Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington
Franson Peak Lookout (now at the Molson Museum)
Also known as Molson Museum
Older L-4 cab from the 1950s Franson Peak tower, moved to the Molson Museum in Okanogan County when the current Franson structure was built in 1986.
- Standing
- Open to the public
- Verified
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Open to the public. Molson Museums say there is no fee to visit either museum and accept donations. Okanogan Country describes the cab as a ground-level display. The museums do not plow for access during snow events.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Yes, you can drive up
- Trail
- From Oroville, east on Chesaw Road to Molson Road, then about 5 miles to the town of Molson. Sources differ on the first leg (about 9 miles per Okanogan Country, 10 miles per Molson Museums).
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Ground-level cabL-4 cab from the 1950s 15-ft treated timber tower at Franson PeakThe design: L-4
- Built of
- Not recorded
- Built
- Unknown
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- Unknown
- Agency
- Unknown
- Land
- Unknown
- Location
- Okanogan County, Washington
- Coordinates
- 48.97897, −119.20200
- Registers
- Not on a lookout register
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-wa-franson-peak-at-molson-museum
View from the cab
What you see from the 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.
Downloads about 4.3 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
- 1986 MovedThe older L-4 cab moved from Franson Peak to the Molson Museum when the current 15-ft structure was built.Sources: okanogancountry.com, nhlr.org
- Date unknown MovedMoved from Franson Peak to the Molson Museum.Source: FFLA
- TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.
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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
The cab that now sits at Molson was once on Franson Peak, in Ferry County, Washington.1 The first facility on the peak went up in 1934 and carried an L-5 cab.2 In the 1950s, a 15-foot tower of treated timber with an L-4 cab took its place.2 The lookout was last staffed in 1995, and it hosted an Aircraft Warning Service station from March through October 1942.2
When the current 15-foot tower with a DNR live-in cab went up in 1986, the older L-4 cab went to the Molson Museum.2,1
Today the cab stands at ground level in the ghost town of Molson, east of Oroville, beside the Schoolhouse Museum.1 The sources differ slightly on the drive. Okanogan Country puts Molson Road about 9 miles along Chesaw Road from Oroville, while the Molson Museums say 10 miles.1,3 The Molson Museums say there is no fee to visit either museum, though donations are welcome.3 The Schoolhouse is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, 10a to 5p, seven days a week.3 The Molson Museums do not plow access routes during snow events.3
The summit is a different trip. Okanogan Country says a 4x4 can make the drive to Franson Peak, though the Molson cab is the simpler way to see one of these old cabs.1
- Franson Peak Cab at Molson, Okanogan Country, https://okanogancountry.com/index.php/poi/franson-peak-cab-at-molson (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Franson Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/franson-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Hours & Access, Molson Museums, https://molsonmuseums.org/hoursaccess/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Sources
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, 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
- Franson Peak Cab at Molson (Okanogan Country) (opens another site)
- Franson Peak Lookout (National Historic Lookout Register) (opens another site)
- Hours & Access (Molson Museums) (opens another site)
- FFLA Washington lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.