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Fire lookout · Lake County, Oregon

Rodman Rock Lookout Site

Lake County Forest Service lookout: L-4 cab on a 16-foot tower built 1933; disposal recommended 1967; burned or removed in 1968. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower burned or removed in 1968; no source describes the summit today.

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 towerL-4 cab on a 16-foot trestle-type towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
16 ft (4.9 m)
Elevation
8,196 ft (2,498 m)
Agency
U.S.Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lake County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.00999, −121.28657
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-rodman-rock

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.

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. 1933 BuiltL-4 lookout house on a 16-foot trestle-type towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1943 StaffedMrs. Earl Small assigned to the Rodman Rock lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1943 and 1960
  4. 1960 StaffedDave Ebert; a July 1961 item says he was lookout there the previous summerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1967 Condition assessmentSurvey of unused lookouts rated the building poor and recommended disposal by burningSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1968 BurnedMay 1968 letter says Rodman Rock has been burned; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1968 RemovedRegister says the tower was removedSource: firetower.org
  8. No record between 1968 and 2011
  9. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites registerSource: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Rodman Rock is a summit in Lake County, Oregon, on the Fremont National Forest.1 The register gives its elevation as 8,196 feet, while firelookout.com lists 6,754 feet.1,2

A lookout went up on the summit in 1933: an L-4 cab on a 16-foot trestle-type tower.1,2,3 Newspaper items name Mrs. Earl Small as the lookout assigned there in 1943, and a July 1961 item says Dave Ebert had held the post the previous summer.3

In 1967 the Silver Lake district asked to dispose of the building. Its survey of unused lookouts rated the condition poor and advised burning it once the late-autumn rains and snow arrived.3

A May 1968 letter from the Fremont forest to the regional office reported that Rodman Rock had been burned.3 The register says the tower was removed that year, and firelookout.com says it was destroyed in 1968.1,2

The register includes a 2007 photograph of the site, but its caption does not describe what is there.1 No source describes what remains on the summit today. A 1953 survey note says forest roads from Silver Lake reached within a five-minute walk of the survey station on the summit, but no source says whether that is still possible.3

  1. Rodman Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/rodman-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Rodman Rock Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/rodmanrock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Rodman Rock, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/rodman-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Rodman Rock Lookout 1933 - 1968
Rodman Rock Lookout 1933 - 1968 (1933)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Rodman Rock Lookout site 2007
Rodman Rock 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, 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, 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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