What’s a Re-Located Lookout?
Many fire lookouts that were no longer considered useful in fire detection were destroyed in place. Others, the Re-Located Lookouts, were moved to a new location where they were used for other purposes. Some of these, the Type 1 Re-Located LOs, were given or sold to towns or public museums to be displayed to the public. Others, the Type 2 Re-Located LOs, were sold to private lookout fans who moved them to their private property. Another few, the Type 3 Re-Located LOs, were moved to a second location where they continued to be used in fire detection. There were plans to move several others, but these moves failed. I called these failures the Type 4 Re-Locations. Each re-location involves two sites; 1) the Origin Site where it was used in fire detection and 2) the Re-Location Site it was moved to. In some cases the re-located LO was later destroyed.
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FRONT PAGE ~ VISITING WASHINGTON’S RE-LOCATED LOOKOUTS
While many of Washington’s Fire lookouts have been destroyed, there are some that were moved to new locations after they were no longer used for fire detection. Peggy and I are visiting these Re-Located Lookout Sites as well as the Origin Sites from which they were moved. Join us in a virtual tour of the re-located lookouts and their original sites by viewing some of the photos we took at the sites and reading some of the tall tales and history that we have discovered along the way. This web site is not meant to be a guide book and does not include descriptions of the routes to the different lookout sites. I have included a list of useful references and some of these can help you plan your own routes.
NO-LONGER-ACTIVE LOOKOUTS ~ BURN OR BURY THEM
Forest fire detection began in Washington in the early 1910s. Over time, there have been approximately 700 fire lookout sites in the State of Washington. Most of them had structures of some type. Beginning in the 1950s, many of these lookouts were being abandoned as other means such as aircraft were beginning to be used for fire detection. In the 1960s and 70s, orders came from higher up for the local managers of both federal and state forest lands to remove or destroy many of the remaining no-longer-active lookouts in order to remove the burden of maintenance and liability of owning these attractive nuisances.
The Top Brass said burn them.
ENDANGERED LOOKOUTS ~ LOOKOUT FANS RESPOND
A number of individuals and organizations stepped forward in an attempt to save some of Washington State’s endangered fire lookouts. In many cases, this required negotiating agreements with the local managers to take over partial or full responsibility of maintaining and managing lookouts. Others, recognizing that a new visitor to a lookout often became a voter for saving that lookout, contributed by publicizing the history and contributions that these lookouts provided or by leading hikers or other visitors to the endangered lookouts. A list of some of these contributors follows.
Dr. Fred Darvill was known as a pioneering example of the volunteerism that has rescued, restored and maintained historic lookouts. According to information included in a series of articles written by his daughter, Kari Darvill-Coates, he first visited the Park Butte Lookout in 1957 and Fred and his family’s love affair with lookouts began. In 1960, the Skagit Alpine Club (SAC) was formed with Fred the Founding President. The SAC website continues the history. “One of its first actions was to send members to visit four endangered Fire Lookouts and choose which to take responsibility for in order to save them from removal and burning. The Hidden Lake Lookout (HLLO) was “leased” from the Forest Service and an SAC Cabin/Lookout committee was appointed to oversee its use and maintenance. The Park Butte Lookout was still staffed, but the following year it also became available and was adopted by SAC……. the area grew more popular, it was decided it was better to leave both of the Lookouts open rather than keep repairing the doors that were continually broken into. The Lookouts then became public service projects of the SAC in cooperation with the Forest Service.” Fred’s special places were these two lookouts and he cared for and managed the care of them for almost 40 years.
A small group of “Friends of Hidden Lakes Lookout” was formed in 1971 to take over the upkeep of the Hidden Lake LO . This method of forming a “Friends of a Threatened Lookout” to help save a favorite threatened lookout is still used today. Usually a group of interested individuals get together and negotiate a Memo of Understanding with the land manager which defines the sharing of maintenance and management of the named lookout, or lookouts.
Some of the local forest land managers, believing that some of the threatened lookouts should be saved, assisted in the effort. When word came down in 1974 that the Stampede Pass Lookout was to be destroyed, Ken White and the crew at the USFS’s North Bend Ranger Station helped in the transfer of the ownership to the Highline Public School District for use in their conservation camp. He then helped convince the Army to move it by helicopter, as a free training exercise, to Highline’s Camp Waskowitz. Here students get a first- hand experience in the operation of a fire lookout.
