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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Saddle Guard Station Lookout Site

Gone: a pole L-4 tower the register dates to 1937. Its 1934-dated photo caption names the station; the sources do not explain the gap.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower is gone. The sources give no removal date.

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 towerpole L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1937
Height
Unknown
Elevation
2,297 ft (700 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.18519, −123.96729
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-saddle-guard

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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

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. 1934 EventPanorama photo dated 4-18-34 and captioned as a Saddle Guard Station lookout; conflicts with the 1937 build yearSource: firetower.org
  2. 1937 BuiltPole L-4 tower built, per the register and firelookout.comSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  3. No record between 1937 and 2010
  4. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 15, 2010; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  5. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Saddle Guard Station is a former fire lookout in the Siuslaw National Forest, in Lane County, Oregon, about 16 miles north-northeast of Florence.1,2 The register gives its elevation as 2,297 feet (700 metres), and firelookout.com gives the same figure.1,2

The register dates a pole L-4 tower on the site to 1937 and says it no longer stands.1 Firelookout.com gives the same year and the same design, and lists the tower as gone.2

The register's photo is captioned as a Saddle Guard Station lookout panorama dated 4-18-34, three years before that build date.1 The sources do not explain the difference.

The register names the U.S. Forest Service as the administering agency, and dates the entry to November 15, 2010.1

No source I read describes what, if anything, remains of the site today.1,2

  1. Saddle Guard Station Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/saddle-guard-station-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Saddle G.S. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/saddlegs.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Saddle Guard Station Lookout panoramic 4-18-34
Saddle Guard Station Lookout panoramic 4-18-34Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, 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, what it is built of, 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. 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

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