FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Linn County, Oregon

Twin Butte Lookout Site

Linn County, Oregon, Willamette NF lookout: camp in the 1920s, L-4 cab in 1932, removed in 1986. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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
Ground-level cabL-4 cab that replaced an early camp with an alidadeThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1923
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,312 ft (1,619 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Linn County, Oregon
Coordinates
44.33075, −122.25267
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-twin-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 3.9 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. 1923 BuiltCamp with an alidade set up (register). ORWW dates the lookout's establishment to 1920.Sources: firetower.org, orww.org
  2. 1932 Replaced by a new structureL-4 cab replaced the camp (register). firelookout.com lists an L-4 cab in 1932 after a 1923 camp. Forest Lookouts dates a gable-roofed R-1 type house to c.1931.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1939 StaffedAlvin Sorseth named as lookout fireman in a July 1939 itemSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1941 StaffedLeo Welch stationed at the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1947 StaffedJohn Miller at the station; a bear got into the foodSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1947 and 1986
  7. 1986 RemovedRegister, ORWW and Forest Lookouts say removed; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1986 and 2011
  9. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: May 14, 2011Source: FFLOS register entry
  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.

Twin Butte was a lookout in Linn County, Oregon, inside the Willamette National Forest.1,2 The register says the U.S. Forest Service administered it.1

Sources do not agree on when the first lookout went up.1,3 The Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project says it was established in 1920.3 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register dates a camp equipped with an alidade to 1923.1 A 1920s item quoted by Forest Lookouts mentions a fire-finder set on a stump.4

The register says an L-4 cab replaced the early camp in 1932.1 Likewise, firelookout.com lists an L-4 cab in 1932, after a 1923 camp.2 Forest Lookouts instead dates a house of R-1 type, with a gable roof, to about 1931.4

A July 1939 newspaper item, quoted by Forest Lookouts, named Alvin Sorseth as the lookout fireman.4 The item put the station 13 miles by trail, and six by road, from the ranger station.4 That item gave the elevation as 5,942 feet, while the register gives 5,312 feet (1,619 m).4,1

Later items name Leo Welch in 1941 and John Miller in 1947.4 In 1947 a bear got in through the door and took much of the stored food, so a new supply had to be ordered in.4

The register and the Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project both say the lookout was removed in 1986.1,3 firelookout.com says it was destroyed that year, and Forest Lookouts lists it as removed in 1986.2,4

No source I read describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether the public can reach it.1,2,4,3

  1. Twin Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/twin-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Twin Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/twinbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Twin Buttes Lookout, The Osbornes Project, Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project (orww.org), http://www.orww.org/Osbornes_Project/Linn/Twin_Buttes.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Twin Buttes, Forest Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/twin-buttes.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Twin Butte Lookout Site
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, 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, agency, 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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