FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Okanogan/Chelan County, Washington

Cooper Mountain Lookout Site

Lookouts on Cooper Mountain from 1920; a 53-foot L-4 tower from 1939 was removed or destroyed in 1968, footings were there in 2015, and a drive-up road reaches the summit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The tower was removed or destroyed in 1968 (sources disagree on which); footings were on the summit in a 2015 photo caption.

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. Drive-up route per Willhite, who visited in 2020; the last hundred yards can be walked if the ruts are bad. The sources read mention no gate or closure.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Route from the Chelan-Manson Highway north on Boyd Road to Cooper Gulch Road, following signs for the Echo Ridge Ski Area. The tower is gone, so there is nothing to climb.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerCrow's nest (1920); log cabin (1927, burned); log cabin with 45-foot wooden tower and 7x7-foot cab (1932); 53-foot timber L-4 tower (1939)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1920
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,867 ft (1,788 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan/Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.01120, −120.08398
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-cooper-mountain

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 3.9 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. 1920 BuiltA crow's nest was usedSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1927 BuiltLog cabin built; a forest fire later burned itSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1931 AlteredRoad built to the station, the first in the Chelan National Forest to have oneSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1932 EventA July 1932 item says 76 short-wave radio sets were being installed in the Chelan forest, with Cooper Mountain among the stations namedSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1932 Replaced by a new structureNew log cabin with a 45-foot wooden tower and 7x7-foot cab after the fireSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  6. 1937 StaffedIn August 1937 a man from the 25-Mile Creek station took charge while the regular lookout was at a fire in the Columbia forestsSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1939 Built53-foot timber tower with an L-4 cab, staffed into the 1960sSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  8. No record between 1939 and 1968
  9. 1968 RemovedRegister says removed; FireLookout.com and Willhite say destroyedSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  10. No record between 1968 and 2012
  11. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 11, 2012 as US 1438, WA 338; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  12. 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.

Cooper Mountain had a lookout from 1920, when a crow's nest was used.1,2 It sits in the Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forests.1 A log cabin went up in 1927, and a forest fire burned it.1,2 The cabin was not replaced until 1932, when a new log cabin with a 45-foot wooden tower and a 7-by-7-foot cab took its place.1,2

In 1931 the station became the first in the Chelan National Forest with a road built to it.2,3 A July 1932 item says 76 short-wave radio sets were being installed in the Chelan forest, and it names the Cooper Mountain station as one of the places receiving the 11 large sending and receiving sets.3

A 53-foot timber tower with an L-4 cab was built in 1939, and the station was staffed into the 1960s.1,2 In August 1937, a relief man from the 25-Mile Creek station was sent to run Cooper Mountain while its regular lookout was at a fire in the Columbia forests.3

The tower came down in 1968.1 The register says it was removed, while FireLookout.com and Willhite say it was destroyed. The sources disagree on how it ended but agree on the year.1,4,2

Willhite visited in 2020 and describes the site as drive-up.2 From the Chelan-Manson Highway, the route runs north on Boyd Road to Cooper Gulch Road, following signs for the Echo Ridge Ski Area.2 He says the last hundred yards can be walked if a car has trouble with the ruts.2 A 2015 photo caption on his page shows firefighters holding an after-action review on the footings, which suggests the footings were still on the summit then.2

  1. Cooper Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/cooper-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Cooper Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/cooper_mountain_lookout/lake_chelan_088.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Cooper Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/cooper-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Cooper Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/coopermtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cooper Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1932, crows nest
1932, crows nest (1932)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1932
1932 (1932)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Removal, 1968
Removal, 1968 (1968)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, 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, access, staffing, 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.