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Fire lookout · Josephine County, Oregon

Peavine Mountain Lookout

Also known as Peavine Mountain Lookout Site (Josephine County)

Josephine County, OR state lookout: rag camp 1920, 40-ft L-4 tower 1933, 41-ft timber tower 1961; burned Nov 20, 2006 after dry rot was found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Condemned and burned to the ground on November 20, 2006, after inspections found dry rot in the tower

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 sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower41-ft treated timber tower with ODF live-in cab, built 1961, after a 40-ft L-4 tower (1933) and a rag camp (1920)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
3,756 ft (1,145 m)
Agency
Oregon Department of Forestry
Land
Federal land
Location
Josephine County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.59460, −123.65742 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-peavine-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 its recorded height.

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. 1920 EventRag camp at the site; FFLOS describes a camp and tree platform in the 1920sSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org
  2. 1933 Built40 ft L-4 tower replaced the early platform; Weebly gives 1934 and an R-1 style cabSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1941 StaffedStaffed 120 days and reported to the Rand Ranger Station (Weebly)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1941 and 1961
  5. 1961 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  6. 1961 Replaced by a new structure41 ft treated timber tower with ODF live-in cab, built about 3/4 mile northeast of the original siteSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1961 and 2003
  8. 2003 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered March 31, 2003 as US 498, OR 91Source: nhlr.org
  9. 2006 BurnedCondemned and burned to the ground November 20, 2006 after dry rot was foundSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  10. 2006 Removed'Removed' field on NHLR detail page: "November 20, 2006".Source: NHLR register entry
  11. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 26, 2011 as US 889, OR 256Source: firetower.org
  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.

Peavine Mountain sits in Josephine County, about 19 miles northwest of Grants Pass.1,2 Lookout use began with a rag camp in 1920, and the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register describes a camp and tree platform in the 1920s.2,3 A 40-foot L-4 tower replaced that early platform in 1933, according to the same register.3 A Weebly summary dates a 40-foot round timber tower to 1934 and describes an R-1 style cab, so the year and design differ between sources.4

In 1961 a 41-foot treated timber tower with an ODF live-in cab went up about three-quarters of a mile northeast of the original site.3,1 One summary calls that tower laminated timber instead.4

The lookout was staffed for decades.4,1 A Weebly entry says it was staffed 120 days in 1941 and reported to the Rand Ranger Station, and firelookout.com says the 1961 tower was still being staffed into the 2000s.4,1

Inspectors found dry rot in the tower, and it was burned to the ground on November 20, 2006.3,1 The National Historic Lookout Register describes the tower as condemned.2

The National Historic Lookout Register recorded the lookout on March 31, 2003, and the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register recorded the site on March 26, 2011.2,3 The two registers give different elevations for the site, 3,756 feet and 3,870 feet.2,3

The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register lists the location as a former lookout site.3 None of the pages read says what remains on the mountain today or whether visitors can reach it, so this story does not describe either.

  1. Peavine Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/peavine.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Peavine Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/peavine-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Peavine Mountain Lookout Site (Josephine County), Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/peavine-mountain-lookout-site-josephine-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Peavine Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/peavine-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Peavine Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Peavine Mountain Lookout
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1933
1933 (1933)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 1.5 km (0.9 mi).

    • NHLR: 42.59460, −123.65742
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 42.60178, −123.64210

    The map uses the position from NHLR.

  • 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, 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: height, ownership, 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, height, status, agency, staffing, 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.