Another example of a land manager’s contributions, is the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center (CBFIC) in Entiat. The CBFIC website explains: “ The interpretive center began with the desire to save an old Forest Service fire lookout by bringing it down from the mountains to an accessible spot along a well-traveled highway. In 1990, Nancy Belt, an assistant fire dispatcher for the Wenatchee National Forest, planted the seed for the project by earning a grant from the Forest Service to study the feasibility of the idea. As she gathered information and support for her proposal, the idea grew into a much broader dream. With time and exposure, a foundation was formed and the vision expanded to that of a world-class fire interpretive center that would interpret the ecological role of fire and showcase the interactions of people with fire.” There are now three re-located lookouts, interpretive trails and exhibits at the CBFIC.
Ray Kresek is another pioneer and life-time contributor to the battle to save threatened lookouts and educate the public in the history of and need to save them. Beginning at the age of three, his father who was an SDF (now DNR) radio technician, took Ray with him to visit lookouts needing radio repairs. He has been an avid and active lookout fanatic the rest of his life. He spent two summers staffing and several hitches volunteering on lookouts and is a long-time active member of the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA). In 1967, Ray founded the Historic Lookout Project which led to his Fire Lookout Museum. He has contributed to the preservation and restoration of many abandoned lookouts.
A major contribution to the battle to save threatened lookouts was the publication of Ray’s book FIRE LOOKOUTS OF THE NORTHWEST. This book contains many lookout tales collected by Ray as well as a list of over 3000 present and past lookouts in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. These listings included information about the location and history of the lookouts at each site. This book became the “go-to” authority for all interested in visiting lookouts. His book is now out of print, but Ray has periodically published an updated LOOKOUT INVENTORY and his 2015 revision listed 682 sites in Washington.
In a recent email, Ray described the writing of his book: “The book came as a result of being on sick leave from the Spokane Fire Dept for many months back in the early 1980s. My body wasn’t able, but my mind was. My wife Rita suggested one day… Why don’t you write that book about lookouts you’ve always talked about? I had taken notes for 30 years. It was a good time to put them all together, get on the old typewriter, and the stories all poured in. Dave Bula gave me a copy of his LO inventory he put together while in the Navy. I spent many days studying USGS topo maps at the regional USGS library in downtown Spokane. I had a collection of old maps from every national forest in the NW. And we visited about all 250 ranger stations in the four states.” Ray self-published and marketed the book through his Historic Lookout Project after being turned down by six publishers. The first edition was published in 1984 with the third edition out in 1998. The book is now out of print since Ray “got really tired of hauling 250,000 pounds down my basement stairs and back up again: going to the UPS and USPS with 10,000 books.”
In 1990, a handful of folks gathered in Pennsylvania to discuss fire towers. They agreed that here was enough interest to form a national organization whose purpose would be “historical preservation” of fire lookouts. This led to the founding of the Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) which became one of the major contributors to the saving of endangered fire lookouts throughout the nation. By May 1991, the FFLA had organizations in 14 states with a director from Idaho and one from Oregon with the Oregon one also representing Washington. The number of states represented had grown to 21 by early 1993 and Ray Kresek became Washington’s first director in that year. The FFLA has grown to be a federally recognized national organization with representative groups in more than 40 states. In 2009, it was announced that the FFLA had members in all 50 states.
The FFLA’s Mission Statement and Overview summarizes the FFLA’s purpose. Mission: The Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA), founded in 1990, is an organization involved in research of current and former forest fire lookout sites, ground cabins and early forest fire detection methods. It promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of Lookouts. Overview: The organization encourages efforts of public groups and others in the restoration of forest fire lookouts. Some lookout projects are undertaken by chapters of the organization itself. Many of which include the organizing of lookout restorations and providing grants for lookout projects. FFLA members are often physically involved in lookout restorations or movements.
When I mentioned to Ray Kresek that I was planning to write about some of the “Heroes” in the battle to save Washington’s threatened lookouts, he named three long-active FFLA members from out of state. He said that among those who had fought hardest to save LOs are Gary Weber (the Idaho FFLA director), Howard Verschoor (longtime Oregon FFLA Director) and Keith Argow (Current FFLA National Chairman from Virginia). Others who have been active in the FFLA’s volunteer effort to save, maintain and move Washington’s threatened lookouts include Ron Johnson, Forrest Clark, Dave Bulla, Rod Fosback, Dick Morrison, and Rick Eades.
