Lookout Site Regions: Origin Site ~ WA Coast, Re-Lo Site ~ Unknown.
I wish to thank Leslie Romer, the author of the book Lost Fire Lookout Hikes and Histories – Olympic Peninsula and Willapa Hills, published in 2021 and Eric Willhite for sharing the results of their expert research with me.
There are several mysteries remaining about the planned re-location of the Higley Peak Lookout in 1973. These questions include: 1) Was the move successful?; 2) Where was the destination of the of the planned move and what was the planned use of the lookout the tower and cab?; and 3) Does the re-located lookout cab and/or the tower still exist and if it still exists, where is it?
In 2020, I began compiling a list of Re-Located Lookouts, fire lookouts that had been moved to another location after they were no longer considered useful for fire detection in their original location. I first began by searching through the extensive lookout inventory contained in the 1998 3rd Edition of Fire Lookouts of the Northwest, by Ray Kresek and the associated 2015 revision to the book’s Lookout inventory. As I read through his listing, I discovered that there were several planned lookout moves that had failed. I labelled these failed moves as Type 4 Re-Locations.
The Forest Service’s lookout on Higley Peak, 2 miles north of Lake Quinault, was apparently one of these Type 4 Re-Locations. According to the Higley Peak entry in Ray’s book, a 14’x14’ cabin had been placed on the 3025’ peak in 1934 and was then replaced by a 40’ wooden flat in 1957. Ray’s description ended with “(effort to move it across the lake fell from helicopter and sank in the lake). [Gone 1972]”. If Ray is correct, the planned move was a failure.
Ray’s book is considered by most Pacific Northwest “lookout Fans” to be the go-to source for information about the fire lookouts in the region. If you stop at a ranger station to ask about a lookout or lookout site, Ray’s book is often pulled off a shelf by a Forest Service or DNR employee to find the answer. Ray described the writing of the book in an email: “The book came as a result of being on sick leave from the Spokane Fire Department for many months back in the early 1980s…My wife Rita suggested one day…Why don’t you write that book about lookouts you’ve always talked about? I had taken notes for 30 years. Dave Bula gave me a copy of his LO inventory he put together while in the Navy. I spent many days studying USGS topo maps at the regional USGS library in downtown Spokane. I had a collection of old maps from every national forest in the NW. And we visited about all 250 ranger stations in the four states.” Ray self-published and marketed the book through his Historic Lookout Project…The first edition was published in 1984 with the third edition out in 1998.
But then I read the Higley Peak entry on the web site, willhiteweb.com, which suggested that there was also evidence that the move had been successful. Eric Willhite pointed me toward the 3rd Edition of Olympic Mountains Trail Guide, by Robert L. Wood. The entry for the Higley Peak Trail in this book, which was published in 2000, contains the words: “The old lookout cabin was constructed in 1932 by the Forest Service…rebuilt on a wooden tower in 1964, then removed by helicopter in 1973. The building and tower are currently being used at Snohomish County Airport.” If this is correct, the move was successful and the Re-Located Lookout may even still exist at Paine Field, near Everett, Washington. (Paine Field is officially called The Snohomish County Airport.)
Bob Wood’s trail guides are considered to be the go-to source for information for hikers of the Olympic Mountain Trails. Bob went on his first hike on the Olympic Peninsula, near Lake Quinault, in 1948 and hiked in the Olympics every year after that until his death in 2003. During this 50+ years, Bob hiked and backpacked all of the known, and many of the little known trails on the Olympic peninsula. He hiked off-trail and climbed many of the higher peaks. He also wrote of the geology and flora and fauna of the region and published several books about the history of the area.
With these two markedly different versions of the Higley Peak Lookout’s fate, both written by respected “authorities”,more research was needed to help determine the final fate of the Higley Peak Lookout.
July, 2023 Progress Report
To date, the result of the follow-up research has not led to a definitive answer. More possibilities and questions have emerged from this research. The following is a somewhat disorganized collection of the study results to date.
One problem is that the planned move of the lookout was 50 years ago and that here are few people still alive who were involved in the planning or reporting of the move. For example Bob Wood’s 1st and 2nd Edition of his book, published in 1984 and 1991, did not contain the words describing a successful 1973 move to Paine Field. These words were added to the 3rd Edition which was published in 2000. We cannot ask Bob what his source for that new information was as he died in 2003.
Mystery #1 ~ Was the planned move a failure?
