FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Corral Butte Lookout Site

1933 ground-mounted L-4 cab in the Okanogan National Forest, reported gone by about 1957. Reached by a walk up from a locked gate; no source describes what remains now.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab reported gone by about 1957; no source describes what remains at the site now

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. Gated road. The summit is about half a mile up the road from a locked gate; no source says whether the gate is open to the public.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Walk about half a mile up the road from the locked gate, per WillhiteWeb. The cab was reported gone around 1957, and no source says whether anything remains to climb.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabGround-mounted L-4 cab, built 1933The design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,849 ft (2,088 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Okanogan National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.82295, −119.94357
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-corral-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 4.2 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. 1933 BuiltGround-mounted L-4 cab builtSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1934 EventPanoramic images taken from the roofSource: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1937 FireLightning strike at Corral Butte noticed and put out by the lookout without aid; reported by the Wenatchee Daily World on July 22, 1937Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1937 and 1956
  5. 1956 Condition assessmentUSGS party reported the lookout house still thereSource: willhiteweb.com
  6. 1957 RemovedCab reported gone around 1957. The Former Fire Lookout Sites page says it was removed in the 1960sSources: willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1957 and 2001
  8. 2001 EventSite appears to have been used in July 2001 in connection with the Thirty-mile Fire; road newly reworked and gate repaired with a new lock (2001 account)Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  9. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: September 28, 2010Source: FFLOS register entry
  10. 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.

Corral Butte is in the Okanogan National Forest, about 14 miles west of Loomis.1 A ground-mounted L-4 cab went up there in 1933.2,3,1 In 1934 panoramic photos were shot from its roof.3

In July 1937, the Wenatchee Daily World reported a lightning strike at Corral Butte that the lookout put out without help.3,4

In 1956 a U.S. Geological Survey party noted the lookout house still standing.3 Around 1957 the cab was reported gone, and the Fire Lookout page gives 1957 as the year.3,1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register instead says the cab was removed in the 1960s.2

In July 2001 the site appears to have been used again in connection with the Thirty-mile Fire, a blaze that killed four young firefighters, according to a 2001 account quoted on WillhiteWeb and in the register.2,3 The road had been newly reworked, and the gate had been repaired and fitted with a new lock.3

No source describes what remains at the site now. WillhiteWeb says the simplest approach comes from the Loomis area, by a gated road alongside Forest Road 39, and the hike is a half mile up the road from a locked gate.3 A SummitPost page with a photo dated 2009 says the peak once carried a fire lookout on its summit.5

WillhiteWeb describes a locked gate and a half-mile walk, but it does not say whether the gate is open now.3 Ask the Okanogan National Forest before you go.

  1. Corral Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, Fire Lookout, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/corralbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Corral Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/corral-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Corral Butte Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/corral_butte_lookout/fire_089.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Corral Butte, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/corral-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Corral Butte: Photos, Diagrams & Topos, SummitPost, https://www.summitpost.org/corral-butte/540559 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Corral Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Remnant wire September 2001
Remnant wire September 2001 (2001)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
September 2001
September 2001 (2001)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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.

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.