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Fire lookout · Josephine County, Oregon

Steve Peak Lookout Site

Rogue River NF lookout on Steve Peak: a fire destroyed the station in 1918, a 12x12 cab followed in 1919, and the L-5 tower was removed in 1968.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. L-5 tower removed in 1968 (firelookout.com says destroyed); the register lists it among former lookout sites

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 tower12x12 cab (1919), later a 20-foot pole L-5 towerThe design: L-5
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1919
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,866 ft (1,788 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Rogue River National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Josephine County, Oregon
Coordinates
42.07139, −123.25704
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-steve-peak

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. 1913 EventDistrict fire plan proposed a lookoutman on Steve's Peak and a spur line to its top; a plan only, not confirmed as builtSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1916 StaffedObserver's camp with a call bell; the observer could be called to the phone when not on topSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1918 DestroyedFire reached the lookout station just after Dr. Barker left, destroying it and its contents (Medford Mail Tribune)Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1918 StaffedDr. Barker, a retired Jacksonville physician, was the lookout when the fire came in AugustSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1919 Built12x12 cab, per the register and firelookout.comSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  6. 1933 EventCamp Applegate CCC crews started work on the lookout in September; the register dates the 20-foot L-5 tower only to the 1930sSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1933 and 1968
  8. 1968 RemovedL-5 tower removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1968 and 2011
  10. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: March 30, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  11. 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.

Steve Peak rises to 5,866 feet in the Rogue River National Forest, in Josephine County, Oregon.1 A 1913 district fire plan proposed a lookoutman on the peak and a spur line to its top, but a plan alone does not show that either was built.2 By 1916 an observer was posted there.2 A call bell was set up at the observer's camp, so he could be phoned in an emergency whenever he was off the summit.2

In August 1918 a fast-moving fire reached the lookout station on the peak.2 A Medford newspaper reported that the lookout, a retired Jacksonville physician named Dr. Barker, barely escaped, and that the flames destroyed the station and everything in it.2

The Forest Fire Lookout Association register dates a 12-by-12 cab to 1919 and says a 20-foot pole L-5 tower replaced it in the 1930s.1,3 Neither that register nor the newspaper says whether the 1919 cab replaced the station that burned in 1918.1,2 A September 1933 item from the same paper says Camp Applegate CCC crews started work on the lookout, without saying which structure.2 The tower was removed in 1968, though firelookout.com says it was destroyed.1,3

The sources spell the name several ways, including Steve's, Steves and Stevens Peak.2 The register lists the site as a former lookout, and no source I found describes what, if anything, remains on the summit today.1

  1. Steve Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/steve-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Steves Peak - Forest Lookouts, Oregon Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/steves-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Steve Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/stevepeak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Steve Peak Lookout 1930's - 1968
Steve Peak Lookout 1930's - 1968 (1930)Photo: Howard Verschoor collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Steve Peak Lookout panoramic 7-12-1933
Steve Peak Lookout panoramic 7-12-1933 (1933)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Steve Peak Lookout site 2007
Steve Peak Lookout site 2007 (2007)Photo: Howard Verschoor, via 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, 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: 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

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