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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Smith Ridge Lookout Site

Smith Ridge L-4 lookout, Umpqua NF: dated 1936 or 1942 by different sources, gone after 1967. A Forest Service trail climbs to the site.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Lookout gone after 1967 (sources say removed or destroyed); the site is reached on foot.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Forest Service trail to the site; parking is a small turnout at the end of Forest Road 2813

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Smith Ridge Trail #1561 climbs steeply to the site; expect snow from mid-to-late fall through early-to-mid spring

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab on a short pole towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,165 ft (1,270 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.10490, −122.87559
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-smith-ridge

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 3.5 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

  1. 1936 Built8-foot pole L-4 tower (register and firelookout.com)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1942 BuiltL-4 cab built atop a short tower, enclosed to create a storage area (Forest Lookouts history)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1942 and 1962
  4. 1962 StaffedCollege students stationed at Umpqua lookout posts that summer (News-Review, August 4, 1962); Smith Ridge listedSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1967 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  6. No record between 1967 and 2011
  7. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: March 30, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  8. 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.

Smith Ridge stands at 4,165 feet in Douglas County, in the Umpqua National Forest, about 28 miles northeast of Canyonville.1,2

The register dates the tower here to 1936, an 8-foot pole L-4 tower, and says it was removed in 1967.1 Firelookout.com gives the same year and says the tower was destroyed.2 The Forest Lookouts history page dates an L-4 cab on a short tower to 1942, and says the tower was enclosed to create a storage area.3 These sources disagree on the first date, and on whether the 1967 loss was a removal or a destruction.1,2,3

In August 1962 a News-Review item listed Smith Ridge among the Umpqua lookout posts manned that summer by college students.3

Today the site is reached by the Forest Service's Smith Ridge Trail, number 1561.4 The trail climbs steeply to the former lookout site, where the lookout itself no longer stands. From there the views take in the Dumont Creek and Straight Creek drainages.4 To reach the trailhead, drive about eight miles on Forest Road 2813; parking is limited to a small turnout.4 The trail can stay snow-covered from late fall into early or mid spring.4

  1. Smith Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/smith-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Smith Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/smithridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Smith Ridge, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), oregonlookouts.weebly.com, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/smith-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Smith Ridge Trail, USDA Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/umpqua/recreation/trails/smith-ridge-trail (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Smith Ridge Lookout 1942
Smith Ridge Lookout 1942 (1942)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Smith Ridge Lookout site 2007
Smith Ridge Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

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, 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, access, 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

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