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Fire lookout · Asotin County, Washington

Saddle Butte Lookout Site

Umatilla NF, Asotin County, WA; 20-foot L-4 tower built 1932 that has long since departed; footing and tent-site rock outline noted in 2016 photos; drive-up.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The tower has long since departed. The Willhite page says visitors can see the footing and the outhouse, and it notes that a rock outline around the tent was still there in 2016.

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, starting from Pomeroy; the Willhite page describes the 1.7-mile Saddle Butte Road as rocky in places, recommends high clearance, and says to park at the summit

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Park at the summit. The Willhite page says the footing and the outhouse can be visited. The tower itself is gone.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower20-foot round native timber tower with L-4 observation cabin (1932)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1932
Height
20 ft (6.1 m)
Elevation
5,840 ft (1,780 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Asotin County, Washington
Coordinates
46.06915, −117.46035
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-saddle-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 its recorded height.

Downloads about 3.8 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 EventTelephone line built from Mt. Misery to Saddle ButteSource: willhiteweb.com
  2. 1932 Built20-foot round native timber tower with an L-4 observation cabinSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1932 First staffedDick Shafer was the lookout that year and helped with constructionSource: willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1932 and 1965
  5. 1965 EventJuly 1, 1965 newspaper item quoted by Rex's page: a contract to build 1.6 miles of road for access to the construction of the Saddle Butte Lookout. The item does not say a new tower was built.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1965 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 17, 2012 as US 1536, WA 436; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  8. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Saddle Butte rises in Asotin County, Washington, on the Umatilla National Forest.1,2 The Forest Fire Lookout Association register and FireLookout.com give its elevation as 5,840 feet (1,780 m), while the header of the Willhite page says 5,900 feet.1,2,3

Mt. Misery was linked to the butte by a telephone line in 1931.3 The lookout followed in 1932: a 20-foot round native timber tower with an L-4 observation cabin.1,2,3,4 Dick Shafer held the lookout post that year, bringing in lumber by pack horse and helping with construction.3

A 1965 newspaper item, quoted on a Washington lookouts site, described a contract to build 1.6 miles of road for "the construction of the Saddle Butte Lookout."4 The item does not say whether a new tower went up, and the other sources keep 1932 as the tower's date.1,2,3

The tower has long since departed, according to the register.1 FireLookout.com leaves the end date as a question mark.2

According to the Willhite page, visitors can see the footing and the outhouse.3 The page notes that a rock outline around the tent was still there in 2016.3

The Willhite directions start in Pomeroy and head south 15 miles to the Umatilla National Forest.3 The page calls the 1.7-mile Saddle Butte Road rocky in places, recommends high clearance, and says to park at the summit.3

  1. Saddle Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites (Forest Fire Lookout Association), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/saddle-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Saddle Butte Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/saddlebutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Saddle Butte Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/saddle_butte/umatilla_national_forest_054.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Saddle Butte - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/saddle-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Saddle Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Saddle Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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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: design, height, 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, height, status, agency, access, 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.