REGIONS: ORIGIN SITE ~ North Central WA, RE-LO SITE ~ North Central WA
The 1st Chiliwist Butte’s Lookout L-5 ground living quarters was moved to Jackass Butte to become the Jackass Butte Lookout. This is a good example of a Type 3 Re-Location where a lookout structure that is no longer to be used at the ORIGIN SITE is re-located to a new site to still be used in fire detection. Like many Type 3 Re-Locations, the Jackass Butte Lookout was later abandoned and no structure remains there.
The Chiliwist Butte description on the FFLA website (firelookout.org) includes the following: “A crow’s nest was developed here in 1934, along with an L-5 cab for living quarters. A 30′ treated timber L-4 was built in 1939, and the L-5 cab was moved to Jackass Butte. In 1954, the L-4 cab atop the tower was moved to the new tower atop Leecher Mountain.”
It is interesting that parts of both of the lookouts that had been atop Chiliwist Butte were moved to be used in building a fire lookout at a second location.
This photo, captioned “Chiliwist Butte Lookout – 1942- and – Crow’s Nest”, shows both the 2nd 30’ L-4 tower lookout and the 1st Crow’s Nest Lookout with its L-5 living quarters on Chiliwist Butte before the L-5 was re-located.
The Jackass Butte description on the FFLA website reads: “Moved from Chiliwist Butte in 1939, this L-5 cab was removed in 1963”. The description on Rex’s Forest Fire Lookout Page (firelookout.org) is slightly different as it reads “was destroyed in 1963”. When I asked Ray Kresek If the Cab was removed (possibly to a third location) or destroyed, Ray answered in his typical direct manner: “I’m pretty sure Jackass LO was destroyed as one of the first to be burned on site when the order came down from the USFS WA Office to “burn & bury” all structures that are no longer used. It was the era when hippies were moving in”.
I have found two versions of the naming of Jackass Butte. The first was in an article written by Wilfred Woods in the Jan. 19, 2013 edition of the Wenatchee World:
“Wilf Woods: The story behind naming Jackass Butte.“
“The Okanogan County Heritage publication invariably contains interesting stories of that county’s past. The current issue, for instance, carries a story of why Jackass Butte, east of Okanogan, was given that name. It was written by the late Judge William Brown in the Okanogan Independent in 1952. He writes that a party of gold-seekers from Nevada brought a large number of burros {north with them} in 1897 or 1898, planning to use them to go to the Yukon or Alaska. When they found out how far it was, they abandoned the plan, traded them off to Chief Smitkin who had a ranch near St. Mary’s Mission. They roamed free for many years, and when a lookout was set up by the Forest Service in the 1930s, it was called Jackass Butte Lookout. Brown says the burros were tame and gentle, and people in town would keep some of them.”
The second version was sent to me in an email by the ranch hand who was living in the house at the start of the road to the top of Jackass Butte: “Earlier this week, you asked me where Jackass Butte above Okanogan got its name. I asked my boss and he said at the turn of the last century (not this one), all of the miners would come down from the hills for the winter. They set up living on the town side of Jackass by digging into the side of the butte. They kept their herds of Jackasses, mules, donkeys and horses on the backside of the butte where you and your wife hiked. Nothing really funny, just where they kept the herds.”
Permission is required to visit the Jackass Butte Lookout Site as it is reached by a service road which goes through private property.
Chiliwist Butte #1 L-5 Cab Moved to Jackass Butte
Our visit to Jackass Butte, the RE-LO SITE for the 1st Chiliwist LO L-5 Cab ~ 7/27/2021
After stopping to gain permission at the start of the road, we walked a communication complex service road through private fields to visit the Jackass Butte Lookout site.
Our visit to Chiliwist Butte, the ORIGIN SITE for the Jackass Butte LO ~ 7/25/2021
We hiked to visit the Chiliwist Butte Lookout Site, the origin of two re-located lookouts. Our route was by way of a good gravel road, primitive roads and an off-trail-open country hike. There were two gates along the way. The first gate is often open, but it was gated when we visited. This added over 3 miles and 650’, round-trip, to the distance reported by others. Our round-trip hike was about 7 miles with 1800’ gain.
We reached the second locked gate. A sign here recommended parking at this point because the road beyond gets rough and is best only for high-clearance 4WD vehicles. Our route next followed this primitive road before we struck off cross-country toward the Chiliwist Lookout Site.
The Chiliwist Butte Lookout entry in Rex’s Fire Lookout Page (firelookout.com) reads in part: “A crows nest was developed here in 1934 (still there today)”…”. The tree was no longer standing when we visited in 2021. Bob Pfeifer’s notes from a 2014 visit includes the comment: “The original crow’s nest is now down and hard to detect. It {was} likely burned beyond recognition in the 2014 Carlton Complex fire.”
There were open views in all directions from the Chiliwist Butte Lookout Site.
