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Fire lookout · Washington County, Oregon

Round Top Lookout Site

Washington County, OR peak: a 1933 crow's-nest lookout, a 1946 timber tower staffed until 1965 and removed by 1970; no source describes the summit today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower abandoned in 1965 and removed in 1970 per FFLOS; firelookout.com says it is now gone. 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 towerCrow's-nest platform in a fir tree with a cabin (1933); wooden L-4 tower with a 14x14 cab (1946); height disputedThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
2,850 ft (869 m)
Agency
Oregon Department of Forestry, North West Oregon FPA
Land
Unknown
Location
Washington County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.67677, −123.36282
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-round-top

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 3.7 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. 1933 BuiltCrow's-nest tree platform with cabin living quarters served as the first lookout (FFLOS); an August 1934 Forest Log item describes a lookout still to be constructed, so the date is contestedSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1941 StaffedRanger Tom Seth knocked out for a time by lightning, then finished his shiftSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 EventOregon lookouts page lists activation on September 9, 1942 for the Portland Filter Center; role not statedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1946 Replaced by a new structureTimber tower with a 14x14 cab replaced the first structures; 35 ft per FFLOS and firelookout.com, 50 ft in a June 1946 Forest Log item about a tower under constructionSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1946 and 1965
  6. 1965 AbandonedFFLOS says the tower was abandoned in 1965Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. 1965 Last staffedLast staffed seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1970 RemovedFFLOS says removed in 1970; the Oregon lookouts page says Removed with no dateSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1970 and 2011
  10. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterUS 1175, OR 498, registered December 19, 2011Source: firetower.org
  11. 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.

Round Top is a 2,982-foot peak in Washington County, Oregon, about 4.3 miles southwest of Timber.1 The first lookout here, dated to 1933, was a crow's-nest platform in a tree, with a cabin that housed the lookout.2 A 1941 survey description places a lookout house atop a 100-foot fir, which was topped and guyed.3 An August 1934 Forest Log item, though, describes work on a pack trail to a lookout still to be built, so the start date is not settled.3

In 1946 a timber tower with a 14-by-14 cab replaced the first structures.2,3 The sources disagree on its height.2,4,3 The FFLOS register and firelookout.com give 35 feet, while a June 1946 Forest Log item described a 50-foot tower under construction.2,4,3

In July 1941 lightning knocked out the ranger at the station, Tom Seth, who recovered and finished his shift.3 The Oregon lookouts page also lists an activation on September 9, 1942, for the Portland Filter Center, without explaining the role.3 The last staffed season was 1965.3

The FFLOS register says the tower was abandoned that year and removed in 1970.2 Wikipedia gives 1946 as the end of the tower and cabin, which conflicts with the 1965 end date.1 Firelookout.com says the tower is now gone.4 No source found describes the summit today or what, if anything, remains of the lookout.

  1. Round Top (Oregon), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Top_(Oregon) (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Round Top Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/round-top-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Round Top - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/round-top.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Round Top Fire Lookout Tower, Rex's Fire Lookout Page (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/or/roundtop45.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Round Top Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Original crow's nest tree, 1933
Original crow's nest tree, 1933 (1933)Photo: 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, 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: 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, 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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