Fire lookout · Linn County, Oregon
Scott (Bald Peter) Lookout Site
Also known as Scott Mountain
Linn County Fire Patrol steel tower on Scott Mountain, built 1948, manned from August 1948, removed 1979; the Bald Peter name is shared with an 1912 site.
- Gone
- Access unknown
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1979 per register and patrol history; firelookout.com says destroyed. No source describes remains at the site
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
- Type
- Cab on a towerSteel tower with an L-4 cab (register); the 1948 patrol report gives 54 ft and a steel cabinThe design: L-4
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- 1948
- Height
- 55 ft (16.8 m)
- Elevation
- 2,136 ft (651 m)
- Agency
- Linn County Fire Patrol Association (Linn FPA)
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Linn County, Oregon
- Coordinates
- 44.39882, −122.86392
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-or-scott-bald-peter
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 3.5 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
- 1948 BuiltBuilt 1948 by the Linn County Fire Patrol association on Scott Mountain, Section 31, T13S R1WSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1948 StaffedLebanon Express, July 1948: Eugene Jacobson to be assigned to the new lookout on Scott MountainSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1948 First staffedPatrol annual report: 'It was manned about August 1.' Earliest staffing in these sourcesSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1958 StaffedKnown lookout personnel 1958: Joan Oswalt (firelookout.com)Source: firelookout.com
- 1962 EventDamaged by high winds of the Columbus Day storm (October 12, 1962)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1963 AlteredStorm damage repaired and a storage building constructedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1966 EventApril 1966 Forest Log: purchase of 13,000 feet of underground cable to transmit power to Scott MountainSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1979 RemovedRegister and patrol history say removed or dismantled in 1979; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1979 and 2011
- 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered with the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register on May 12, 2011; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The register calls this lookout Scott (Bald Peter).1 It stood on Scott Mountain in Linn County, Oregon, about six miles west of Sweet Home.1,2,3
The Linn County Fire Patrol built a steel lookout on Scott Mountain in 1948, in Section 31, Township 13 South, Range 1 West.3 The steel tower came from a war surplus sale agency at McGown Field in Boise, Idaho.3 Linn association crews took apart four such towers and readied them for shipment to Oregon.3
The register describes a 55-foot steel tower with an L-4 cab.1 The Linn District's 1948 annual report describes a 54-foot tower with a 14 by 14 foot steel cabin, and another 1948 note gives 60 feet and a wood cab.3 The sources differ on the height, and the two 1948 records differ on whether the cab was steel or wood.1,3
The lookout was manned about August 1, 1948.3 The Lebanon Express reported in July 1948 that Eugene Jacobson, who had worked for the patrol the year before, would be assigned to it.3 The firelookout.com page lists Joan Oswalt as known lookout personnel for 1958.2
Winds from the Columbus Day storm damaged the lookout on October 12, 1962.3 The patrol repaired the storm damage and built a storage building in 1963.3 In April 1966 the patrol bought 13,000 feet of underground cable to carry power to Scott Mountain.3
The register says the lookout was removed in 1979.1 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year, and the Forest Lookouts history says it was dismantled.2,3
The Bald Peter name also belongs to a different Linn County site.4 That site dates from 1912 and sits at Township 12 South, Range 2 East, section 28, at 4,079 feet.4 The Scott Mountain tower in this story has an elevation of 2,136 feet.1 A separate Scott Mountain lookout in Lane County, built in 1929 and removed in 1960, is also a different site.5
We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether the site can be visited.
- Scott (Bald Peter) Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/scott-bald-peter-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Scott (Bald Peter) Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/scottbaldpeter.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Scott Mountain, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/scott-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Bald Peter Lookout, Osbornes Project (Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project), http://www.orww.org/Osbornes_Project/Linn/Bald_Peter.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Scott Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/scott-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, staffing, 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
- FFLOS register entry US 987 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- Scott Mountain Lookout Site (Former Fire Lookout Sites Register) (opens another site)
- Bald Peter Lookout (Osbornes Project (Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project)) (opens another site)
- FFLA Oregon lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Scott (Bald Peter) on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Scott Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.