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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Red Butte Lookout

L-4 cab on a 41-foot timber tower, Red Butte, Umpqua NF, Douglas County; tower dates to 1953; standing but abandoned; NHLR-registered 2001.

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. Register says the station was used only in emergencies in recent years. No source read says the public can climb it. Cheryl Hill's directory marks the site as legally accessible (Accessible to Public: Yes), which the directory says does not mean access to the lookout itself.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Umpqua National Forest, about 24 miles east of Roseburg. No public route or climbing permission found in the sources read.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab on a 41-foot treated timber tower (outrigger L-4)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1930
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
5,223 ft (1,592 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.16620, −122.88040
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-red-butte

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 3.6 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. 1918 StaffedCouple at the lookout station all summer, per a 1918 newspaper itemSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1930 BuiltEarlier 20 ft pole tower with L-4 cab; firelookout.com dates it to 1930; a July 1930 newspaper item reports a new standard lookout house completedSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 EventAir Warning Service built a cabin for its observer; activation October 16, 1942 to October 16, 1943Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1943 EventNewspaper item says a new tower had been built and improvements made; does not match the 1953 dateSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1953 BuiltPresent 41 ft treated timber tower and L-4 cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1953 Replaced by a new structureEarlier 20 ft pole tower replaced by the present 41 ft treated timber tower with outrigger L-4 cabSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1962 StaffedClaude Roberts described as a two-year veteran at the stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1962 and 2001
  9. 2001 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 1, 2001 as US 390, OR 44Source: nhlr.org
  10. 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.

Red Butte stands in the Umpqua National Forest in Douglas County, Oregon, and had a lookout station by 1918.1,2 A 1917 newspaper item quoted on the Forest Lookouts page said the Government would soon set one up on the summit.2 A July 1930 item reports that a new lookout house of standard design had just been completed there.2 The Register and firelookout.com both describe the earlier structure as a 20-foot pole tower carrying an L-4 cab, and firelookout.com dates it to 1930.1,3,2

In 1953 that tower was replaced by the one standing today, a 41-foot treated timber tower with an outrigger L-4 cab.1,3,2 A 1943 newspaper item quoted on the same page reports that a new tower went up that year. That does not match the 1953 date, and the sources read do not explain the gap.2

Named observers appear at the station from 1918 through the 1940s, several of them married couples.2 A 1962 item quoted on the Forest Lookouts page says one observer had already spent two years at the station.2 The Air Warning Service built a cabin for its observer on the site in 1942, and the page lists an activation dated October 1942 to October 1943.2 No source read names a notable fire from Red Butte.

The Register says the station has seen only emergency use lately, and that the plan is to move it to Lookout Mountain, perhaps into a cabin rental system.1 firelookout.com calls the present tower abandoned, and Cheryl Hill's directory lists it as abandoned while still standing.3,4 The sources do not say whether the move has happened.

Today, none of the sources read confirms public climbing or rental access. Cheryl Hill's directory marks the site as legally accessible, which it says is not the same as access to the lookout.4 The rental idea is only a possibility in the Register.1 Anyone interested should check with the Umpqua National Forest before making a trip, since the Register names the Forest Service as its administrator.1

  1. Red Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/red-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Red Butte, Forest Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/red-butte1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Red Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/redbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Oregon's Standing Lookouts, Cheryl Hill (cherylhill.net), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/oregons-standing-lookouts/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Red Butte Lookout - 2015
Red Butte Lookout - 2015 (2015)Photo: Dennis Poulin, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Red Butte L.O.
Red Butte L.OPhoto: Dominic Luebbers, via firelookout.com · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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: 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: design, height, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.