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Fire lookout · Washington County, Oregon

South Saddle Mountain Lookout Site

Also known as Saddle Mtn.

Washington/Tillamook county line lookout: 1932 crow's nest, Tom Stevenson in 1930s, destroyed by 1933 fire, 40-ft tower 1947-1974; no current site description.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1974 per FFLOS, firelookout.com and weebly; the 1933 fire destroyed the earlier lookout

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 towerOriginally a 90-foot crow's nest with enclosed platform and shake cabin (1932); later a 40-foot pole L-4 tower (FFLOS) or 40-foot timber tower with 14x14 cab (weebly)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1932
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
3,460 ft (1,055 m)
Agency
Tillamook FPA (FFLOS register)
Land
Unknown
Location
Washington County, Oregon
Coordinates
45.54250, −123.38045 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-south-saddle-mountain

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 3.8 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. 1930 StaffedTom Stevenson in a lookout 90 feet above the ground; a cougar killed his dog at the foot of the tree (1930 event described in 1931 item)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 BuiltFFLOS dates the 90-foot crow's nest to 1932; a Tillamook district report records a log lookout house built that year; newspaper items show a lookout by 1930Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 DestroyedWilson River fire drove Stevenson from his post in August 1933; an August 26 report says the lookout was destroyed by fire. The FFLOS register does not mention thisSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1942 EventActivated March 10, 1942 and deactivated October 19, 1942 under the Portland Filter Center; a July 1942 memo recommended dropping it as an observation postSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1947 RebuiltFFLOS and firelookout.com: 40-foot pole L-4 tower replaced the crow's nest in 1947; weebly dates a tower to 1946 and a 40-foot timber tower completed in 1948Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1947 and 1974
  7. 1974 RemovedRemoved in 1974 per all three sourcesSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1974 and 2010
  9. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 15, 2010; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  10. 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 lookout on South Saddle Mountain stood near the line between Washington and Tillamook counties, in Oregon.1,2 The FFLOS register says a 90-foot crow's nest with an enclosed platform and a shake cabin went up in 1932.1 A 1932 district report also records a log lookout house built on Saddle Mountain that year.2

A July 1930 daily report from the lookout says a cougar killed a dog 40 feet from the lookout tower.2 An August 1931 item recalls that the year before, while Tom Stevenson was up in his lookout 90 feet above the ground, a cougar came to the foot of the tree and killed his dog.2 Both items place a lookout on the mountain before the 1932 date, so the 1932 date may not be the first lookout on the site.2

In August 1933 the Wilson River fire swept up the mountain and drove Stevenson from his post.2 An August 25 item said it was still unknown whether the lookout or the cabin had burned.2 A report dated August 26 says Stevenson reported the lookout destroyed by fire.2

The FFLOS register says a 40-foot pole L-4 tower replaced the crow's nest in 1947 and was removed in 1974.1 The weebly history dates the replacement differently, to a tower in 1946 and a 40-foot timber tower completed in 1948, and it also lists a smaller 18-foot tower built in 1944.2 Firelookout.com gives the 1947 replacement and the 1974 removal.3

A 1941 survey recovery note, quoted on the same weebly page, describes a tree topped with a platform about 90 feet up and an old brick chimney about 35 feet from the tree's base.2 That is a description from 1941. I found no source that describes what remains at the site since the 1974 removal, or whether it is open to visitors.

  1. South Saddle Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/south-saddle-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Saddle Mountain (South) - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/saddle-mountain-south.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Saddle Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/saddlesouth.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of South Saddle Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 750 m.

    • FFLOS: 45.54250, −123.38045
    • FFLA: 45.54804, −123.37490
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 45.54804, −123.37490

    They share a register number.

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

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: 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, 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

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