East Flattop LO Ground Level Re-Located To Be Used As A Storage Shed

Re-Located East Flattop Ground level structure at Dick Morrison's place.

Lookout Site Regions: Origin Site ~ Southwest WA, Re-Lo Site ~ WA Coast

The move of the ground floor level of the 2-story East Flattop Lookout from Southwest Washington to private property to be used as a storage shed is a non-typical Type 2 Re-Location.  The history of fire lookouts on Flattop Mountain is complicated with the first lookout being built about 1921.  This was then followed by a series of lookout replacements and moves from the east end of the summit to the west end and back.  The re-located lookout was the last lookout on Flattop.  As related in the FFLA website (www.firelookout.org): “In 1946, a prototype 2-story 14×14′ frame cab with slanted windows and curved hip roof was constructed. It was to become the next generation lookout around the Pacific Northwest, but the R-6 flat cab later became the standard. Thus, it is the only one of this style ever built. The site was abandoned in 1960……… The east side lookout withstood vandalism and countless threats by the landowner (DNR) to tear it down until 2005 when the FFLA dismantled it and relocated the 2nd story cab to the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center in Entiat.”

The ground floor level was left on Flattop when the cab was moved to Entiat.  Tammy McLeod commented on this in her website tammyslookouts.com.  She visited the abandoned and vandalized lookout atop Flattop Mountain in 2003 and discusses this visit and the display of the 2nd story cab at Columbia Breaks in her web site. Tammy added: “Another sad note, the first floor of the lookout wasn’t part of the display”.

Dick Morrison, in a phone call and an email to me explained the later fate of the abandoned ground floor structure.  Dick wrote: “The first story of the Flattop Lookout was left intact after the 2 nd story was moved.  The company that was to build the cell towers near it called and told him that it had to be removed.  The cell tower people took it apart into 5 wall and floor pieces and then they moved it to his place in Chehalis where he put it back together.”  Dick now uses it as a storage shed.

When I started putting together a list of possible re-located lookouts, I ran into the fact that a Dick Morrison had owned two of them, Ray Kresek’s 2015 Lookout Inventory included the entry for Three Corner Rock: “sold to Dick Morrison to become 2nd story of his house at Friday Harbor”. The entry for Little Summit included: “sold to Dick Morrison and moved to Friday Harbor”. I contacted Dick and asked him about his two re-located LOs and also asked where the Little Summit LO was now. Dick informed me that he had actually owned three re-located LOs and that he still had the third one, the ground level of the East Flattop, at his place.

Move of the East Flattop Lookout’s Ground Level Shed to Dick Morrison’s Place

The two-story lookout atop Flattop Mountain (1949 photo by Leland Prater)
Abandoned and vandalized 2-story lookout atop Flattop Mountain (2003 photo by Tammy McLeod)
The ground floor structure of the 2-story lookout was moved to Dick Morrison’s place to be used as a storage shed. (2020 Photo by Dick Morrison)

We have not visited the re-located lookout yet (Re-located LO Photos are courtesy of Dick Morrison)

The re-located lookout sits on the edge of Dick’s yard.

Dick uses the lookout ground floor building as a storage shed.

Our visit to the ORIGIN SITE on Flattop Mountain ~ 9/9/2015

This only structures at the East Flattop LO Site when we visited it in 2015 were this tower and accompanying communication complex.

Concrete footing blocks lined both sides of the lookout site. A pile of logs covered the site. Trees blocked the view.

The only other lookout “artifact” remaining was the 1st step of the stairway to the lookout’s catwalk and 2nd story cab.
The clear view from the lookout included Mt. Adams. (1949 photo by Leland Prater)
The trees blocked the view from the lookout site when we visited it in 2015. We enjoyed this view of Mt. Adams from the lookout access road.
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Click MORE to read about the 2nd-story cab’s relocation.

By hiker99ralph

I am a long time hiker and more recently have added lookout chasing to the hiking hobby. I served as a lookout fireman at the Hoodoo Lookout in the Blue Mountains in the summers of 1957 and 1958. I got away from lookouts after that until retiring when I started chasing lookouts.