REGIONS: ORIGINS and RE-LOCATED SITES ~ South-Central Washington
The re-location of the Lorena Butte Lookout is an unusual TYPE 2 RE-LOCATION as it was built by the DNR on private property and was later moved to its present location on nearby private property.
The lookout was the third lookout built by the State Department of Forestry (SDF), and later the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), on leased private property atop Lorena Butte near Goldendale. It was last used in 1993 and was later transferred to private owners who moved it a short distance in 2006 to a location on an adjacent ranch. The private owners of the cab say the lookout has occasionally been staffed in the new location during high fire danger times including in 2013 when the DNR sat on the mountain top watching as a dry-lightning storm moved through and started several new fires. The Re-Located Lorena Butte Lookout is on the SLOW93 Challenge list.
Permission is required to visit the lookout as it is on private property with security on site because of a mine on adjacent property. The owner of the lookout has recently offered it for overnight rental. To make reservations, go to the Lefever Holbrook Ranch webpage.
The first known structure on Lorena Butte was an L-4 cab in 1937, but no photos or other info about this first one is given in the references.
Several references state that in 1953, the owner of Lorena Butte, Irving Bath, leased his land to the Washington State Department of Forestry (SDF) and that in 1954 a second lookout was built atop an 8′ rock formation atop Lorena Butte.
1954: “Lorena Butte Lookout in Klickitat County has a 14×14 ground house on concrete floor foundation. The lookout is equipped with a new type cab designed and engineered by the Division Engineer and prefabricated in the shop during the winter. This new design has reduced by 40 per cent the number of sizes and pieces on the prefabricated building. It is more weather tight and is equipped for cooking and heating with bottle gas. The latter feature eliminates the fire hazard created by use of wood-burning stoves and chimneys in the old type cab.” (Biennial Report of the Forestry Division)
A July 6, 2022 article in the Goldendale Sentinel titled “Mystery Picture: Forest Guardian” included a June 17, 1954 Sentinel article titled, “Another Forest ‘Guardian’ Goes Into Service.” A photo of the 1954 lookout, which was colorized for the 2022 article, was included in the 1954 article along with the following description: “Now manned is the new State Forestry Department lookout station atop Lorena Butte on the Max Maurer ranch property, near the city of Goldendale…. The station, built by the State Forestry Department, is modern in every detail. In addition to the living quarters in the “glass-enclosed house” is a full basement in which is housed grocery supplies, gas for cooking, and other essentials for the operation of the station.”
The photo in the article shows the 1954 lookout atop a basement level with walls of concrete blocks rather than the “8’ rock formation”. By counting the concrete blocks, the height of the walls can be estimated as 8 feet, while the length of the walls appear to be 14 feet long.
References state that the 1954 lookout was replaced in 1974 by a DNR live-in cab which was built atop a 10’ concrete slab and that this lookout was last staffed in 1993. After the DNR abandoned the lookout, the owners of the private property that it sat on took possession of it. In 2006, the cab was moved from the summit southwest down the ridge due to local mining operations.
(The similarity of the lookouts shown in the two photos makes one wonder if the 1974 replacement had actually taken place. Terry Stone, who manned the Lenora Butte Lookout from 1974-1979, told the 2022 Sentinel article author that the 1954 picture is “from the west side, looking east, at the original location of the building, elevation 2,291 feet at the time, but now mined away to about 2,000 feet.” Terry then continued: “The building is still visible today, (my emphasis) relocated about a half mile west to accommodate the mining.“ Was the 1974 change just a refurbishing of the 1954 Lookout?)
2006 RE-LOCATION OF THE LORENA BUTTE LOOKOUT FROM THE SUMMIT
The references only state that the cab was moved in 2006 from the summit southwest down the ridge due to local mining operations. A series of aerial photos from Google Earth show the reason for the move in more detail.
Lorena Butte Lookout and the Lorena Butte Mine
Lorena Butte is a cinder cone volcano, one of more of 200 in the Simcoe Mountains volcano field. These steep-sided small volcanoes were formed as lava spewed into the air from vents and cooled in the air to form scoria, a highly porous form of the basaltic lava. Over time, layers of scoria and more solid basalt layers built up to form these cones. The Simcoe field was formed between 4 million and 600 thousand years ago, with the eruption forming each individual cinder cone lasting only a few years. The height of Lorena Butte, which rises about 600 feet above the surrounding level fields, is typical of the size of the cinder cones in the Simcoe Mountain field.
