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Fire lookout · Jackson County, Oregon

Railroad Gap Lookout Site

Jackson County, OR tower at Railroad Gap: 15-foot L-4 built 1933, Air Warning post 1942-43, removed 1951; a 2018 report describes only a later shelter cabin's foundation.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 1951 (register, Forest Lookouts) or destroyed that year (firelookout.com). A 2018 report describes only the concrete foundation of a later shelter cabin.

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. A 2018 hiking report describes reaching the Gap on the Cow Creek Trail (USFS #1424) from Forest Road 3232. No source says whether the trail is open now.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
2018 report: summer round trip to the Gap is about 12 miles on the Cow Creek Trail. The tower is gone; the foundation described is the shelter cabin's, not the lookout's.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower15-foot pole L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
15 ft (4.6 m)
Elevation
4,567 ft (1,392 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Umpqua National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Jackson County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.74345, −122.96432
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-railroad-gap

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1932 EventLate-July 1932 item: a woman back from a week's visit with her husband at the Railroad Gap lookout above Tiller, a year before the registers' 1933 build dateSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1933 Built15-foot pole L-4 tower, per the register and the Forest Lookouts pageSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1935 StaffedErmil Chaney employed by the Forest Service at Railroad Gap lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1941 StaffedMr. Ulam gone to the lookout for the fire seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1942 EventAir Warning Service post: register says used all year in 1942; Forest Lookouts says activated August 24, 1942Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1942 StaffedMr. Redifer stationed at the lookout by the Forest Service, August 1942Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1943 EventAir Warning Service post deactivated October 16, 1943 (Roseburg Filter Center)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1949 EventDecember 1949 announcement of construction of a tower on Roundtop Mountain to replace the Railroad Gap lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1951 Destroyedfirelookout.com says destroyed 1951Source: firelookout.com
  10. 1951 RemovedRemoved in 1951 per the register, Forest Lookouts and the 2018 reportSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, vanmarmot.org
  11. No record between 1951 and 2011
  12. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 27, 2011 as US 894Source: firetower.org
  13. 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.

Railroad Gap is in the Umpqua National Forest, in Jackson County, Oregon.1 It lies near the divide between the Rogue and Umpqua river watersheds.2

In July 1932 the Roseburg News-Review reported that nine new lookout houses were planned, one of them on Railroad Gap.3 A late-July 1932 item already has a woman back from a week's visit with her husband "at the Railroad Gap lookout above Tiller," the year before the 1933 build date in the registers.1,3

The register describes a 15-foot pole L-4 tower built in 1933, and the Forest Lookouts page gives the same year and cab type.1,3

In August 1935 the News-Review reported that Ermil Chaney was working for the Forest Service at the Railroad Gap lookout.3 In July 1941 the paper said a Mr. Ulam had gone to the lookout for the fire season, and in August 1942 it said Mr. Redifer was stationed there by the Forest Service.3

The lookout also served as an Air Warning Service post.1,3 The Forest Lookouts page lists the post as active from August 24, 1942, until October 16, 1943, under the Roseburg Filter Center.3 The register says the tower was used all year as an AWS post in 1942.1 The two sources disagree on when that use began.1,3

In December 1949 the state forest patrol announced construction of a tower on Roundtop Mountain to replace the lookout at Railroad Gap.3 The register and the Forest Lookouts page both give 1951 as the year the tower was removed, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1,4,3

A 2018 hiking report describes the Gap as a trail destination and says that a fire lookout once stood there.2 The same report describes a separate shelter cabin, built at the Gap in the 1930s and dedicated to the memory of a Forest Service packer.2 A large tree fell on it within roughly the previous decade, and only its concrete foundation remains.2 That foundation belongs to the shelter, not the lookout.2 The report reaches the Gap by the Cow Creek Trail from Forest Road 3232, and calls the summer round trip a 12-mile hike.2 No source we read says whether the trail is open to visitors now.

  1. Railroad Gap Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/railroad-gap-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Hiking Through Old-Growth Along Southwest Oregon's Cow Creek, Van Marmot, https://vanmarmot.org/2018/03/30/cow-creek-old-growth-azalea-oregon-30-mar-2018/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Railroad Gap, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/railroad-gap.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Railroad Gap Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/railroadgap.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Railroad Gap Lookout 1943
Railroad Gap Lookout 1943 (1943)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Railroad Gap Lookout 1942
Railroad Gap Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Railroad Gap Lookout site 2007
Railroad Gap Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, 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: design, height, 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, 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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