Another program was begun in the early 1990s to help save some of the threatened lookouts. The US Forest Service initiated the “Recreation Cabin Program” as a means to help raise funds for the maintenance of no-longer-active lookouts and cabins. These existing structures were renovated and made available for rental as vacation cabins. Ray Kresek told us that “I remember when some goofball stood up at an FFLA conference and suggested renting USFS lookouts to people wanting a different experience. We about laughed him outa’ the room. Who would pay to sleep in a lookout?! Wow, were we wrong!” This was tried in Idaho and Montana and by 1993 more than 50 cabins and lookouts were available for rent. There are now lookouts for rent in Washington.
Keith Argow wrote in the Winter 2004 issue of the FFLA’s LOOKOUT NETWORK: “One of the fastest growing developments is the Lookout Rental Programs through the west. These cabin rentals offer wonderful opportunities for people to enjoy and appreciate the historic heritage of the lookouts. At the same time, we are finding that for many of the renters, this is their first experience with lookouts. Many come away wanting more. We have a wonderful opportunity here, working with our partners on the U.S. Forest Service to get more people involved.”
Several other groups took on the task of helping restore and manage abandoned lookouts in the 1990s. The Everett Branch of the Seattle Mountaineers is one of these. A report in the November, 1994 issue of the FFLA’s newsletter, LOOKOUT NETWORK, told of five lookout restoration projects that the Everett Branch of the Seattle Mountaineers was involved in. This included the Mt. Pilchuck, the Three Fingers, the Miners Ridge, the Heybrook and the Hidden Lake Peak Lookouts. In addition the Bellingham Branch of the Seattle Mountaineers took joint responsibility for the Lookout Mt. Lookout near Darrington in 1995. The Mountaineers also helped recruit new Lookout Fans by leading hikes to lookouts and lookout sites. Both the Everett and Olympia Branches established lookout site awards.
Another major contributor to the recruitment of additional Lookout Visitors, and potential warriors in the battle to save endangered lookouts, is the website willhiteweb.com which is maintained by Eric Willhite. While Ray Kresek’s FIRE LOOKOUTS OF THE NORTHWEST lists the Section that each lookout site is located in, it does not include details of the route to the site. In addition, since Ray’s book is out of print and a new potential lookout fan probably does not have access to all of the maps that Ray used, this website fills this gap. Eric includes trip reports of each of the lookout sites that Eric has visited in his website. The report includes history, photos of the trip and site as well as maps and driving and hiking directions to the site. Eric writes that his outdoor experiences began by camping at age five and it grew from there. He was into peak bagging by age sixteen and has now climbed over 550 peaks in Washington, 400 in Utah and another 100 throughout the rest of the U.S. He added Fire Lookout Chasing to his Peak Bagging and set the goal of visiting all of the sites in the Ray Kresek Lookout Inventory List as well as other sites that had been considered and sites that were rumored to exist. As he and others research the history of some of these sites, more have been found and added to the list. The number of sites on his expanded list is well over 700.
Craig Willis, another hiker/Peak Bagger turned Lookout Chaser, made another contribution to the recruitment of new Lookout Visitors and potential warriors in the battle to save endangered lookouts. An article appeared in the September 26th, 2014 edition of the Everett Herald titled “Everett hiker hopes his journey encourages others to visit fire lookouts”. This article was later published in the Vancouver Columbian and a similar article was included in the Autumn, 2014 edition of the FFLA’s LOOKOUT NETWORK. In these articles Craig described the recent completion of his seven-year quest to visit all of the remaining Standing Lookouts in the State. The articles contained a list of the 93 sites he had visited. While there has been some disagreement over some of the entries on the list, including the definition of a lookout, it would be hard to disagree with Craig’s stated purpose of the articles and the impact that they had in recruiting new Lookout Enthusiasts. Craig is quoted in the articles: “I’m a firm believer people are willing to save what they understand,” he said. “I think people are more willing to save lookouts if they have seen them and care about them. I strongly believe that once people go to these lookouts and the more that they go to, the more they will want to go to them. And they will realize that they are historic, and once they’re gone, they’re gone… Each lookout has its own appeal. Just like the mountains in Washington, you need to enjoy it in entirety, you need to enjoy the variety of them. Ultimately by completing this list, my goal is to bring more awareness to lookouts and hopefully get more people interested in visiting them. And once they do, hopefully they’ll want to join efforts to preserve them, and maybe we won’t be losing lookout towers and sites at such an alarming rate.”
