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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Packsaddle Mountain Lookout Site (Lane County)

Also known as Packsaddle Mountain

Willamette NF lookout cab (dated 1930 by some sources, 1932 by a newspaper plan), L-4 cab and AWS cabin in 1942, gone by 1960 or burned in 1968.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. firetower.org and firelookout.com say gone by 1960; the Oregon lookout history site says it was disposed of by burning in 1968

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
Ground-level cab8x8 foot cab; from 1942 an L-4 cab with an Air Warning Service cabinThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1930
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,144 ft (1,873 m)
Agency
Willamette National Forest (U.S. Forest Service)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.91493, −121.92997
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-packsaddle-mountain-lane-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.1 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. 1930 Built8x8 foot cab, per firetower.org and firelookout.com. A 1932 newspaper item (below) describes new lookout houses being packed in, so the first build date is uncertainSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1932 EventEugene Guard items of August and September 1932 name Pack Saddle mountain for new lookout houses, with materials to be packed 12 to 15 miles in by horseSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1934 StaffedWilliam G. Fowler left to serve as lookout fireman there (Eugene Register-Guard item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1939 FireBend Bulletin item of July 31, 1939 on a fire at Mud Lake says the blaze was at the lake's south shore, by a Packsaddle mountain lookout station. The item does not say that station is the Willamette forest lookout; the link rests on the nameSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1941 EventEugene Guard item: Felix Sparks had just completed a lookout station at Pack Saddle mountainSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1942 Replaced by a new structure8x8 cab replaced with an L-4 cab; an Air Warning Service cabin was addedSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1942 and 1960
  8. 1960 RemovedGone by 1960 per firetower.org and firelookout.comSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. 1968 BurnedOregon lookout history site: the lookout was disposed of by burningSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1968 and 2011
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: May 12, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  12. 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.

Packsaddle Mountain's lookout stood in Lane County, in the Willamette National Forest.1,2 The first cabin's date is uncertain: two lookout-history sites give 1930 for an 8-by-8-foot cab.2,3 An August 1932 Eugene Guard item, as quoted on an Oregon lookout history site, named Pack Saddle mountain as a place for new lookout houses that year.1 A September 1932 item said the materials would be packed 12 to 15 miles in by horse.1

In July 1934 the Eugene Register-Guard reported that William G. Fowler was going to serve as lookout fireman on the mountain.1 A July 1939 Bend Bulletin item about a fire at Mud Lake said the blaze was at the lake's south shore, by a "Packsaddle mountain lookout station." The item does not say whether that is this lookout.1 In 1941 a Eugene Guard item said Felix Sparks had "just completed a lookout station" there.1

In 1942 the 8-by-8 cab was replaced with an L-4 cab, and an Air Warning Service cabin was added.2,3,1 The sources disagree about the end. Firetower.org and firelookout.com say the lookout was gone by 1960.2,3 The Oregon lookout history site says it was disposed of by burning in 1968.1

The sources describe the lookout as gone, and none we read says what remains at the site today or whether it is open to visitors.3

  1. Packsaddle Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/packsaddle-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Packsaddle Mountain Lookout Site (Lane County), Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/packsaddle-mountain-lookout-site-lane-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Packsaddle Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/packsaddle78.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Packsaddle Mountain Lookout panoramic 9-4-1933
Packsaddle Mountain Lookout panoramic 9-4-1933 (1933)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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: 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, 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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