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Fire lookout · Linn County, Oregon

Snow Peak (Thomas Cairn) Lookout Site

Also known as Snow Peak

Cleveland Rock or Snow Peak lookout, Linn County: cabin 1923, rebuilt 1965, dismantled April 1980. No source describes the summit today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Lookout dismantled in April 1980; no source describes what remains.

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
Trail
Wikipedia lists a trail as the easiest route; road access to the summit is primitive

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabSummit cabin; the 1965 rebuild is called an L-4 cab (register) or a 14 by 14 ft building (district report)The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1923
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,298 ft (1,310 m)
Agency
Linn FPA
Land
Unknown
Location
Linn County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.63084, −122.58262
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-snow-peak-thomas-cairn

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 3.7 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. 1912 EventTelephone line and lookout station on Cleveland Rock (August 4, 1912 item); register dates an alidade to 1912Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1923 BuiltLookout house built on the summitSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1928 StaffedAlbert Simons stationed as summer fire wardenSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1929 AlteredCupola cabin added; small house bolted down to the rockSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1930 StaffedAlbert V. Simons spends the summer as lookout wardenSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1934 StaffedAlbert Simons to serve as lookout for the Forest ServiceSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1948 FireRoof fire on John Reuland's last day of the season; large hole burned in roof, windows brokenSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, en.wikipedia.org
  8. 1962 EventColumbus Day storm damaged the lookout (October 12, 1962)Sources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, en.wikipedia.org
  9. 1965 Replaced by a new structureNew 14 by 14 ft building at a total cost of $3,499.83 (Linn District Annual Report); register calls it an L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, en.wikipedia.org
  10. 1978 EventWindows and casings destroyed, cabin floor burned, graffiti on wallsSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1980 RemovedDismantled in April 1980 after neglect and vandalism; register says removed; firelookout.com says destroyed; Oregon lookout history and Wikipedia say dismantledSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, en.wikipedia.org
  12. No record between 1980 and 2011
  13. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: May 13, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  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 summit is called Cleveland Rock in the early newspapers and Snow Peak in the lookout records.1,2,3 A lookout station was on the rock by 1912, when the local association had strung about 40 miles of telephone line to its stations, and Cleveland Rock was one of three.2 A lookout house was built in 1923.1,2 The register calls the 1929 addition a cupola cabin. A 1929 newspaper item said a small house being built on top of the rock would have to be bolted down so it would not be blown away.1,2

Albert Simons served at the station in several summers, as fire warden or lookout, including 1928, 1930 and 1934.2 In 1948 John Reuland was the lookout all summer.2 On September 16, 1948, his last day, he found the roof on fire after trash had burned in the stove. He ran down to a spring for water and put the fire out, but a large hole had burned in the roof and the heat had broken the windows.2,3

Winds from the Columbus Day storm damaged the lookout in October 1962.2,3 In 1965 a new 14-by-14-foot building was built to replace it, at a total cost of $3,499.83, according to the district's annual report.2,3 The register calls that 1965 structure an L-4 cab and notes that it may have been altered during construction.1

By 1978 the windows and casings had been destroyed and a hole had been burned in the cabin floor; graffiti marked the remaining walls.2 The lookout was dismantled in April 1980 after long neglect and vandalism.3,2 The register says it was removed that year, firelookout.com says it was destroyed, and the Oregon lookout history and Wikipedia say it was dismantled.1,4,2,3

Wikipedia describes the summit as undeveloped, with only primitive road access, and lists a trail as its easiest route.3 No source I read describes what remains on the summit now.

  1. Snow Peak (Thomas Cairn) Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/snow-peak-thomas-cairn-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Snow Peak, Forest Lookouts (Oregon), oregonlookouts.weebly.com, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/snow-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Snow Peak (Oregon), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Peak_(Oregon) (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Snow Peak (Thomas Cairn) Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/snowpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Snow Peak (Thomas Cairn) Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1964
1964 (1964)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: 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, 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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