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Fire lookout · Jackson County, Oregon

Robinson Butte Lookout

Robinson Butte, Jackson County, Oregon: 1933 pole tower, 1974 53 ft R-6 tower from Blue Rock; condemned since 2016 after failed inspection; NHLR-registered 2008.

Closed

The site is closed to visitors. Condemned after a 2016 inspection. The first set of steps was removed and a condemned sign was posted across the stairs.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Closed. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Reached by spur road NF-050. The 2022 visit report describes a gate, which was open, with the lookout less than a mile beyond it. The tower is condemned and should not be climbed.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerR-6 flat cab on a 53-foot treated timber tower, moved from Blue Rock Lookout in 1974The designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
53 ft (16.2 m)
Elevation
5,864 ft (1,787 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Jackson County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.36430, −122.38170
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-robinson-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 3.7 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 First staffedLookout stationed on Robinson Butte, per a fire-plan history quoted on the Forest Lookouts page; the Roaming Civic says possibly as early as 1913Sources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, theroamingcivic.com
  2. 1917 EventRag camp established at the site, per the Register and firelookout.comSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, theroamingcivic.com
  3. No record between 1917 and 1932
  4. 1932 EventNewspaper item reports a lookout house under construction (September 27, 1932); conflicts with the 1933 dateSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1933 Built20 ft pole tower with L-4 cab; the Roaming Civic credits the early structures to a Moon Prairie CCC crewSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1935 EventLightning strike stunned the wife of a lookout fireman near a forest service telephone; her husband was working a nearby fireSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1935 and 1974
  8. 1974 BuiltPresent 53 ft treated timber tower and R-6 cab erectedSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1974 Replaced by a new structure20 ft pole tower replaced by a 53 ft treated timber tower with R-6 flat cab moved from Blue Rock LookoutSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1974 and 2008
  11. 2008 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 18, 2008 as US 740, OR 112; nominated by Howard VerschoorSource: nhlr.org
  12. 2016 ClosedFailed inspection; staff left the tower; condemned sign posted across the stairs; first set of steps removedSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, theroamingcivic.com
  13. 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.

Robinson Butte rises to 5,864 feet in Jackson County, Oregon, on land now part of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.1,2 A lookout was stationed there by 1913, according to a fire-plan history quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, though the Register and firelookout.com date the start of the site to a camp in 1917.3,1,4

The first tower was a 20-foot pole structure with an L-4 cab, built in 1933.1,4 The Roaming Civic credits those early buildings to a Civilian Conservation Corps crew from Moon Prairie.5 A 1932 item, though, reports a lookout house under construction, so the early dates are not fully settled.3 In 1974 the pole tower was replaced by a 53-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 flat cab, trucked in from Blue Rock Lookout.1,4,3

Observers were posted on the butte from the 1930s into the 1940s.3 A 1933 item says a couple stayed in the lookout all summer.3 A 1935 item reports that lightning stunned a lookout fireman's wife while she was on a forest service telephone and her husband was off at a nearby fire.3 For several years before 2016, the Oregon Department of Forestry's southwest Oregon district staffed the tower.3 None of the sources read names a particular fire the lookout helped catch.

In 2016 the tower failed an inspection.3,5 Staff left it, a condemned notice was hung across the stairs, and the first set of steps was removed.3,5 The Roaming Civic and Cheryl Hill's directory both list it as abandoned but still standing.5,2 firelookout.com says the replacement tower is available for emergencies. That page carries no date and does not mention the 2016 inspection.4

Treat Robinson Butte as closed. The Roaming Civic lists the tower as condemned as of 2016, and its 2022 visit report describes missing steps and an ominous note.5 The Register names the Forest Service as administrator, so that office is the place to check the site's current status.1

  1. Robinson Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/or/robinson-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Oregon's Standing Lookouts, Cheryl Hill (cherylhill.net), https://cherylhill.net/firelookouts/oregons-standing-lookouts/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Robinson Butte, Forest Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/robinson-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Robinson Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/robinsonbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Robinson Butte L.O., The Roaming Civic, https://theroamingcivic.com/2022/06/25/robinson-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Robinson Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Robinson Butte L.O. 1933-1974
Robinson Butte L.O. 1933-1974 (1933)Photo: the Dave Bula collection, via firelookout.com · source

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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 year it was built.

    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1933
    • Every Lookout in Oregon (Cheryl Hill): 1974

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

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, dates, 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.