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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Pig Iron Lookout

Prefabricated 1950 Weyerhaeuser lookout on a 10 ft tower in the Umpqua NF; restored, reported staffed, reached by a gated road walk, with a 2024 closure notice on one post.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. On a July 2, 2022 visit a locked gate on the access road blocked vehicles, and visitors walked about a mile from it. The 2022 post says vandals had cut the gate and a Forest Service crew seemed to have recently fixed it. A notice on that post says the area was closed as of July 20, 2024, due to the active Diamond Complex; no source read says when it reopened. No rentals are mentioned in the sources.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Reach the gate by the Mowich Loop Road and NF-100, then walk about a mile. A 2023 visitor also came by a trail from Road 250. Pig Iron Trail #1438 is reported as overgrown and steep.
Staffing
Staffed by volunteers

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerprefabricated L-4-type cab on a 10 ft wooden tower (cab size disputed: 10x10 ft or 14x14 ft)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1950
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
4,828 ft (1,472 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.26420, −122.37989 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-pig-iron

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 3.9 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. 1950 BuiltPrefabricated by the Weyerhaeuser Sales Company; the current structure was built into the fall of 1950.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1950 First staffedDwight Berryman lived in a tent; the fire finder stood outdoors under a cover when not in use.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1951 StaffedMainly staffed during the afternoon hours. Former lookout Gary Wilson says he manned it that summer.Sources: nhlr.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1962 StaffedAn August 4, 1962 News-Review item, under Staffing, names Russell Dondero, a Roseburg resident who attends Whitman College.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1962 and 2000
  6. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register on March 1, 2000.Source: nhlr.org
  7. 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.

Pig Iron Lookout stands in the Umpqua National Forest in Douglas County, about 33 miles south of Oakridge.1,2 The sources disagree on where it sits. The Register says it is a half mile below the summit, while firelookout.com says one mile west of the summit.1,2

The Weyerhaeuser Sales Company prefabricated the lookout in 1950, and the Register calls it probably one of a kind.1 The current structure was built into the fall of that year.1

The cab size also differs. The Register describes a 10-by-10-foot cab on a 10-foot wooden tower, while firelookout.com and the Oregon Lookouts history page give 14 by 14 feet.1,2,3

In 1950 Dwight Berryman lived in a tent, and the fire finder stood outdoors under a cover when not in use.3 The next year the lookout was mainly staffed in the afternoons, and Gary Wilson, a former lookout, wrote that he manned it that summer.3,1 The sources read do not mention any notable fires.

The Register reports that the lookout was restored and now serves as an emergency detection site.1 Firelookout.com says volunteers staff it.2 A July 2023 visitor found it marked as staffed, though no one was home that day.4 A 2022 visitor met the woman on duty, whom the post describes as a Forest Service employee. She said vandals had cut the gate, and the visitor thought a Forest Service crew had recently fixed it.5

On that 2022 visit a locked gate on the access road blocked vehicles, and visitors walked about a mile from it.5 A notice on the same post says the area was closed as of July 20, 2024, due to the active Diamond Complex, and the sources read do not say when it reopened.5 A 2023 visitor reached the lookout by a trail from Road 250.4 Another report calls Pig Iron Trail #1438 overgrown and steep.5 The Register listed the lookout on March 1, 2000.1 The sources do not mention rentals, so check with the Diamond Lake Ranger District before you plan a visit.1

  1. Pig Iron Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/pig-iron-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Pig Iron Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/pigiron.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Pig Iron - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/pig-iron.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Pig Iron Mountain - Every Lookout in Oregon, cherylhill.net (2023 visit), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/2023/08/26/pig-iron/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Pig Iron - The Roaming Civic, theroamingcivic.com, https://theroamingcivic.com/tag/pig-iron/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Pig Iron Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Pig Iron L.O.
Pig Iron L.OPhoto: 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 location by 9.3 km (5.8 mi).

    • FFLA: 43.26420, −122.37989
    • NHLR: 43.26468, −122.26468

    They share a register number.

    The map uses the position from FFLA.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, county, elevation, 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: location, 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: what it is built of, height, staffing, 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 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. Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) Gave us: 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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

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