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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Siltcoos Lookout Site

Also known as Siltcoos Mountain

Siuslaw NF lookout site 7 miles south of Florence, OR: 20-ft L-4 pole tower built 1932-33, forest guard A. G. Hines in 1933, removed 1959; registered as a former site in 2011.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1959 per FFLOS and the Oregon Lookouts timeline; firelookout.com says destroyed in 1959.

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 tower20-ft round fir pole tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1932
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
438 ft (134 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Siuslaw National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.87039, −124.12585
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-siltcoos

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 4.2 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. 1932 BuiltOregon Lookouts timeline: 20-ft round fir pole tower with L-4 cab constructed; Siuslaw Oar, July 1932: lumber due for the new station. Register and firelookout.com give 1933.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 EventJuly 1, 1932 Siuslaw Oar: Forest Service crew have the road about completed to the top; lumber due for the new stationSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1932 First staffedForest guard A. G. Hines moved his family to the new Siltcoos guard station (undated Siuslaw Oar item between August 19 and October 7, 1932; story reads it as late summer 1932); station closed for the season by late October 1932 (Siuslaw Oar, October 28, 1932)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1933 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com both date construction to 1933Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  5. 1933 FireNewly installed fire finder reported to have spotted a fire on Bailey hill near Junction City (Siuslaw Oar, July 1933)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1933 StaffedA. G. Hines took up his duties as forest guard at the Siltcoos lookout station (April 1933)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1935 EventRoad to the lookout station widened to 18 feet by J.H. Newman and crewSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1941 StaffedBill Brown appointed to take charge of the Siltcoos recreation area and to be stationed at the lookout after Labor Day (Eugene Guard, August 1941)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1942 EventTimeline entry: activated March 10, 1942, Eugene Filter Center; no further detail givenSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. No record between 1942 and 1959
  11. 1959 RemovedTower removed in 1959 (FFLOS; Oregon Lookouts timeline). firelookout.com says destroyed in 1959.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. No record between 1959 and 2011
  13. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered March 29, 2011 as FFLOS US 905, OR 272; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  14. 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.

The Siltcoos lookout stood on Siltcoos Mountain about seven miles south of Florence, in Lane County on the Siuslaw National Forest.1,2 In July 1932 the road to the top was nearly finished, and lumber was due for the new station.3 The sources disagree on how far the site was from the Pacific.2,1 The Register says half a mile, and firelookout.com says a mile.2,1

The tower was a 20-foot round fir pole with an L-4 cab.2,3 The Register and firelookout.com date its construction to 1933, while the Oregon Lookouts timeline gives 1932.2,1,3

Forest guard A. G. Hines and his family settled into the new guard station in late summer 1932, and the station was shut for the season by late October.3 In April 1933 he began work as the lookout's forest guard.3

In July 1933 the newly installed fire finder was credited with spotting a fire on Bailey Hill near Junction City.3 In 1935 crews were widening the road to the station to 18 feet.3

In 1941 Bill Brown was appointed to run the Siltcoos recreation area and was to be stationed at the lookout after Labor Day.3 A 1942 entry lists an activation on March 10 tied to the Eugene Filter Center, with no further detail.3

The Register and the Oregon Lookouts timeline date the tower's removal to 1959.2,3 firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year.1

The Register describes the site only as a former lookout, and no source we read says what remains there now or whether the public can reach it.2

  1. Siltcoos Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/siltcoos.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Siltcoos Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/siltcoos-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Siltcoos Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/siltcoos-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Siltcoos Lookout Site
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, 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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