Craig’s published list of 93 soon became known as the SLOW93 Challenge (Standing Lookout Of Washington) and many new, and old, Lookout Enthusiasts have made it their goal to visit all of the sites on this list. Some of these new Enthusiasts have become volunteers on lookout maintenance projects.
The photos in two websites documenting Washington State Fire Lookouts are so outstanding that anyone browsing through them who was not already bitten by the Lookout Enthusiast bug would become one and want to visit the sites shown. The first site, tammyslookouts.com , includes photos taken and reports of over 25 years of lookout visiting by Tammy McLeod. Tammy has long been active in the FFLA . (Read Tammy’s article Twenty Five Years of Lookout Hunting in the December 2021 issue of FFLA’s Lookout Network for more about her history of Lookout Chasing and FFLA service.)
The second site, trailchick.com, includes Christine Estrada’s photos and reports of 20 years of her lookout visits and other outdoor activity. Chris volunteers in many lookout maintenance projects. She includes the description in her web site: “ A huge fire lookout fan, I’ve visited every standing fire lookout in Washington State, continue to visit former lookout sites, and currently staff the Goat Peak fire lookout near my home in the Methow Valley of Washington.”
The section above covers only a small look at the activity, people and organizations that have been, and still are, engaged in the battle to save endangered fire lookouts in Washington. (I have missed listing many deserving names and this omission or any errors are strictly my fault. I apologize for any that you find.)
As noted earlier, a number of “Friends of Your Favorite Threatened Lookout” organizations have been formed to help maintain and manage various endangered lookouts. In addition, there are many volunteer opportunities to staff fire lookouts and to work on lookout maintenance projects in the state. A good way to be connected to these activities and to learn more about the current lookout fan activity is to join the Facebook Private Group Fire Lookouts of Washington|Facebook. (Fire Lookouts of Washington is a group for people to share and post information about events, hikes, statuses, or other issues related to the fire lookout towers, cabins, sites, and lookout personnel found in Washington state.)
Membership in the FFLA is also another way to learn of lookout events and projects. Information about joining is available on firelookout.org and look for Membership.
LOOKOUT DISPOSITION AND THE FFLA
There are various reasons that not all threatened fire lookouts could be saved on their original sites. In some of these cases the lookout structure, or part of it, could be moved to another location for one purpose or another. In 2004, the FFLA began discussing what the organization’s policy should be on the disposition of fire lookout structures. It appears that some felt that the re-location was better than complete destruction and that priority should be give to moves to museums or fairgrounds where the public could see it and have some idea of its history and usage. Others seem to feel that any move into a non-forested environment was not satisfactory. Others worried about the ease of getting rid of them once they had been moved and no organization was looking after them anymore. Dave Bula, who was then the FFLA Western Deputy Chairman, was given the assignment to draft an official FFLA position. The resulting policy statement was adopted at a FFLA Board Meeting in January, 2005.
FFLA Lookout Disposition Policy ~ From page 7 of the Winter, 2005 FFLA LOOKOUT NETWORK
“The best use for a lookout is to continue to detect fires from its original location. The worst case scenario is the destruction of any of the remaining fire lookouts. However, many, if not most, fire lookouts are not being utilized and are systematically being destroyed, dismantled and left to vandals and decay. The FFLA agrees that in order to have any chance of long-term survival, a fire lookout must be regularly maintained and used. The more a lookout is occupied by people, the less it will be vandalized. And without maintenance, weather will continue to take its toll on all lookouts over time. It defeats the purpose to restore them without purpose, as they will again deteriorate. Many fire lookouts are not located on publicly owned land and in many cases, agencies that operated these lookouts only had leases with easements for access that called for the removal of the lookout from private property once use has ceased. Without agency accountability, these lookouts have even less of a chance to survive. With these thoughts in mind, the FFLA presents these options for the disposition of the remaining fire lookouts (in order of preference):
1. Keep in place – Staff the lookout for fire detection by traditional means with a paid employees
2. Keep in place – Staff the lookout for fire detection by non-traditional means (i.e. using a volunteer group, contractors, lease agreement, etc.)
