Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon
Red Mountain Lookout (now at Tiller Ranger)
Also known as Red Mountain Lookout, Tiller Ranger Station
A 1928 D-6 cupola cabin from Red Mountain in the Umpqua forest, moved to Tiller Ranger Station in 1985 and restored as a historic display.
- Standing
- Restricted access
- Verified
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. The trail and grounds are open. The Forest Service asks visitors to stop by the Tiller Ranger Station to see if the lookout is unlocked; a May 2024 visitor found it closed and suggested asking about access Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Yes, you can drive up
- Trail
- Short trail from the parking lot at Tiller Ranger Station, Tiller, OR (Tiller Historical Trail #1581).
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Ground-level cabD-6 style 12x12 ft cupola cabinThe design: D-6
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1928
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 4,797 ft (1,462 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service - Umpqua National Forest, Tiller Ranger District
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Douglas County, Oregon
- Coordinates
- 42.92706, −122.94978
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-or-red-mountain
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
- 1920 EventEarly structure on Red Mountain, a tree tower per the register or a crow's nest per the former-sites listing; sources differSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org
- 1921 Event25-foot platform crow's nest with tent camp developed at the site, per the Roaming CivicSource: theroamingcivic.com
- 1928 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
- 1928 Replaced by a new structureD-6 12x12 cupola cabin replaces the early structure on Red MountainSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org
- No record between 1928 and 1985
- 1985 MovedMoved from Red Mountain to the Tiller Ranger Station in the fall of 1985Sources: nhlr.org, theroamingcivic.com, fs.usda.gov
- 1986 RestoredRestoration work completed in June 1986, per the Roaming CivicSource: theroamingcivic.com
- 2000 RestoredAdditional restoration by community volunteers, per the Roaming CivicSource: theroamingcivic.com
- 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFormer-sites record for the original Red Mountain site, US 896, OR 263, registered March 28, 2011Source: firetower.org
- 2011 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 16, 2011 as US 911, OR 116Source: nhlr.org
- Date unknown MovedMoved from Red Mountain to Tiller Ranger.Source: FFLA
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The lookout first stood on Red Mountain, in the upper Cow Creek country of the Umpqua National Forest in Douglas County, Oregon, before it was moved to the Tiller Ranger Station.1,2
Sources disagree on what was there first. The National Historic Lookout Register calls the early structure a tree tower that the Umpqua National Forest built around 1920.1 A former-sites listing for the mountain says a crow's nest went up there about 1920.3 The Roaming Civic adds that a 25-foot platform crow's nest with a tent camp was developed there in 1921.4
In 1928 a D-6 style cupola cabin, 12 feet by 12 feet, replaced that early setup.1,3 The cabin was staffed into the 1960s.1,4 It then sat unused on the mountain until it was moved to Tiller in the fall of 1985.4,2 Restoration work was completed in June 1986, and community volunteers did more work in 2000.4
The register added the cabin in August 2011 as US 911, OR 116, and it describes the building as restored as a historic exhibit.1 The former-sites listing for the original mountain location is a separate record, US 896, OR 263.3
Today the cabin is part of the Tiller Historical Trail, reached by a short trail from the parking lot at the ranger station.4,2 The Forest Service asks visitors to stop by the station to see whether the lookout is unlocked.2 A visitor in May 2024 found it closed up and advised asking about access Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.4 That visitor's hours differ from the Forest Service listing, which gives Thursday and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so check before you go.4,2
- Red Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/red-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Tiller Historical Trail, USDA Forest Service Umpqua National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/umpqua/recreation/trails/tiller-historical-trail (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Red Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/red-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Tiller Ranger Station, The Roaming Civic, https://theroamingcivic.com/tag/tiller-ranger-station/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: name, type, status, register numbers, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) (opens another site) Gave us: photos, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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
- NHLR register entry US 911 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- Red Mountain Lookout Site (Former Fire Lookout Sites Register) (opens another site)
- Tiller Ranger Station (The Roaming Civic) (opens another site)
- Tiller Historical Trail (USDA Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest) (opens another site)
- FFLA Oregon lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Tiller Ranger Station on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
- Tiller Ranger Station on Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill) (opens another site)
- Wikidata item Q86928689 (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.