.org
  14. 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.

The Olallie Mountain lookout stood on the summit of Olallie Mountain in Lane County, Oregon, within the Willamette National Forest.1,2,3 The National Historic Lookout Register describes it as a 14-by-14-foot L-4 ground house that the Forest Service built, and dates the work to 1930.1

The sources do not agree on the year.1,4,5 Firelookout.com gives 1932 for an L-4 cab.4 A September 1931 Morning Oregonian item, quoted on Rex's Fire Lookout Page, reported that a cabin on the mountain had only just been finished.5 We could not settle which date is right, so the record keeps all three.

A lookout-fireman station was set up around 1924, years before the cabin dates above.5 A July 1931 Eugene Guard item names Paul Deuber as the forest lookout there, and a 1933 Corvallis Gazette-Times item mentions a summer lookout fireman on the mountain.5 The register says the house had not been staffed for many years.1 Firelookout.com says it was last used for emergencies in the 1970s.4

The site also has a place in Oregon's lookout history. The register notes that the Oregon Lookout Association was started there in 1991.1

The lookout burned in 2019.1,4 The Forest Service dates the fire to autumn 2019 and says the cause is still under investigation.3 The register notes that restoration work was under way when the fire came.1 The register also lists a "Removed" date of 2019, and the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register listed the site on January 8, 2021.1,2

We found no source describing a standing building or what, if anything, is left on the summit. The Forest Service's Olallie Mountain Trail #4100 runs to the top of the mountain from Olallie Trail #3529, which starts in the Three Sisters Wilderness, and the agency asks visitors to contact the local ranger station for current trail conditions.3 We could not confirm the trail's status beyond that.

  1. Olallie Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/olallie-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Olallie Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/olallie-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Olallie Mountain Trail #4100, U.S. Forest Service, Willamette National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/willamette/recreation/trails/olallie-mountain-trail-4100 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Olallie Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/olalliemtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Olallie Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/olallie-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Olallie Mountain Lookout
Olallie Mountain LookoutPhoto: Cheryl Hill, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2020 photo
2020 photo (2020)Photo: Pete Council, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2020 photo
2020 photo (2020)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Olallie Mountain Lookout
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2020 photo
2020 photo (2020)Photo: Pete Council, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2020 photo
2020 photo (2020)Photo: 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.

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 whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • NHLR: Standing
    • FFLOS: Gone
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Gone

    NHLR lists lookouts that were standing when registered. firelookout.com lists it, but not on its map of standing lookouts.

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. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: register numbers, 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: 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
  6. 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.