FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Lorraine Lookout Site

Wenatchee NF, Chelan County, WA ground site: an L-4 cab below the ridgetop, staffed in 1933, abandoned 1941 and listed as gone; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned in 1941 per FFLOS and FireLookout.com; the Forest Fire Lookout Association lists it as gone. 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

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab built below the ridgetop, not a towerThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
5,451 ft (1,662 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
47.66690, −121.07061
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-lorraine

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 4.3 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

  1. 1931 BuiltRegister's Built field and FireLookout.com both give 1931 for the L-4 cab below the ridgetopSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1932 EventWenatchee newspaper report: new lookout stations established on Lorraine peak and Jack ridge, completing coverage of the Icicle watershedSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1933 StaffedWilliam Hansen listed as lookout-fireman at Lorraine Point in a Leavenworth paper of June 23, 1933; FireLookout.com gives him as the known 1933 lookoutSources: firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1934 BuiltRegister description says the L-4 cab was built below the ridgetop in 1934, which conflicts with the 1931 build date in the register's Built fieldSource: firetower.org
  5. 1934 EventPanorama photographs taken August 12, 1934; register credits its 1934 panoramas to the National Archives Pacific Northwest RegionSources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1941 AbandonedCab abandoned in 1941 per the register description and FireLookout.comSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1941 and 2020
  8. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered April 13, 2020 as US 1995, WA 485; nominated by Tammy McLeodSource: firetower.org
  9. 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.

Lorraine was a ground-level lookout in the Wenatchee National Forest in Chelan County, Washington, about four miles south of Stevens Pass.1,2 Its L-4 cab sat below the ridgetop, not on the summit, at an elevation of 5,451 feet.3

Sources disagree on when the lookout started. The register gives 1931 as the build year, and FireLookout.com gives the same year for the cab.3,1 The register's own description, however, places the cab below the ridgetop and dates it to 1934.3 A July 1932 Wenatchee World item reported that new lookouts had been set up on Lorraine peak and Jack ridge, which gave the Icicle watershed complete lookout coverage.4

A Leavenworth paper listed William Hansen as the lookout-fireman at Lorraine Point in June 1933, and FireLookout.com names him as the known lookout for that year.4,1 Panorama photographs were taken on August 12, 1934.4 The register credits its 1934 panoramas to the National Archives Pacific Northwest Region.3

The cab was abandoned in 1941.3,1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the site as a ground site that is gone.2

We found no source that describes what remains at the site today, such as footings or a foundation, or whether the public can reach it.

  1. Lorraine Fire Lookout Cabin, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/lorraine.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Washington Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wa/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Lorraine Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/lorraine-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Lorraine - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/lorraine.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Lorraine Lookout panoramic 8-12-1934 (N)
Lorraine Lookout panoramic 8-12-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lorraine Lookout panoramic 8-12-1934 (SE)
Lorraine Lookout panoramic 8-12-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Lorraine Lookout panoramic 8-12-1934 (SW)
Lorraine Lookout panoramic 8-12-1934 (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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, staffing, 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.