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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Prairie Peak Lookout Site

Also known as Prairie Mountain

Lane County, Oregon lookout: 1958 three-story tower replaced the cupola cabin; gone by 1985; first-structure date conflicts (1913 vs 1920-21); camera reactivated c.2012.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower gone by 1985; the old cupola cabin was moved off the site in 1958

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
Cab on a towerD-6 cupola cabin (1932); three-story Amort Special tower (1958)The design: D-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1913
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,352 ft (1,022 m)
Agency
Western Lane Forest Protective Association and Oregon Department of Forestry
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.27773, −123.60894
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-prairie-peak

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 3.8 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. 1913 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com date a platform tower and camp to 1913; the 1913 newspaper items only propose a lookout (conflicts with the 1920-21 house)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1914 EventTrail and telephone line built to the summitSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1914 First staffedWeeks Law warden stationed on the summit through the summer; the collection dates this state forester's report entry 1914 (the report is cited as 1915)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1917 StaffedH. M. Mayo, lookout; reported 160 forest fires in sight that summer (report dated September 13, 1917)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1920 BuiltLookout house put up by a carpenter after building materials were carried over a seven-mile trail; more material packed up on horseback in 1921Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1924 StaffedV. G. Backman, lookout; reported 76 fires from mid-June to July 31 (report dated August 9, 1924)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1931 StaffedNewspaper notice that Verus Dahlin would be stationed on Prairie Mountain that summerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1932 Replaced by a new structureD-6 cupola cabin installed on the siteSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. 1946 EventPolk-Benton District of the State Board of Forestry set to occupy and maintain the station under an agreementSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1958 MovedOld cupola cabin moved half a mile east (register, firelookout.com) or about a quarter mile (collection); collection says it was bought by the Kyle Brothers and used as a line shackSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  11. 1958 Replaced by a new structureThree-story Amort Special tower built as a joint Western Lane and Polk-Benton project; materials totaled $2,214.74, split evenlySources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  12. No record between 1958 and 1985
  13. 1985 RemovedTower gone by 1985 (register); firelookout.com gives 1985; removal date itself not givenSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, firelookout.org
  14. No record between 1985 and 2010
  15. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: November 15, 2010Source: FFLOS register entry
  16. 2012 EventLong unused site reactivated with the Forest Watch camera detection system (c.2012)Sources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, olis.oregonlegislature.gov
  17. 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.

Prairie Mountain, also listed as Prairie Peak, is a summit in the Coast Range on the line between Lane and Benton counties.1 In 1913 a newspaper reported plans for a trail, a telephone line and a lookout point on the peak, and by 1914 the trail and telephone line had been built.1

The register and firelookout.com say a platform tower and camp went up in 1913, and that a D-6 cupola cabin replaced them in 1932.2,3 The Oregon collection, however, places the first lookout house in 1920 and 1921.1 In 1920 John Rust and his brother hauled the building materials over a seven-mile trail, and a carpenter, Jack Sandburn, put up the building.1 In 1921 more material went up on horseback.1

In 1914 a Weeks Law warden was stationed on the summit through the summer.1 In 1917 H. M. Mayo, a lookout there, reported 160 forest fires in sight that summer.1 In 1924 V. G. Backman, the lookout, reported 76 fires between mid-June and July 31.1

In 1946 the Polk-Benton District of the State Board of Forestry, which had only just been organized, was to take over and keep up the station under an agreement.1 The 1958 season brought a new three-story lookout, built as a joint project of Western Lane and Polk-Benton.1 The two districts split the materials bill evenly, which came to $2,214.74.1

According to the collection, the Kyle Brothers bought the old cupola building, moved it about a quarter mile, and then used it as a line shack for cattle grazing on the peak.1 The register and firelookout.com put the move at half a mile east.2,3

The register describes the 1958 tower as aluminum-sided, while firelookout.com calls it wooden R-6.2,3 The register says the tower was gone by 1985, and firelookout.com gives 1985 as the year it was gone.2,3 A Forest Fire Lookout Association county list also marks it gone.4

Around 2012 the long unused site was reactivated with Forest Watch cameras.1 Forest Watch is a wildfire smoke detection system that the Oregon Department of Forestry and the three Forest Protective Associations operate.5 The sources consulted do not describe what remains on the summit now, or whether the public can reach it.

  1. Prairie Peak - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/prairie-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Prairie Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/prairie-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Prairie Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/prairiepeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Oregon Lookouts (by County), Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/or/or-co/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Oregon Department of Forestry's Wildfire Detection Camera System, Oregon Legislative Information System, https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021I1/Downloads/CommitteeMeetingDocument/257237 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Prairie Peak Lookout 1958
Prairie Peak Lookout 1958 (1958)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Prairie Peak Lookout (in relocated location) 1982
Prairie Peak Lookout (in relocated location) 1982 (1982)Photo: La Vaughn Kemnow, Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Prairie Peak Lookout site 2001
Prairie Peak Lookout site 2001 (2001)Photo: Howard Verschoor, 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, register numbers, agency, 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: 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
  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

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