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Fire lookout · Lewis County, Washington

Rockies/The Rockies Lookout Site

Also known as The Rockies, Rockies, (Little)

Lewis County, WA D-6 cupola lookout on The Rockies, built 1929; 1941 bomber crash, 1942-43 aircraft warning use, removed or destroyed 1956.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1956 (sources differ on the word). Sources describe an overgrown trail and debris near the summit, not standing structures.

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
Guide: approach by FR 74 (gravel, rough in places; the easiest route described needs 4WD high clearance), then an overgrown route with an easy-to-follow final stretch to the former lookout. Ownership is mixed; check with land managers.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabD-6 cupola cabinThe design: D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1929
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,322 ft (1,317 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Lewis County, Washington
Coordinates
46.65652, −122.36597
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-rockies-the-rockies

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 3.9 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. 1922 First staffedWallace Mead named as lookout at the site, with a phone line (Chehalis Bee-Nugget, July 1922)Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1923 EventRainier National Forest recommended $1,000 for a lookout house; whether it built the 1929 cabin is not statedSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1929 BuiltD-6 cupola cabin built, per the Lookout Inventory cited by the guide and the registerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1931 EventForest Service employee Senter died after a shooting accident near Morton; sources disagree on first name (Herman or Thurman) and on whether he was the lookoutSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1941 EventTwin-motored bomber (McChord Field or Army Air Corps) crashed near the summit, wreckage over about two acresSources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. 1942 EventSite used by the Aircraft Warning Service, active April 6, 1942 to October 16, 1943Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  7. 1956 Destroyedfirelookout.com and the guide say the cabin was destroyedSources: firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. 1956 RemovedRegister says the cabin was eventually removedSource: firetower.org
  9. No record between 1956 and 2010
  10. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered October 17, 2010, nominated by Irene PotterSource: firetower.org
  11. 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 Rockies is a summit in Lewis County, Washington, at 4,322 feet.1,2 The Forest Lookouts page also calls it Rockies (Little) and places it in the Snoqualmie National Forest. The register places it in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.1,3

A lookout was working here by 1922. A Chehalis newspaper item from that July, quoted on the Forest Lookouts page, names Wallace Mead as the lookout at the Rockies.3 A guide says the site had a telephone line.4 In 1923 the Rainier National Forest said it had recommended $1,000 for a lookout house. The sources do not say whether that money built the cabin later recorded here.3

The site's D-6 cupola cabin dates from 1929.1,2,4

In October 1931 a Forest Service employee named Senter died after a shooting accident near Morton.3,4 The sources disagree on his first name. An Oregonian item calls him Herman Senter, a forest ranger, while a Centralia Daily Chronicle report gives Thurman Senter, age 29.3 The guide calls him the lookout, but the Centralia report places him at work on cabins roughly four miles from the station, with two colleagues.3,4

In February 1941 a searching plane spotted the wreckage of a McChord Field twin-engine bomber, reported missing, in timber near the lookout.3 The wreckage was spread across roughly two acres of woods.3,4 The register says the crash nearly demolished the cabin.1 From 1942 to 1943 the site served the Aircraft Warning Service.3,4

The register records the cabin's removal in 1956. The firelookout.com page and the guide say it was destroyed that year.1,2,4 None of the pages we read says how it ended.

Today, the guide says the mountain sits in a tangle of ownership and logging roads.4 Its route starts on FR 74, a gravel road the guide says is rough in places, and the guide describes its easiest route for a vehicle with 4WD and high clearance.4 The guide says much of the old summit trail survives, and that plenty of debris is still lying about.4 We found no source that describes footings or a foundation, and none says whether the site is open to visitors. Check with the land managers before you go.

  1. The Rockies/Rockies Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/rockiesthe-rockies-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. The Rockies Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/rockies.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Rockies (Little), Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/rockies-little.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Mount Elbert & The Rockies, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_climbing/mount_elbert/rockies_059.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Rockies/The Rockies Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
2001
2001 (2001)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
After 1941 airplane crash
After 1941 airplane crash (1941)Photo: 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, 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.