In 1989, the Bishop Red Rock Inc., with Edgar Holbrook listed as controller, received a permit for an open pit rock mine on Lorena Butte.
In 2000, articles in the Goldendale Sentinel told of Bishop Red Rock’s application to increase the permitted size of the mine. An October, 2002 aerial photo showed a major increase in size of the mine pit and that the top of it was approaching the lookout. By August, 2006 the edge of the mine pit had almost reached the lookout building.
An article in the Spring 2007 issue of the FFLA Lookout Network read: “Lorena Butte Lookout Moved ~ While passing through Goldendale, Rex Kamstra always looks forward to seeing Lorena Butte Lookout just off the highway to the east. On a recent trip when he looked up to the summit and didn’t see it, he thought, “uh oh, the landowner finally had enough and tore it down!” But as he drove north, he noticed that the cab had been moved down the southwest ridge onto a minor summit. This must have happened sometime last summer/fall, judging from the last time he had seen it in its original summit position.”
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MOVEMENT OF THE LORENA BUTTE LOOKOUT:
When destruction of the lookout seemed inevitable, Paulette Burns Lefever Holbrook, the owner of the adjacent Lefever Holbrook Ranch, asked to have it moved onto the ranch. Paulette had moved to the Lefever Ranch in 1979 where she raised sheep and sold USDA-inspected lambs to stores and directly to urban and rural consumers. In 1989 the ranch, now the Lefever Holbrook Ranch, expanded to include both sheep and beef. Four children—Daniel, Matthew, Madison and Conor—became part of the operation. The family began restoring the abandoned lookout. Matt Lefever, in a December 15, 2005 article in the Goldendale Sentinel, stated that he had been restoring the lookout for several years.
Comparison of the before and after the move photos of the lookout below shows that while the cab and catwalk had been moved, the concrete base had been left behind. (Rex Kamstra’s before photo on the left and our photo from our visit to the current site in 2018 to the right.)
Some of the references state that the 3rd Lorena Butte Lookout’s 10 foot concrete foundation still exists atop Lorena Butte. A closeup look at the 2006 and 2009 aerial photos show that the mine pit had been extended past the old lookout site and that all evidence of the lookout had apparently been destroyed.
Our 11/8/2018 Visit to the Re-Located Lorena Butte Lookout
We contacted the owner of the Lorena Butte Lookout, Paulette Burns Lefever Holbrook, and received permission from her to visit the lookout.
We arrived at the headquarters buildings of the Lefever Holbrook Farm where we had a view of the lookout above us. We checked in with Paulette who pointed out a good route for us to use in our hike up to the lookout cabin.
Dry hills and flat lowlands stretched to the south and southwest. In an email to me, Ray Kresek wrote, in his usual direct manner, “ …..Lorena Butte LO. It was one LO I would’ve never wanted to man (Staff?), except for the view of Mt Adams. One hot, dry hilltop!”
Then in 2021, the lookout was renovated and offered for nightly rentals.
“Great news! The Lorena Butte Lookout is open for nightly rentals. This lookout is on Private Property, located on a private farm in Goldendale. It was just renovated, and the landowner is renting it out at $150 a night. She has a tent pad option, so if you’d rather camp then rent the lookout you can for $75 a night. If renting, you will be able to drive up to it instead of the steep hike. There is propane heat inside the cab for winter use. You can also do a sunset rental for $50 for a 5:00 pm -9:00 pm visit. Pack it out, no water, bring your own camping gear, cooler and food. Shovel & TP on site. Two Hammock portable stand available, no pets. No fires if burn ban in effect. I just made reservations myself for next spring, process was easy. This area is pretty far to reach for most of us so the lookout makes a great base camp to explore the surrounding sights. To make reservations, go to the Lefever Holbrook Ranch webpage. Contact Paulette through Messenger. You can also email her at papa_pklh@yahoo.com.”
We have not visited the original lookout site.
The original location of the Lorena Butte Lookout was on the top of Lorena Butte. This area is now the site of an active rock and gravel mine. There is security on site and permission is required to visit the mine. When we asked for permission to walk to the top of the hill in 2017, permission was denied.