Lookout Site Regions: Origin Site ~ Central WA, Re-Lo Site ~ Central WA
The move of the Badger Mountain Lookout from above East Wenatchee to the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center in Entiat is a good example of a Type 1 Re-Location. As described in the FFLA web site (firelookout.org) Badger Mountain entry: “Although not located on National Forest land, this 18′ wooden tower with L-4 cab, built in 1941, served the Wenatchee National Forest from its vantage point across the Columbia River until the 1980s. Access to the lookout was through private property, so the tower was not a victim of vandalism like so many others. In 1999, the cab was moved to the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center at Entiat.”
Other sources state that Badger Mtn. was the site of an earlier crow’s nest lookout. In his book, Fire Watch, Ham Rideout writes of staffing the Steliko Point and Badger Mountain Lookouts during the summer of 1942. He tells of arriving his first time at Badger Mtn LO garage “where a lone Ponderosa Pine stood, symbolic of where a platform, high in the branches, was once the official Badger Mt. Lookout. A tent was home.”
According to information at the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center (CBFIC), the lookout was staffed into the mid-1970s and then was put on emergency use status. It was last used during a fire in 1988. The cab was moved to Entiat in the fall of 1999 to be permanently displayed at the CBFIC. Two other re-located LOs, Chelan Butte and the 2nd level of the East Flattop LO, are also displayed at the CBFIC.
Badger Mountain LO Cab moves from Badger Mtn to CBFIC
History
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 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. With strong public support, the concept has flared to reality as the Columbia breaks Fire Interpretive Center continues to develop. (From the CBFIC web site,)
Our Visit to Badger Mtn LOs RE-LO SITE at Columbia Breaks ~ 8/23/2017
Peggy and I stopped at the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center to view the re-located Badger Mountain LO cab as well as the other two re-located LOs displayed there.
This reader-board at the CBFIC provided more information about the Badger Mtn LO and its move. No other reference tells of this tie to the Lion Rock LO. I asked several other knowlegable lookout experts about it and Ray Kresek sent a reply. On February 8, 2018 at 5:29 PM Ray <rkresek@comcast.net> wrote: “Lion Rock’s 1941 L-4 cab went to Sugarloaf in 1949. Badger Mtn. got an 18’ pole L-4 tower in 1941; went to CBFIC Entiat in 1999. Badger from Lion Rk was an error in a Wenatchee newspaper clipping. Ray Kresek”
My response to Ray was: “Thanks for the info. You can see how easily history gets all wrong. It only takes one published error and soon many are citing it as fact and there goes history.”
Our Visit to Badger Mtn LOs ORIGIN SITE on Badger Mtn ~ 8/23/2017
We followed Ham Rideout’s route to visit the re-located lookout’s ORIGIN SITE. :“…….through Wenatchee, over the East Wenatchee Bridge, north on the Orondo Highway, past the airport and on to a rough road to the Badger Mt. Lookout.” (We walked the final rough road to the LO site.) Ham continued: “I drove to a storage shed and garage where a lone Ponderosa Pine stood, symbolic of where a platform, high in the branches, was once the official Badger Mt. Lookout. A tent was home.”
Ham then wrote that “My lookout was a 14 x 14 D-6 supported by a 15-ft tower, rising to a banistered catwalk”.
When Ham Rideout was told that he was being shifted from Steliko to Badger he did not know where it was. He finally located Badger Mountain on a state map. It was on “a long ridge rising counter to the Columbia River and ending abruptly above East Wenatchee”. He was told that the lookout, which was on the east side of the Columbia, was “a “cross reference” station that includes the forest area from Wenatchee to Chelan on the west side of the Columbia River. You will report fires in that 180o area. Below and behind, you will be surrounded by wheat land.
The view across the river to the west that lookout covered can be seen in the four photos below. Both the 1980s photos with the lookout still in place and our 2017 photos show that there is more grassland in view than forest.
There are 2 other Re-Located LOs at CBFIC ~ Chelan Butte and the East Flattop upper level cab. Click one of the boxes to read about another one of these.