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Fire lookout · Yakima County, Washington

Miners Ridge Lookout Site

Yakima County, WA: a two-story L-4 cab built in 1934 above Bumping Lake, removed or destroyed in 1972; garage foundations and a few unidentified foundation parts are described on the drive-up summit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1972; the sources describe garage foundations below the summit and a 2018 photo caption of a few foundation parts still on it

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Drive-up or walk road to the summit; rough and rocky, high clearance needed (4WD best); snow can last until mid-summer

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Root Lake trailhead at the summit; Granite Lake Campground near the summit

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Two-story buildingTwo-story tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,072 ft (1,851 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Yakima County, Washington
Coordinates
46.80267, −121.36295 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-miners-ridge-2

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 BuiltTwo-story L-4 cab; the register gives 1934 and Willhite's inventory 1933 to 1934. Roof panoramas taken by George Clisby July 19, 1934.Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1938 StaffedDave Wright was lookout in 1938Source: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1942 StaffedDouglas Jones was the 1942 lookoutSource: willhiteweb.com
  4. 1943 StaffedBetty Gallant was lookout in 1943Source: willhiteweb.com
  5. 1944 StaffedSummer 1944: three-generation women's team (grandmother, daughter Virginia, granddaughter Pamela, aged 14)Source: willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1944 and 1972
  7. 1972 RemovedRegister says removed; firelookout.com and Willhite say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. No record between 1972 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered August 11, 2012 as FFLOS US 1374Source: firetower.org
  10. 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.

Miners Ridge is in Yakima County, above Bumping Lake, about seven miles southeast of Chinook Pass.1,2,3 The register describes the lookout as a two-story L-4 cab and dates it to 1934.1 Willhite cites an inventory that gives 1933 to 1934.3 George Clisby took panoramic photographs from its roof on July 19, 1934.3,4

Willhite's page names several lookouts: Allen New in the late 1930s, Dave Wright in 1938, Douglas Jones in 1942 and Betty Gallant in 1943.3 In the summer of 1944 a team of three women staffed the tower: a grandmother, her daughter, and the daughter's 14-year-old, Pamela, who later remembered the work.3 An article by Joan Burton, reproduced on Willhite's page, says the trio were the only three-woman team in Region Six, which covered Washington and Oregon.3

The register says the tower was removed in 1972. Firelookout.com and Willhite both say it was destroyed that year.1,2,3

Today the summit road is kept up to the top, but it is rough and rocky throughout.3 The site is reached by a drive-up or walk road, and Willhite advises high clearance, with 4WD best.3 A Root Lake trailhead is at the top, and Granite Lake Campground is near the summit.3 The site sits empty in the off season and fills up in midsummer. Snow can linger on the summit road until then.3

Garage foundations lie in the parking area a short distance below the summit.3 A photo caption on Willhite's page says a few foundation parts were still on the summit in 2018, but the caption does not say which structure they belonged to.3 Apart from those, the sources we read describe no standing part of the lookout.3 A separate Miners Ridge tower in Snohomish County, 8 miles northeast of Glacier Peak, is a different lookout. Its present tower was built in 1953 and is staffed by volunteers.5

  1. Miners Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/miners-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Miners Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/minersridge163.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Miners Ridge Lookout Site - Naches Ranger District, WillhiteWeb.com, https://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/miners_ridge_lookout_site/naches_district_345.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. MINERS RIDGE, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/miners-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Miners Ridge Fire Lookout Tower (Snohomish County), firelookout.com, http://firelookout.com/wa/minersridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Miners Ridge Lookout
Miners Ridge LookoutPhoto: Eric Willhite collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Miners Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-19-1934 (N)
Miners Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-19-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Miners Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-19-1934 (SE)
Miners Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-19-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Miners Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-19-1934 (SW)
Miners Ridge Lookout panoramic 7-19-1934 (SW) (1934)Photo: National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 950 m.

    • FFLOS: 46.80267, −121.36295
    • FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites): 46.80889, −121.35444

    The map uses the position from FFLOS.

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, 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

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