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Fire lookout · Asotin County, Washington

Big Butte Lookout

Big Butte, Asotin County WA: 1950 L-4 cab on an 82-ft timber tower; cab lowered and tower taken down after 2013. WTA reports the tower deconstructed; hike to the top.

Standing: FFLA marks it as temporarily removed: the lookout may be away for restoration. Check before you go.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. On Umatilla National Forest land; the hike to the butte is open. No tower or cab remains to climb or enter.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Walk up Forest Road 170 from its junction with Forest Road 4304: about 0.5 mile to a gate, then 0.1 mile to the top (WTA).
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4 cab on an 82-foot treated timber tower (1950); the tower has since been taken downThe designs: L-4, L-6
Built of
Wood
Height
82 ft (25.0 m)
Elevation
4,982 ft (1,519 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Umatilla National Forest (Pomeroy Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Asotin County, Washington
Coordinates
46.11540, −117.24810
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-big-butte

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

Downloads about 3.8 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. 1929 Built80-foot native timber tower with 7x7 cab erected, per a Umatilla National Forest inventory (Forest Lookouts) and TrailChick; the Register and firelookout.com date the first tower to 1938Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, trailchick.com
  2. 1938 BuiltFirst established with an L-6 cab on a 73-foot pole tower (Register); firelookout.com gives the same 1938 date for the pole tower and cabinSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  3. 1950 Replaced by a new structure82-foot treated timber tower with L-4 cab and catwalk replaced the pole towerSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, trailchick.com
  4. No record between 1950 and 2000
  5. 2000 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered November 8, 2000 as US 364, WA 45Source: nhlr.org
  6. 2010 EventTree fell across a guy wire during the winter of 2010-2011, damaging one of the tower legsSources: firelookout.com, trailchick.com
  7. 2012 Condition assessmentRepair costs determined and funding sources being sought.Source: firelookout.org
  8. 2013 EventFFLA restoration grant of $500 approved for materials to repair the L-4 cab inside and out (paint, flooring, shutters, catwalk, railing, windows).Source: firelookout.org
  9. 2013 RemovedCab lowered to the ground and the tower disassembled after the leg damage (TrailChick)Source: trailchick.com
  10. 2013 RestoredCab taken down after the tower-leg damage; repairs ongoing, with cab restoration planned for the summer.Source: firelookout.org
  11. 2014 EventFFLA restoration grant of 500 dollars toward rehabilitation, matched by 500 dollars from the Eastern Washington chapter.Source: firelookout.org
  12. 2014 RestoredThree days of stabilizing and restoring the cab by FFLA members, volunteers and Forest Service staffSource: trailchick.com
  13. 2015 RestoredFFLA eastern Washington report: final touches on the cab completedSource: firelookout.org
  14. 2018 EventVisit on 7/02/18 found the cab still sitting on the groundSource: trailchick.com
  15. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Big Butte is on the Umatilla National Forest, near Anatone in Asotin County.1,2 It sits at about 5,000 feet.1,3,4

The sources disagree about when the first tower went up. The Register says the site was first set up in 1938, with an L-6 cab on a 73-foot pole tower.1 Firelookout.com also gives 1938 for that pole tower and its cabin.3 Forest Lookouts quotes a Umatilla National Forest inventory listing an 80-foot native timber tower with a 7-by-7 cab erected in 1929, and TrailChick gives the same year.2,4

In 1950 an 82-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 cab and catwalk replaced the earlier tower.1,3 During the winter of 2010 and 2011, a tree fell across a guy wire and damaged one of the tower legs.3,4

TrailChick says the cab was lowered to the ground in 2013 and the tower was taken apart.4 In 2014, two Forest Fire Lookout Association members and a crew of other volunteers and Forest Service staff spent three days stabilizing and restoring the cab.4 An association report from 2015 says final touches on the cab were completed.5 The lookout was once considered for a rental program.4 The longer-term plan, to rebuild the tower and replace the restored cab, never came to fruition.4

A 2018 visit found the cab still on the ground.4 Washington Trails Association says the tower has been deconstructed.6 At the top, the tower cap lies on the ground, beside stacked lumber, leg hardware and some outbuildings.6 The route runs up Forest Road 170 from its junction with Forest Road 4304, about half a mile to a gate and a tenth of a mile more to the top.6 On the way up, the track climbs into a clearing with views to the south and west.6 No tower is left to climb, so check with the Pomeroy Ranger District for current conditions before you go.6,1

  1. Big Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/big-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Big Butte, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/big-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Big Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/bigbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Big Butte, TrailChick, https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/big-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association eastern Washington report 2015, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-ewa-2015.pdf (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  6. Big Butte Lookout, Washington Trails Association, https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/big-butte-lookout (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Big Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
August 2014
August 2014 (2014)Photo: Dick Gilman, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
August 2014
August 2014 (2014)Photo: Dick Gilman, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2009 aerial
2009 aerial (2009)Photo: Richard Howley, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Big Butte in 1938
Big Butte in 1938 (1938)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Umatilla N.F., and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Big Butte in 1959
Big Butte in 1959 (1959)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Umatilla N.F., and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Big Butte in 1999
Big Butte in 1999 (1999)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Umatilla N.F., and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Big Butte Lookout
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1938
    • TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts: 1950

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, status, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: design, height, dates, photos, 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 Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: 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
  6. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: photos, links TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  7. 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
  8. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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

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