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Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Horton Butte Lookout Site

A 1934 L-5 cab in Chelan County, in the Wenatchee National Forest; removed or destroyed in 1953, and no source describes what remains today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The cab was removed in 1953 (register) or destroyed that year (FireLookout.com, Willhite). No source describes what remains.

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
No source we read describes a route to the site or what remains there.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-5 cabThe design: L-5
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,834 ft (2,083 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.23841, −120.52169
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-horton-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 4.1 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. 1934 BuiltL-5 cab; Willhite says panoramic photos were taken on September 16, 1934Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1939 StaffedAustin Post served as an emergency lookout in the fall, per WillhiteSource: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1953 RemovedThe register says removed; FireLookout.com and Willhite say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1953 and 2012
  5. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 20, 2012; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  6. 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.

The Horton Butte lookout stood in the Wenatchee National Forest in Chelan County, about four miles northeast of Lucerne.1,2 The register and FireLookout.com both date its L-5 cab to 1934, and Willhite's site agrees.1,2,3 Willhite's site adds that panoramic photos were taken there on September 16, 1934, and that a shadow in them is probably the lookout under construction.3

In 1939, Austin Post served as an emergency lookout there.3 Willhite's site recounts a severe lightning storm that set fires across Chelan, after which the ranger asked Post to go up to the station.3

The register says the cab was removed in 1953.1 FireLookout.com and Willhite say it was destroyed that year.2,3 The sources agree on the year but not on how the cab left the site.

No source we read describes what remains at the site now, and none says whether the site is open to visitors. Willhite's page lists the hiking distance as not yet visited.3

  1. Horton Butte Lookout Site, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/horton-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Horton Butte Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/hortonbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Horton Butte Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/horton_butte_lookout/lake_chelan_121.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Horton Butte Lookout panoramic 9-16-1934 (N)
Horton Butte Lookout panoramic 9-16-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Horton Butte Lookout panoramic 9-16-1934 (SE)
Horton Butte Lookout panoramic 9-16-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Horton Butte Lookout panoramic 9-16-1934 (SW)
Horton Butte Lookout panoramic 9-16-1934 (SW) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via 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, 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.