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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Chiliwist Butte Lookout Site

A 1934 crow's nest and 1939 30-foot L-4 tower, dismantled by the early 1950s; footings remain on the summit, reached by a gated road and a 2.2-mile hike.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower dismantled in the early 1950s; sources disagree on whether anything remains at the site.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Gate off Chiliwist Road, found open on a Washington Lookouts visit in April. Whether the gate is kept open is not stated; not confirmed for today.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 2.2 miles one way with about 1,100 feet of gain; the page does not say where the hike starts. The old road fades near the top.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot treated timber L-4 tower with crow's nestThe designs: L-4, L-5
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,071 ft (936 m)
Agency
Washington State Division of Forestry
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.30302, −119.74846 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-chiliwist-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 4.4 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. 1934 BuiltA crow's nest was developed on the butte with an L-5 cab for living quarters.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1934 EventPanoramic photos were taken from the site on September 6, 1934.Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1939 BuiltA 30-foot treated timber L-4 tower was built; the L-5 ground cab was moved to Jackass Butte.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1953 RemovedFirelookout.com says the L-4 tower was disassembled in 1953.Source: firelookout.com
  5. 1954 MovedThe L-4 cab was moved to a new tower atop Leecher Mountain.Sources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. 1956 EventA USGS party placed a benchmark at the southeast summit; Willhite says they knew the tower had been dismantled a few years earlier.Source: willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1956 and 2012
  8. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register as US 1437 on November 10, 2012.Source: firetower.org
  9. 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.

Chiliwist Butte sits about two miles northwest of Malott in Okanogan County, on land listed under both the Okanogan National Forest and the Washington State Division of Forestry.1,2

The known history starts in 1934, when a crow's nest was developed on the butte along with an L-5 cab for living quarters.1,2,3 On September 6, 1934, panoramic photos were taken from the site.4,3 In 1939 a 30-foot treated timber tower carrying an L-4 cab went up, and the L-5 ground cab was moved to Jackass Butte.1,2,3

I could not find a source that names who staffed the lookout or for which seasons, so its staffing history is largely blank.

The tower came down in the early 1950s. Firelookout.com says the L-4 tower was disassembled in 1953, while the other sources date the cab's move to 1954.1,2,4,3 In 1954 the L-4 cab was moved to a new tower on Leecher Mountain.1,4,3 A 1956 USGS party set a benchmark at the southeast summit, and Willhite says its members knew the tower had been dismantled a few years earlier.3

The sources disagree about what is left. A USGS station description, quoted on the Washington Lookouts page, says the tower was dismantled and all evidence at its original location destroyed.4 Willhite's visit found a footing from the tower and ground cab footings on the summit, along with scattered old items such as a stove, a bucket and anchors.3 He also says the 1956 party thought the tower site was about 900 feet from their benchmark, when it was closer to half a mile away.3

Getting there starts at parking off Chiliwist Road, where a gate also stands. Willhite found the gate open on an April visit.3 A good road leads to a bench at about 2,000 feet, where a sign warns that the road beyond is rough and best for high-clearance four-wheel drive.3 The page gives the hike as about 2.2 miles one way with roughly 1,100 feet of gain, but it does not say where the hike starts. The old road fades as you go higher.3 No source I read says whether the gate is kept open, so check before you go. There is no tower left to climb.

  1. Chiliwist Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, Firetower.org, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/chiliwist-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Chiliwist Butte Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/chiliwistbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Chiliwist Butte Lookout Site, Washington Lookouts, willhiteweb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/chiliwist_butte_lookout/malott_087.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Chiliwist Butte, Forest Lookouts list, Washington Lookouts (Weebly), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/chiliwist-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

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

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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 location by 850 m.

    • FFLOS: 48.30302, −119.74846
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 48.29876, −119.73895

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, 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: ownership, 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

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