3. Keep in place – Find a non-traditional method to maintain the facility for non-traditional purposes (i.e. recreation rental, wildlife observations, interpretation, housing electronic equipment, etc.)
4. Keep in place – Transfer ownership from agency to private organization or group who agree to operate and maintain the lookout for some ongoing purpose of its own.
5. Keep in place – Sell or lease to an individual who would continue to use and maintain the facility for his own purposes, but not be allowed to remove the lookout.
6. Move entire lookout to a suitable public site where it would continue to be used and regularly maintained.
7. Sell lookout to private bidder contingent upon their agreement to rebuild the lookout on some other property, including their own private property.
8. Move a part of the lookout facility to a suitable public site (i.e. leave a ground cabin, move the tower).
We do not consider the destroying of any lookout an option. However, if a lookout is dismantled for destruction, an effort should be made to salvage the lookout for parts to be used to repair or restore other fire lookouts.”
The FFLA policy includes eight disposition options in descending priority order. (nine, if the options of salvaging parts from a destroyed lookout is included). Only the last four cover Re-Located Lookouts as the first five call for keeping the lookout in place.
RE-LOCATED LOOKOUTS OF WASHINGTON.
Peggy and I “joined” the growing band of lookout fans visiting both the Standing Lookouts and abandoned Lookout Sites with no remaining structures. While many of the abandoned lookouts had been dismantled or burned in place, some of them had been moved to new locations where they continued to be used for fire detection. Others were sold or donated to other public agencies or private individuals who were usually responsible for moving them. Many of these Re-Located Lookouts are still in place at their new location and some could still be visited. We had found another class of lookout sites to visit, the Re-Located Lookouts of Washington. As we began to visit these and research their history, we found that other lookout fans were ahead of us. Eric Willhite, Lawrence Kuracina, Tammy McLeod, Leslie Romer, Christine Estrada and others have also reported on their visits to Re-Located LO Sites.
I put together a working list of Washington’s Re-Located LOs. This resulting list included both the Origin Site , the original lookout site, and the site that it was moved to, the Re-Location Site. The information being used for this list started with Ray Kresek’s Fire Lookouts of the Northwest along with his 2015 Revision to the Lookout Inventory along with Rex Kamstra’s associated firelookout.com website. Other information came from FFLA’s firelookout.org website. Information about additional entries were provided by Eric Willhite, Rex Kamstra, Leslie Romer and others.
My current list includes more than 50 entries. While there is a wide variation in the location and status of the moved lookouts, I have divided them into four categories: TYPE 1) lookouts that went to public museums or other public exhibits (this is similar to the FFLA’s options 5 and 7 in their disposition policy); TYPE 2) lookouts sold to private individuals (similar to FFLA’s option 6); TYPE 3) lookouts moved to other lookout sites or have been used for other fire detection/fighting purposes; and TYPE 4) failed re-locations. The display, use and condition of these Re-Located Lookouts ranges from the display of the Monumental Mountain Lookout that Rod Fosback carefully moved it to his own woodland and then restored it so that, as the FFLA website writes, the renamed Fosback Lookout is again ready for staffing, should fire conditions warrant, as a volunteer service to the community by the Fosback family. On the other extreme are several lookout structures that are now being used as storage sheds. In a few cases, such as the Chewelah Mountain Lookout, both the tower and the cab were moved and are now displayed together. In many other cases, only the cab was moved and is now being displayed as a ground cab or on a short tower built for its display. In several cases, only material, such as boards, timbers, glass and hardware have been salvaged and moved to be used in the restoration of other moved lookouts. There are at least 8 of the re-located lookout entries that have questions about their current existence or location.
None of the 4 TYPEs defined above are the same as the options spelled out in the FFLA’s Disposition Policy, but TYPE 1 is closest to the FFLA’s options 5 and 7 and TYPE 2 is closest to option 6.
Some of the re-located lookouts and abandoned sites are on private property and either require purchasing permits or asking permission to visit.
This web site is not meant to be a guide book and does not include descriptions of the routes to the different lookout sites. I have included a list of useful References and some of these can help you plan your own routes. Try www.willhiteweb.com for route suggestions.
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