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Fire lookout · Grays Harbor County, Washington

Anderson Butte Lookout Site (Grays Harbor County)

Also known as Anderson Butte

Olympic National Forest lookout site: a 1937 L-4 cab or a 1943 R-6 ground house, removed or destroyed in 1968. Sources disagree on design; Willhite reports cable posts still anchored.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Lookout gone. Cab removed or destroyed in 1968 (sources differ on which); Willhite reports cable posts still anchored at the summit

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. No closure or permit is mentioned in the two accounts; the route is an overgrown former road and a steep, sparsely marked climb

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Willhite gives 3.5 miles and 2,300 feet of gain; WTA (2018) describes about 3 miles of overgrown old road, then a cross-country climb up a narrow ridge

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabDisputed: L-4 cab built 1937 (Register, firelookout.com) or a wood 14-by-14 standard R-6 plan ground house built 1943 (Forest Service inventory, as quoted by Forest Lookouts and Willhite)The designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1937
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,358 ft (1,024 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Grays Harbor County, Washington
Coordinates
47.38558, −123.55920
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-anderson-butte-grays-harbor-county

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

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History

Then and now

  1. 1937 BuiltRegister and firelookout.com date an L-4 cab to 1937; Willhite says use likely began then but puts the cab in 1943Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1942 EventAWS post 'Charlie 0-2' activated June 15, 1942, under the Olympia Filter CenterSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 StaffedHarold C. Chriswell memoirs (1933 to 1971), 1942 entry: a lookout lived in a tent down in a saddle and climbed on telephone wireSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1943 BuiltWood 14-by-14 standard R-6 plan ground house built, per Forest Service structural inventory; AWS funded a 10-by-14 cabinSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1943 EventAWS post inactivated September 22, 1943Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1944 StaffedKenneth Linscott worked the summer as forest lookout (Shelton Mason County Journal, quoted by Forest Lookouts)Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1944 and 1964
  8. 1964 StaffedManned again July 2, 1964; closed for the season by September 1964Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1968 Destroyedfirelookout.com says the cab was destroyed in 1968Source: firelookout.com
  10. 1968 RemovedRegister and Forest Lookouts give removal in 1968Sources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1968 and 2011
  12. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 26, 2011 as US 1149, WA 57Source: firetower.org
  13. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Anderson Butte is a former lookout site in the Olympic National Forest, about 19 miles west of Hoodsport in Grays Harbor County.1 The Register gives its elevation as 3,358 feet.2

Sources disagree on when the lookout was built. The Register and firelookout.com describe an L-4 cab built in 1937.2,1 Willhite says the site likely started being used in 1937, but that the cab seems to have been built in 1943. He cites a Forest Service structural inventory that lists a wood 14-by-14 standard R-6 plan ground house built that year.3 Forest Lookouts gives the same 1943 ground house and cites the same inventory.4

Forest Lookouts also lists a 1942 post here. The station, called 'Charlie 0-2,' was activated on June 15, 1942, under the Olympia Filter Center, and inactivated in September 1943.4 The page says the Forest Service erected the lookout structure, and that the AWS funded a 10-by-14 cabin.4

Harold C. Chriswell's memoirs, under a 1942 entry, describe a lookout who lived in a tent down in a saddle and climbed up by hanging onto telephone wire.4,3 In 1944 the Shelton Mason County Journal reported that Kenneth Linscott had worked the summer as forest lookout here, and was attending high school in Shelton.4 In 1964 the lookout was manned again in July, and it closed for the season in September.4

The Register and Forest Lookouts give 1968 as the year the lookout was removed.2,4 Firelookout.com says the cab was destroyed that year.1

Willhite says cable posts are still anchored at the final rock perch, the only description of remains we found.3 The site was blasted flat enough for a large lookout, and Willhite describes it as interesting but seldom visited.3 Willhite gives the hike as 3.5 miles with 2,300 feet of climbing, and says it is steep at times, with downed trees near the top.3 WTA's 2018 trip report describes about three miles along a badly overgrown, abandoned road, then a climb straight up a narrow ridge, which it says may be more appropriate to call a cross-country trek.5 Neither account mentions a closure or a permit.3,5

  1. Anderson Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/andersonbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Anderson Butte Lookout Site (Grays Harbor County), Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/anderson-butte-lookout-site-grays-harbor-county/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Anderson Butte Lookout Site - Olympic National Forest, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/olympic_mountains/anderson_butte/fire_lookout_038.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Anderson Butte, Forest Lookouts (Washington), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/anderson-butte1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Anderson Butte, South Flank Olympics, Washington Trails Association, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2018-06-07.1532320386 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Anderson Butte Lookout Site (Grays Harbor County)
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: what it is built of, design, links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, visiting details, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

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