The 1st Edition of the Lookouts ~ Fire Watchers of the Cascades and Olympics, by Ira Spring and Byron Fish was published in 1981. This book contains a partial inventory of the Washington State lookouts. The 1st edition contains words very similar to Wood’s Edition 3: “Higley Peak, 3025 feet is just north of Lake Quinault…a standard hip-roof was placed on Higley in 1932…it was remodeled in 1964, on a short tower. It lasted until 1973…The tower itself is reputably still in use at Paine Field in Everett”. When Ira Spring updated the book and re-issued the 2nd Edition in 1996, the words about the the tower still being in use at Paine Field had been removed. Since neither of the authors are still alive, we cannot ask them about the source of their information.
In March, 2020, I reported the two different answers to the fate of the Higley Peak LO to several Facebook Groups whose members are devoted Lookout Fans. I asked if any of the members had any more information about this. Dave Bula, another long-time Lookout Fan responded by describing a visit to the Higley Peak LO Site in the 1980s and then added “Later that day, I got gas in Neilton and the guy there told me that when they tried to helicopter the lookout from Higley to another location, it came loose and crashed into Lake Quinault, where it remains to this day. “True Story!!””
Leslie Romer, author of the book Lost Fire Lookouts and Histories – Olympic Penninsula and Willapa Hills provided information that she obtained from several different retired Olympic National Forest Rangers. Their answers varied widely:
(1) In 2023, one of Leslie’s friends answered a request for information by writing that he “asked a former Ranger McDonnell if he knew anything. McDonnel’s response was “That’s what our old fire management officer told me about in 1980, and he was there. It broke apart in the lake.””
(2) In a 2019 email, Leslie reported that “I met today with an Olympic Forest Ranger who retired a couple of years ago. I had heard that Higley lookout fell in Lake Quinault when they were trying to move it…He said the tower fell in the lake and the cabin was moved to the Snohomish County Airport.”
(3) A 1985 letter to the Historic Lookout Project signed by Warren A. Post, a former Olympic National Forest Quinault Division Ranger, contained “Dear Mr. Kresek,…The old Higley P. LO in the Quinault District Olympic NF, was replaced by a new “flattop” while I was DR there. I understand it’s being used as some sort of control tower at an airfield near Everett, WA…Sincerely Warren A. Post.”
(4) Leslie also reported in a 2020 email that “I did, however, ask a Quinault ranger, Pete Erben, who retired in 2015 or 16 what he thought had happened to the Higley tower. His reaction was that if it had gone in the lake, the Quinault Tribe would have raised a big fuss, and he would have heard about that. So he didn’t think the drop in Lake Quinault had happened.”
In early 2020, I wrote about a dozen letters asking for information about the move to Forest Service offices, Airport directors, Historical Societies and Museums in both Snohomish County and the Lake Quinault area. The only answer that contained new information was from Tom Northup, President of the Lake Quinault Historical Society and Museum. His response, which was contained in two emails, read in part “I haven’t yet found a definitive answer to your inquiry but am still checking with potential sources.” The answers given to Tom by his local contacts also covered a wide range of possibilities:
- “My first contact believes that a few boards may have fallen into the lake, but not the entire cabin. She had no idea of the ultimate destination for the cabin or tower.”
- “A second claims that the cabin, at least, was dropped into the woods in the area of the headwaters of Matheny Creek.”
- “A third believes that the cabin was taken to another location to continue use as a lookout.”
- “I made one more call yesterday and I’m glad I did. He didn’t mention the tower but did witness the cabin removal. He saw what he believes to be a door fall into the lake but that the main body of the cabin was indeed removed to an airport “up north”.”
My July, 2023 conclusion: We still do not know if the move was successful or a failure.
Mystery #2 ~ What was the planned destination for the lookout and what was it to be used for?
Many of the references, including Ray Kresek’s book and associated web sites had no information about this. There were two different opinions advanced by those who mentioned it in their statements.
One possibility is that it was being moved to be used as a lookout at another location. Leslie Romer commented in a 2019 email that “I had heard the story that Higley lookout fell in Lake Quinault when they were trying to move it to Colonel Bob”. One of the Quinault locals that Tom Northup asked about the move “believes that the cabin was taken to another location to continue use as a lookout”.
