8/18/2021 UPDATE TO THIS STORY: The last Flattop Lookout was built in 1946. It was a one-of-a-kind frame two-story prototype with windows that slanted outward to cut the sun’s glare, similar to an airport control tower. But the unique design turned out to be too labor intensive and costly, and no more were built. This Post tell the story of the re-location of the upper story lookout to the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center and another Post tells about the later move of the ground level garage to Dick Morrison’s place. I have recently been reading the past issues of the FFLA’s newsletter, LOOKOUT NETWORK, and found there that these movements were just the last acts in the FFLA’s 15+ year battle to save this lookout from destruction. It was almost destroyed at least once and there were a number of failed proposals for re-locating and restoring the 2-story lookout, both atop Flattop and at other locations, before the two parts of the lookout reached their current homes.
Lookout Site Regions: Origin Site ~ Southwest WA, Re-Lo Site ~ Central WA
The move of the upper story of the East Flattop Lookout from Southwest Washington to the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center (CBFIC) in Entiat is a good example of a Type 1 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 replacements and moves from the east end of the summit to the west end and back. The lookout moved to the CBFIC 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 cab to the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center in Entiat.”
Dick Morrison, a long time Lookout fanatic, added details of the move in a phone call and email message. Dick told me that: “He had been involved along with Ray Kresek for the movement of the second story of the East Flattop Lookout and the rebuilding at the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center. The second story was completely taken apart ~ to the “bare bones” for the move from Flattop. Dick, Keith Argow, and his brother Jim and 3 Forest Service retirees, took it apart on Flattop. The pieces were loaded on a trailer, and taken to a ranger station on Hwy 12 near Rim Rock Lake Ranger Station where it sat for over a year and a half before it was moved. Dick and his brother hauled the trailer behind their pickup & the brakes went out along the way to the Ranger station at Rim Rock ranger station.”
After sitting at the ranger station for nearly two years, “the trailer was reloaded on another trailer at the ranger station by volunteers from Columbia Breaks and they brought it up to Entiat by volunteers there. Then Dick, Forrest Clark and 3 FFLA members and volunteers from Columbia Breaks, put it back together at Columbia Breaks in Entiat. Forrest Clark was the leader in the glass work. A concrete pad was poured to put the lookout on at Entiat to make it wheel chair accessible.”
A reader-board at the CBFIC called the lookout on display there a “replica of the top story of the Flattop Mountain Lookout”. When I asked Dick whether the lookout on display at CBFIC was a replica, he replied: “The 2nd story Flattop Lookout at Entiat is not a replica. It was all put together using the parts from the original. The only thing not original was the glass and the shingles as they were already missing when the lookout was taken apart to be moved from Flattop.”
A slightly different version of the moving story appeared in the following article.
The Flattop Lookout Cab joined the Chelan Butte Lookout and the L-4 Cab of the Badger Mountain Lookout on display at the CBFIC. The Flattop LO is the last of the three to be moved there.
We visited the Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center. the RE-LO SITE for the East Flattop cab on 8/23/207.
Our visit to the ORIGIN SITE on Flattop Mountain on 9/9/2015.
Rows of footing blocks which had supported the two sides of the lookout remained at the site. A pile of logs covered the site between the rows of footings ~ 2015 photo.
There are 2 other Re-Located LOs at CBFIC ~ Badger Mtn and Chelan Butte. Click one of the boxes to read about one of these.