Lookout Site Regions: ORIGIN SITE ~ Northwest WA, RE-LO SITE ~ Northwest WA
The move of the Little Summit Lookout cab from Orcas Island to a private home near Friday Harbor is an unusual Type 2 Re-Location. The cab was dissembled and became a lookout spare parts collection. Many of these parts were used in lookout “repair” projects by members of the FFLA.
The FFLA’s website includes the following: “Built in 1966 to relieve a tourist-burdened Mt. Constitution Lookout, this 50′ wooden DNR tower saw little use after it was built. The tower was removed by a private party in 1988. Ray Kresek in his 2015 Lookout Inventory provided more information :” 50’ DNR twr (sold to Dick Morrison and moved to Friday Harbor). [Gone 1988]”
I wrote to Dick in July, 2020 asking for more details about the Little Summit move. I asked the following questions: 1) Was only the cab moved or was the whole cab and 50’ tower moved?; 2) Where was the lookout moved to?; 3) what was the moved lookout used for?; 4) Does this moved lookout still exist and where? Dick provided answers and more details of the fate of the Little Mountain Lookout in a telephone conversation and several emails.
Dick wrote that this is what happened to Little Summit: “We only moved the DNR cab from the Little Mountain LO as the tower timbers were all rotten. My brother Jim and I removed the DNR cab, and used the glass on our Friday Harbor lookout house. The cedar shutters went to another lookout, I don’t remember which one. A FFLA member needed a set of shutters for their lookout. Most of the wood went to other projects and I’ll bet the 2 by 12 rafters are still in the loft in the shop on that property. I used the glass from Little Summit because it was tinted smoke gray where the 3 Corner Rock glass was clear. The glass is 2 feet square and 1/4″ thick.”
Dick had earlier moved the Three Corner Rock Lo to Friday Harbor to be used as the second story of Dick’s new house in Friday Harbor. It was his bedroom and Dick now claims to have slept in a lookout for more nights than anyone else. The glass from the Little Summit Lookout, which was substituted for the Three Corner Rock glass seems to be the only thing that can be seen of the re-located Little Summit Lookout today.
Dick later sold his “Friday Harbor lookout house” and he moved to near Chehalis. The lookout house is a private residence and any visit should get the current owner’s permission.
Movement of Little Mountain Lookout Parts to Friday Harbor
The tinted windows in the 2nd story of Dick’s “lookout house” near Friday Harbor came from the Little Summit Lookout. (Photo courtesy Tammy McLeod)
We have not visited the Re-Located LO at its current location near Friday Harbor
Three Corner Rock Re-Located Lookout with Little Summit Lookout windows. ~ 2019. (Photo courtesy Tammy McLeod)
Our visit to the Little Summit Lookout Site ~ 6/19/2021
We visited Little Summit Lookout Site on a cool morning with low lying fog. The site was reached by way of a 1/10 trail walk from the Mt. Constitution Drive.
Our Visit to Mount Constitution ~ 6/19/2021
After visiting the Little Summit Lookout site, we drove up to the 45′ stone tower atop Mount Constitution. This tower, built in 1928, with its live-in top floor was the first fire lookout on Orcas Island. The lookout is one of Washington’s Standing Lookouts. We first visited it in the 1980s and it was our first visit to one of the lookouts on the SLOW93 list.