Colonel Bob Mountain would be a likely location if the Higley Peak Lookout was to continue to be used as a fire lookout. In 1967, a lookout that had been built there in the early 1930s had been removed. Spring and Fish, wrote that the Colonel Bob Forest Service lookout had been “partly destroyed by snow, then burned”. If the Forest Service had later decided that a replacement lookout was needed atop Colonel Bob, the inactive Higley Peak Lookout would be a logical candidate as the two sites were less than seven miles apart. However, I have not disovered any mention of a replacement lookout being placed or even planned on Colonel Bob. There is not a building on Colonel Bob Mountain now. When I recently asked Leslie about the source of the Colonel Bob story, she could not remember where she had heard it and could not find anything about it in her notes.
The second possibility is that it was being moved to an airport up north, probably the Snohomish County Airport (which is also named Paine Field) near Everett. Several of the sources quoted previously thought that this was the the planned destination. This 73 mile move of the lookout cabin and its 40 foot tower is possible. The 1974 move by helicopter of a similar lookout cab and tower 23 miles from Stampede pass to Camp Waskowitz is well documented. However, I have not found any mention of the use of the lookout at Paine Field and have not found anyone who has seen it there.
I also tried another experiment using ChatAI.com, an online Artificial Intelligence app that can search for information that is publically available and can write reports using that information:
I asked the question: What Happened to the Higley Peak Lookout?
ChatAI answered: I’m sorry, I don’t have enough context to answer that question. Could you please provide more information about the Higley Peak Lookout?
I responded: The Higley Peak Lookout was on Higley Peak just north of Lake Quinault in Washington State. It was removed by helicopter in 1973. Where was it being moved to? And where is it now?
ChatAI answered: According to my records, the Higley Peak Fire Lookout was being moved to a location near the town of Forks, also in Washington State. As for its current whereabouts, I do not have that information…
I asked: One reference says that it was dropped into Lake Quinault. Is that correct?
ChatAI answered: I’m sorry, I cannot confirm or deny that information as I do not have any records of what happened to the Higley Peak Fire Lookout after it was moved.
While this AI experiment suggests a 3rd possible planned destination for the lookout, I don’t put too much faith in this answer. I tried a similar experiment with lookout questions that I knew the answer to. ChatAI’s answers were more often wrong and misleading. It appears that the data base that the app is now searching through is too small. For example it stated that it did not have access to US forest Service archives or the National Archives, but that it could search for information that was publically available. The AI seems to make up answers at times to “please the questioner” when it can not find an answer in the public files.
My July, 2023 conclusion: The planned destination & use is still unknown.
Mystery #3 ~ Does the lookout still exist and if it does, where is it?
My July, 2023 conclusion: We don’t know and answers to #1 & #2 are needed first .
There are also other differences between the different references. While there is no disagreement with the placing of the 1st Higley Peak Lookout cabin in the early 1930s (1932 or 1934), there appears to be a difference in the reported history of the lookout that was being moved in 1973 (or 1972). Kresek, etal report that the 1st LO was replaced by a Flat/R6 cab on a 40’ wooden tower in 1957. Waren A. Post also wrote about this replacement in his 1985 letter: “The old Higley Peak LO on the Quinault District, Olympic NF, was replaced by a new “flattop while I was DR there”. (The FFLA description of fire lookout types describes the R6 as the “standard 15 x 15 foot frame lookout house built from 1953 forward. The roof is flat and extends beyond the cabin a few feet to provide shade…”.) Spring & Fish, as well as Wood, do not mention this replacement, but only write that the the lookout was “ remodeled in 1964, on a short tower”.
Further research to be done.
Several of the contacts interviewed by Leslie Romer or Tom Northup said that they had read about the move in the Aberdeen Daily World newspaper. The Aberdeen branch of the Timberland Regional Library (TRL) holds the archives of the Daily World. The issues after 2005 can be viewed online. Earlier issues are all on microfiche. I have contacted the TRL, have been issued a library card and plan to search for the Higley Peak article on the microfiche copies. Since the exact date or even the month or year of the move is uncertain, (Wood states 1973 and Kresek only writes gone 1972) the scan through the newspaper archives may take a long time.
One of the retired USFS rangers told Leslie Romer that there had been photos of the move in the Quinault Ranger Station. He had encouraged the USFS to keep them, but speculated that they may have been shipped to the National Archives in Seattle. This needs to be followed up. I asked about the pictures at the Quinault Ranger Station on Friday, May 26, 2023. This was the 1st day that the Ranger Station was open for the 2023 season and the person on duty, Matt Ferraro, was new to the station. He did not know anything about the photos and other info about the Higley move, but said he would look for them. I need to follow up with Matt and also ask at the Olympic national Forest main office in Olympia. A visit to the National Archives in Seattle may be required.