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Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Twin Lakes Lookout Site

Douglas County, Oregon, Umpqua NF lookout: early-1920s platform, 14-foot tower in 1930, removed in the 1960s or 1970s. 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
Cab on a tower14-foot wooden L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1922
Height
14 ft (4.3 m)
Elevation
5,879 ft (1,792 m)
Agency
U.S.Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.22099, −122.59918
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-twin-lakes

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. 1922 BuiltCrow's nest platform and Adirondack shelter in the early 1920s (register). Forest Lookouts dates a five-post, 12-foot platform to c.1922.Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1927 StaffedHarold Church named as a lookout stationed at Twin LakesSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1930 Replaced by a new structure14-foot tower (register, firelookout.com). Forest Lookouts' July 1930 item describes a new tower of poles cut on the ground.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1938 EventForest Lookouts lists a 15-foot tower with a gable-roofed cab, about 1938. No source says whether it replaced the 1930 tower.Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1938 StaffedLookout crew at the station, per a July 1938 supply flight itemSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1938 and 1962
  7. 1962 RemovedForest Lookouts gives 1962Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1970 RemovedRegister and firelookout.com say removed or destroyed in the 1970s. The year 1970 stands for the decade only.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1970 and 2011
  10. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: April 21, 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.

Twin Lakes was a lookout on the Umpqua National Forest in Douglas County, Oregon.1,2

The register describes a rough crow's nest platform with an Adirondack shelter from the early 1920s.3 Forest Lookouts describes a different early set-up: five wood posts with a 12-foot platform, around 1922.2

The register and firelookout.com both put a 14-foot tower on the site in 1930, and firelookout.com calls it an L-4 tower.3,1 A July 1930 item quoted by Forest Lookouts described a new tower of poles cut on the ground.2 The same page gives a 15-foot tower with a gable-roofed cab for about 1938, so the sources do not agree on the tower's height or date.2

An August 1927 item quoted by Forest Lookouts named Harold Church as a Twin Lakes lookout.2 In July 1938 a supply plane passed low enough over the station that the faces of its lookout crew could be seen.2

The register dates the tower's removal to the 1970s.3 firelookout.com says it was destroyed during the 1970s.1 Forest Lookouts gives 1962 as the year it was removed.2 The dates disagree by roughly a decade.3,1,2

Nothing I read describes what remains at the site today, or whether the public can reach it.3,1,2

  1. Twin Lakes Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/twinlakes.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Twin Lakes, Forest Lookouts (oregonlookouts.weebly.com), https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/twin-lakes.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Twin Lakes Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/twin-lakes-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Twin Lakes 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, 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: 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, 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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