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Fire lookout · Jefferson County, Washington

Elk Creek Lookout Site

Quinault Tribe land in Jefferson County WA; 60-ft Aermotor tower and ground cabin built in the 1940s and abandoned in 1962; sources disagree on what remains; permission required.

Tribal land: permission required

This site is on tribal land. Ask the tribe for permission before visiting, and follow its rules. On Quinault Indian Reservation land; road access exists, but permission from the Quinault Tribe is required and access roads are signed no trespassing

Ruins: Only footings or remains are left. Abandoned 1962; the Register says removed, but WillhiteWeb says the tower is still on the ground and Fire Lookout says ruins are still present

Visit & stay

Ruins: footings or remains only. There is no structure to climb or rent.

Access

Tribal land: permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Good gravel roads reach the site; permission from the Quinault Tribe required

Facts

Status
Ruins
Type
Cab on a tower60-foot Aermotor steel tower with 7x7-foot metal cab, plus a small rectangular wooden ground cabinThe design: Aermotor
Built of
Steel
Built
1940
Height
60 ft (18.3 m)
Elevation
480 ft (146 m)
Agency
Quinault Tribe
Land
Tribal land
Location
Jefferson County, Washington
Coordinates
47.55117, −124.31133
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-elk-creek

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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.7 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. 1940 BuiltFire Lookout says built in the 1940, which may mean the decade or 1940; the Register and WillhiteWeb say the 1940s. Year shown (1940) is a placeholder from Fire Lookout's wording; the exact year is not confirmedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1940 and 1955
  3. 1955 EventWillhiteWeb photo caption shows the lookout and cabin in 1955Source: willhiteweb.com
  4. 1962 AbandonedTower and ground cabin abandonedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1962 and 2000
  6. 2000 EventRegister photographs dated 7/8/2000 show the tower lying on its side, the cab on its side, and the cabin being torn apart by treesSource: firetower.org
  7. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterFFLOS US 818, WA 36, registered January 8, 2011Source: firetower.org
  8. 2016 EventWillhiteWeb says the lookout area was logged around 2016Source: willhiteweb.com
  9. TodayRuinsOnly footings or remains are 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.

Elk Creek is a former fire lookout on the Quinault Indian Reservation, in Jefferson County, Washington, about a mile northeast of Queets.1,2 The Quinault Tribe administers the site.1 The lookout was a steel Aermotor tower, 60 feet high, with a metal cab measuring 7 by 7 feet, plus a rectangular wooden ground cabin beside it.1,3 The Register and WillhiteWeb date it to the 1940s.1,3 Fire Lookout gives only "the 1940," which may mean the decade or the single year 1940.2

We found no source that names a lookout or a fire the tower watched. A WillhiteWeb photo caption shows the lookout and cabin in 1955.3

The tower and cabin were abandoned in 1962.1,2,3 The Register says both are now removed, but its own photographs from July 2000 show the tower knocked over.1 Fire Lookout says ruins are still present.2 WillhiteWeb, which mentions logging around 2016, says the tower is still on the ground and the small cabin looks to be gone.3

The site has good gravel road access, but it is on tribal land.3 WillhiteWeb says you should have the Quinault Tribe's permission, and that the access roads carry no-trespassing signs.3 Please do not go onto the site without that permission. WillhiteWeb also expects new growth to screen the structure from view later.3

  1. Elk Creek Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/elk-creek-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Elk Creek Fire Lookout Tower, Fire Lookout, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/elkcreek.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Elk Creek Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/elk_creek_lookout/tower_260.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Elk Creek Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
End view of crumbling cabin 7/8/2000
End view of crumbling cabin 7/8/2000 (2000)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cabin being torn apart by trees 7/8/2000
Cabin being torn apart by trees 7/8/2000 (2000)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Tower lying on its side 7/8/2000
Tower lying on its side 7/8/2000 (2000)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Cab lying on its side 7/8/2000
Cab lying on its side 7/8/2000 (2000)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, access, 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, height, 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.