Lookout Site Regions: ORIGIN SITES ~ WA Coast
The DNR Cab of the third (and last) of the Deming Lookouts was moved to Forks where it is displayed on a shorter tower at the Forks Timber Museum. Two “Lookout Legends” indicate that the story behind the lookout at the Forks Timber Museum is more complicated than this. Several sources indicate that two other lookouts had been chosen for the Forks Museum Deming’s. Apparently both the Octopus Mountain Lookout and the Sekiu Lookout were destroyed as they were being prepared for the move to Forks.
Legend #1: The Mount Octopus Lookout was apparently the first one selected to be moved to Forks. This 40’ DNR tower, which had been abandoned in 1974, was only 25 miles by road from Forks and would have been an easy move. Mark Drovdahl, who had staffed the Sekiu Mountain Lookout in 1975, told of visiting the Forks Museum in the 1990s in an article titled Memories of a Forest Fire Lookout was published in the June 18, 2015 Forks Forum. He included the following story which he heard from the desk attendant at the museum in his article. “There was another tower just south of the Hoh on Mount Octopus. Not far from the Olympic Corrections Center (We knew it as the Clearwater Honor Camp). In the 1970s the Clearwater Honor Camp closed and was operated by the DNR as a fire base. ………. In the eighties the prison was re-opened so that was the end of the summer fire crews stationed up there. We would see Mount Octopus from the road and the tower standing tall at the top. When the talks about a timber museum began, I’m sure the directors/volunteers knew a lookout tower would be a great exhibit. She told us the intended tower at Mount Octopus was carefully dropped to the ground by the convicts and after they left for the day smoke was seen on the mountain — by the time anyone made it back to the top, that lookout was destroyed. I’m sure a it was a spectacular sight from the corrections center watching the flames light up the night sky.”
The Forks Museum still wanted to display a lookout so another one had to be found.
Legend #2, Part 1: The Sekiu Mountain Lookout was the second one to be chosen to move to Forks. This 40’ DNR Tower was no longer being used and was also close to Forks and this would also have been an easy move. The Forks Museum desk attendant apparently told Mark Drovdahl that the Forks Museum lookout was from Sekiu Mountain. Mark was quoted in the June 18, 2015 Forks Forum article: “Not sure who was contracted to get the Sekiu Mount lookout to the ground and set up in Forks, but guessing probably not the same cons from the Olympic C.C. What a great story to hear, as I didn’t realize that the lookout tower just outside was the same one that I had spent time in as a younger man. As the Mount Octopus tower was not manned in the years I lived in Forks, it was a better feeling for me to have the last manned lookout tower from the West End as the survivor on display. ………I still selfishly thank the cons who “carefully prepped” the Mount Octopus tower.”
A follow-up article in the June 26, 2015 Forks Forum provided ‘information on the true identity” of the Forks Museum Lookout. This later article stated: “Originally, the Sekiu Mountain lookout was scheduled to be put up at the Forks museum but because of some misunderstood directions it was accidentally destroyed. The lookout had been determined no longer useable so was offered to the museum. It was blasted down by dynamite in such a manner as to save the lookout building. A remarkable job to blast the tower down but save the building. The building was dismantled in large pieces and put in a pile while the tower portion of the lookout (wooden tower) and other unusable pieces of the lookout were put in another pile to be burned. The crew that went to do the burning lit the wrong pile so the Sekiu lookout was no longer an option.”
The article continued: “The Deming lookout apparently was in about the same shape as the Sekiu lookout, was the same design as Sekiu’s and also was to be taken down so the Timber Museum was able to procure it as a replacement. It came to Forks in sections on a lowboy and after the tower was built at the museum it was put together again in sections………..although the tower was the Deming tower, the interior furnishings and equipment in the tower are from the Sekiu lookout.”
Most sources agree that Deming Lookout cab was moved to Forks and is the Forks Timber Museum Lookout and that its interior equipment and furnishings are from the Sekiu Lookout. However there are still some that believe that the Forks Lookout came from Sekiu. For example Linda Offut, the Timber Museum manager, described the museum’s collection in a May 29, 2018 article. The article included the following: “The reconstructed Sekiu lookout, the logging camp bunkhouse……….” [my emphasis] Others have commented that the move would have easier from Sekiu Mountain than from Deming.
AUGUST 10, 2021 UPDATE: I have been recently reading old copies of the FFLA newsletter, LOOKOUT NETWORK and found another apparent vote for Sekiu in an article in one of the newsletters.
The Lookout at the Forks Timber Museum ~Autumn, 2005 edition of LOOKOUT NETWORK
“Forks is a town on the west side of the Olympic peninsula, in the State of Washington. It is in the heart of timber country, with a long and colorful history of logging. Displays, pictures, and equipment give the museum visitor an excellent understanding of the logging industry. The beautiful log building that houses the museum was begun in September of 1989 (by the High School carpentry class, with support from the community) and finished in June of 1990. In 1991 the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources dismantled a lookout (on a 40′ tower) that had been in service near Sekiu. All of the basic lookout equipment was saved. With a lot of effort, and a couple of years’ time, volunteers were able to reconstruct the lookout (on a shorter tower) at the Timber Museum. You access the catwalk from the second floor of the museum, which also has an interesting display of early firefighting equipment. Don’t pass through Forks without stopping at the Timber Museum – there is a lot to learn there, as well as viewing the Lookout that was.” Arch Wirth, Kingston, WA.
While I still believed that the Forks Museum Lookout came from Deming, Arch Wirth’s article helps keep the arguments and the legends alive.
Our visit to the Octopus Mountain LO Site, the 1st candidate for the Forks Museum LO
We visited the Octopus Mountain Lookout Site on November 7, 2020. Both the main summit and nearby false summit had communication antennas on them. There were little or no views from either high point and we found no lookout artifacts.
Our visit to the Sekiu LO Site, the 2nd candidate for the Forks Museum LO
We visited the Sekiu Lookout Site on October 22, 2020. We found several large concrete footing blocks which had been pushed into the brush along side the site. There were views from the road near the site, but no views at the site.
