FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Jackson County, Oregon

Stein Butte Lookout Site

Rogue River NF lookout site: a 10x10 L-5 cab built in 1936 was removed or destroyed in 1968; a marker and rectangular foundation remain on the summit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed or destroyed in 1968; Oregon Hikers reports a rectangular foundation and a marker remain

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. Oregon Hikers describes a trail up to the summit marker; the sources mention no closure or permit

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No tower stands; the Stein Butte Trail leads to the summit

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab10x10 L-5 lookout cabinThe design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,400 ft (1,341 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Rogue River National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Jackson County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.01596, −123.10198
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-stein-butte

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 3.6 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. 1934 EventPanorama photographs taken, per the Oregon Lookouts historySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1936 Built10x10 L-5 cab; the register places it on a minor point about a mile west-northwest of the summitSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1937 EventTen dollars spent on water development, per the Oregon Lookouts historySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1937 and 1968
  5. 1968 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com and Oregon Lookouts say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1968 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.

Stein Butte rises to about 4,400 feet in the Rogue River National Forest, in Jackson County, Oregon.1 Panorama photographs were taken there in May 1934.2 A 10-by-10 L-5 lookout cabin went up in 1936.3,2 The register places it on a minor point about a mile west-northwest of the summit.1

A 1937 entry in the Oregon Lookouts history records ten dollars spent on water development.2 The cabin came to an end in 1968.1,3,2 The register says it was removed, while firelookout.com and Oregon Lookouts say it was destroyed.1,3,2

Oregon Hikers describes a large marker on the summit that marks the cabin's life from 1936 to 1968, and says a rectangular foundation remains.4 That puts the marker on the summit rather than on the point the register names, so the sources disagree about where the cabin stood.1,4 Visitors can reach the summit on the Stein Butte Trail, and Oregon Hikers says the summit has views of the Siskiyou peaks and Applegate Lake.4 There is no tower to climb.1,3

  1. Stein Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/stein-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Stein Butte - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/stein-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Stein Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/steinbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Stein Butte, Oregon Hikers field guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Stein_Butte (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Stein Butte Lookout 1936 - 1968
Stein Butte Lookout 1936 - 1968 (1936)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Stein Butte Lookout site 2007
Stein Butte 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, 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: what it is built of, 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

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