Lookout Site Region: ORIGIN SITE ~ North Central, No Re-LO Site.
The failed move of the Sweetgrass Butte Lookout to private property in the Methow Valley was a true Type 4 Re-Location. As reported in Rex’s Forest Fire Lookout Page (www.firelookout.com): Built in 1933, this 30′ pole L-4 tower was sold to a local resident for removal in 1967.
Not all planned re-locations were successful. As Ray Kresek relates in his book Fire Lookouts of the Northwest, when the USFS planned to destroy the Sweetgrass Butte Lookout in 1967, Bob Crandall bought it for $30 with the intention of re-locating it in the backyard of his Methow Valley cabin. The USFS gave him 30 days to remove it from Sweetgrass. As Ray writes: “……he approached a logging operator who happened to be doing some gyppo salvage hauling” nearby to move it for him. “Everyone showed up on schedule, The crane hoisted the cab gently off its thirty-foot pole supports. Meanwhile, Crandall watched, all charged up with nostalgia over the idea of having his own backyard lookout tower..………..Then the big boom swung slightly to the left, and just as the cab was clear of its four stilts there was a sudden jolt. With a snap, the cable went up in the air and Crandall’s little white house went crashing to the ground.” Crandall burned the wreckage of the cab which was “flatter’ an a pancake” ……..”Two hours later, they all departed from Sweetgrass; the trucker’s rig loaded with firewood logs; and Crandall in a pickup half full of useless scrap iron.”
The Move Failed!
We visited Sweetgrass Butte on June 5, 2015.
The only thing on the top of the mountain was a small communication tower and shed. However, the views were still there.
