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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Boulder Butte Lookout Site

Chelan County site of an L-4 cab lookout in place by 1934, removed or destroyed in 1959; now reached only on foot from Stehekin, with no remains described.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab removed or destroyed in 1959; Forest Fire Lookout Association list shows the site as Ground Gone; no source describes what remains

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. Reached on foot by trail from Stehekin Landing; no road access. No closure or permit rule in the sources read.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
No lookout stands. The Purple Creek trail from Stehekin Landing runs 8 miles to Purple Pass, and the site is about half a mile past the pass.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab (the Forest Fire Lookout Association list calls the site ground; WillhiteWeb mentions a tower and storm cellar)The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,350 ft (2,240 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.32296, −120.59900
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-boulder-butte

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. 1930 EventEmergency station at Boulder Butte manned, per a July 1930 Wenatchee newspaper item quoted by Forest LookoutsSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1934 BuiltL-4 cab in place by September 1934 (WillhiteWeb); register says built in the 1930sSources: willhiteweb.com, firetower.org
  3. 1938 StaffedJim Berry was lookout in 1938 and 1939 while attending college (WillhiteWeb)Source: willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1938 and 1959
  5. 1959 RemovedRegister says removed; Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1959 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 20, 2012; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  8. 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.

Boulder Butte is a former lookout site at 7,350 feet in Chelan County, on the Wenatchee National Forest.1,2 Firelookout.com places it three miles northeast of Stehekin.2

A Wenatchee newspaper reported in July 1930 that an emergency station on the butte had been manned while fires burned in the Methow.3 WillhiteWeb says an L-4 cab was in place by September 1934.4 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says the cab dates to the 1930s.1

The register says John Wilbur Boehm staffed the tower in the 1930s and built a storm cellar under it.1 WillhiteWeb's text names Jim Berry as the lookout in 1938 and 1939, while he attended college. His children shared a few stories, including that he could see the mail boat come into Stehekin.4 Its photo captions name a lookout "Brockman" for those two years, so the sources disagree on who held the post.4 We found no fire reported by this lookout in the sources we read.

Sources disagree on how the cab ended. The register says it was removed in 1959.1 Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say it was destroyed that year.2,4 The Forest Lookouts page gives its status as removed.3

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Washington list gives the site the type Ground and the status Gone.5 No source we read says what, if anything, remains on the summit. WillhiteWeb has photographs captioned 2022, but its text does not describe them.4 The storm cellar is named in the sources, but none says whether it survives.1,4

Getting there means a boat and a hike. The trail starts at Stehekin Landing and is not reachable by road, and hikers travel about 36 miles up the lake by boat.6,4 Purple Pass is 8 miles from the trailhead, and Boulder Butte lies another half mile beyond it.6 WillhiteWeb gives the total hiking distance as 8 miles.4 We found no closure or permit rule for the trail.

  1. Boulder Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/boulder-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Boulder Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/boulderbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Boulder Butte, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/boulder-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Boulder Butte Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/boulder_butte_lookout/lake_chelan_085.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Washington Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wa/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. Purple Creek to Purple Pass, Wenatchee Outdoors, https://wenatcheeoutdoors.org/2016/07/10/purple-creek-to-purple-pass/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Boulder Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Paul Boehm, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
John Boehm at lookout in 1930s
John Boehm at lookout in 1930sPhoto: Paul Boehm, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Boulder Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Paul Boehm, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Storm cellar beneath lookout
Storm cellar beneath lookoutPhoto: Paul Boehm, via 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, what it is built of, 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: 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, 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.