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Fire lookout · Pierce County, Washington

Anvil Rock Lookout Site

Mount Rainier stone shelter (1916), then a D-6 cupola cabin (1927-28); abandoned 1942, removed or destroyed about 1947-48; little or nothing remains.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cabin abandoned in 1942 and removed or destroyed about 1947-48; sources say not much remains

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabstone shelter with an outside firefinder (1916), then a standard D-6 cupola cabinThe design: D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1916
Height
Unknown
Elevation
9,584 ft (2,921 m)
Agency
National Park Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Pierce County, Washington
Coordinates
46.83043, −121.72692
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-anvil-rock

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.

Downloads about 4.1 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1916 BuiltStone shelter with an outside firefinder; registry, firelookout.com and Willhite say 1916; a 1917 newspaper item calls the stations recently builtSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1918 StaffedPark Service reports for 1918-19 say fires were located and reported from the stationSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1920 StaffedClement Klingensmith occupied the post in the 1920 seasonSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1921 EventTelephone line installed from Paradise Inn to the stationSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1922 StaffedRice N. Anderson named primary lookout; a storm-started set of eighteen fires near Randle was spotted from the stationSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1927 FireThunderstorm of August 2 led the lookout to report 13 lightning firesSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1927 Replaced by a new structureStandard D-6 cupola cabin replaced the stone shelter; Willhite says summer 1927, the registry and firelookout.com say about 1928Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  8. No record between 1927 and 1942
  9. 1942 AbandonedCabin abandonedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  10. 1948 Destroyedfirelookout.com says destroyed in 1948; the registry says removed sometime afterward; Willhite guesses the Park Service asked for removal about 1947Sources: firelookout.com, firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  11. No record between 1948 and 2012
  12. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered May 22, 2012 as US 1269, WA 169Source: 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.

Anvil Rock is a shoulder on the south side of Mount Rainier, at 9,584 feet, inside Mount Rainier National Park.1,2,3 The first lookout was a stone shelter with a firefinder set outside it. The registry, firelookout.com and Willhite all date it to 1916.1,2,3 A 1917 newspaper item called the new masonry stations "built recently," so the start date is not entirely settled.4

The Park Service paid for the station, and by 1920 to 1921 the Forest Service kept a fire ranger there.4 A telephone line from Paradise Inn reached the station in 1921.4 That year a newspaper said the altitude made the post hard to fill, and it named Clement Klingensmith as the lookout in the 1920 season.4

Rice N. Anderson was the primary lookout in 1922. That September, a lightning bolt struck the telephone line just as he picked it up, and it left him unconscious for an hour.4 The station also spotted fires. A storm started eighteen fires near Randle in 1922, and the Anvil Rock lookout spotted them.4 In August 1927 a thunderstorm led the lookout to report 13 lightning fires.4

A standard D-6 cupola cabin replaced the stone shelter. A 1927 newspaper item said the cabin would take the stone house's place that season.4 Willhite places the swap in the summer of 1927, while the registry and firelookout.com say about 1928.1,2,3 The cabin was abandoned in 1942.1,2,3

After that the sources part ways. The registry says the cabin was removed sometime afterward.1 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed in 1948.2 Willhite guesses the Park Service asked for its removal around 1947, and he reports a rumor that the men given the job doused it with gasoline and torched it on a foggy day. He presents the rumor only as a rumor.3

Willhite says little is left on the site today.3 None of the sources describe a footing, a foundation or a view from the site now.1,2,3 The registry names the National Park Service as the administering agency.1 The sources do not say whether visitors may go up, so check with the park before you plan a trip.1,3

  1. Anvil Rock Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/anvil-rock-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Anvil Rock Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/anvilrock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Anvil Rock Lookout Site - Mount Rainier National Park, Eric Willhite, WillhiteWeb, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington/fire_lookouts/anvil_rock_lookout/mount_rainier_245.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Anvil Rock, Washington Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/anvil-rock.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Anvil Rock Lookout Site
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. WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts Gave us: links WillhiteWeb.com · No licence stated; names and page links only (the site's photos and text are not reproduced). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, staffing, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.