FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Douglas County, Oregon

Umpqua Hot Spring

Umpqua National Forest L-4 ground cabin planned in a 1932 news item and built that year; a 1942 lookout ranger is reported, it was abandoned in 1965, and it is listed as gone.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. firelookout.com and the Oregon lookout list both mark it gone; no source describes what remains

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 cab14 x 14 L-4 ground cabin (no unit given in the source)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1932
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Umpqua National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Douglas County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.30207, −122.36368 sources disagree
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-umpqua-hot-spring

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 3.8 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. 1932 Built14 x 14 L-4 ground cabin constructed; a July 1932 news item had planned one at Umpqua hot springsSources: oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1942 StaffedAlan Knudtson, son of a local jeweler, reported as lookout ranger for the summerSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1942 and 1965
  4. 1965 Abandonedfirelookout.com gives 1965 as the abandonment yearSource: firelookout.com
  5. 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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

In July 1932 the Roseburg News-Review reported that nine new lookout houses were to be built at an estimated cost of $5,300, and that one would go at Umpqua Hot Springs in the upper meadows district.1 The Forest Lookouts timeline records a 14 x 14 L-4 ground cabin constructed there that year.1,2

A July 28, 1942 item in the same paper named Alan Knudtson, son of a local jeweler, as that summer's ranger on the lookout.1

Firelookout.com gives the abandonment as 1965 and calls the site gone.2 The Oregon lookout list also marks it as a ground lookout that is gone.3 The Forest Lookouts page ends with a single bare word, "Removed," with no date or method attached.1

No source we read describes what remains at the site today, or whether the spot is open to visitors.1,2,3

  1. Umpqua Hot Springs, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/umpqua-hot-springs.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Umpqua Hot Spring Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/or/umpquahotspring.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Oregon Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/or/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

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 1.4 km (0.9 mi).

    • FFLA: 43.30207, −122.36368
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 43.30530, −122.34660

    The map uses the position from FFLA.

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. 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
  3. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: what it is built of, design, agency, ownership, 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
  4. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, 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

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