Fire lookout · Snohomish County, Washington
Galena Mountain Lookout Site
Galena Mountain's 1931 L-4 cab served as an Aircraft Warning post, then moved to Maloney Ridge; footings remain on the mountain, but the road is out.
- Gone
- Access unknown
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Cab moved off the mountain (1941 per the register, 1950 per Willhite); footings are captioned at the site in a 2018 visit.
Visit & stay
Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.
Access
Access unknown
We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.
- Road to the top?
- Unknown
- Trail
- Willhite's notes: climb about 80 vertical feet from the Index-Galena Road; a photo caption dates a washout on that road to 2007-2008; access not yet re-established as of his page.
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Ground-level cabL-4 cabThe design: L-4
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1931
- Height
- Unknown
- Elevation
- 2,459 ft (750 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Snohomish County, Washington
- Coordinates
- 47.88028, −121.44556
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-wa-galena-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 4.0 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
- 1931 BuiltL-4 cab; Kresek (cited by Willhite) has the station established by 1931 with an L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
- 1941 MovedCab moved to Maloney Ridge per the register and Weebly; Willhite gives 1950 as the year it was reported movedSources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1942 StaffedAircraft Warning Service post with observers; activated August 29, 1942Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1943 EventAircraft Warning Service post deactivated October 7, 1943Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1950 EventWillhite: cab reported to have been moved to Maloney RidgeSource: willhiteweb.com
- No record between 1950 and 1969
- 1969 RemovedMaloney Ridge lookout (its own L-4 cab) removedSource: firetower.org
- No record between 1969 and 2012
- 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: March 26, 2012Source: FFLOS register entry
- 2018 Condition assessmentWillhite visit, March 2018: no road to the site; three footings captionedSource: willhiteweb.com
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Galena Mountain got an L-4 cab in 1931. The register gives that date.1 Eric Willhite's page says little is known about the station. It attributes to Kresek the claim that the station was established by 1931 with that cab.2
In 1942 and 1943 it was an Aircraft Warning Service post.3 Willhite's photo captions give the dates as August 29, 1942 to October 7, 1943, and he writes that sleeping quarters for the observers were added with Aircraft Warning Service funds.2,3
The cab's fate is less clear. The register and the Weebly page both say it was moved to Maloney Ridge in 1941.1,3 Willhite says the move was reported in 1950, and he is not sure whether the structure was helicoptered out or dismantled and reassembled there.2 The Maloney Ridge register describes its own lookout: an L-4 cab built in 1941, an AWS cabin in 1942, a new L-4 cab in 1953, and removal in 1969. It does not say whether the 1941 cab came from Galena Mountain.4
The register says the Galena Mountain lookout is now gone.1 Willhite's March 2018 visit found no road to the site. He describes a climb of about 80 vertical feet from the Index-Galena Road, and a photo caption dates a washout on that road to 2007-2008.2 His access note reads "Paved (when access is re-established)."2 His photo captions label three footings at the lookout site.2 The Maloney Ridge register says that lookout was removed in 1969 and does not describe what, if anything, remains there.4
- Galena Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, firetower.org, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/galena-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Galena Guard Station Lookout, WillhiteWeb.com, https://willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/galena_guard_station/lookout_264.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Galena Mountain, Forest Lookouts, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/galena-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Maloney Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, firetower.org, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/maloney-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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
- FFLOS register entry US 1244 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- Galena Guard Station Lookout (WillhiteWeb.com (Eric Willhite)) (opens another site)
- Maloney Ridge Lookout Site, US 636 (Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, firetower.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA Washington lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Galena Mtn. on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Galena Mountain on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.