FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Lewis County, Washington

Siouxon Peak Lookout Site

Gone Siouxon Peak lookout site in the Gifford Pinchot NF: a 1920s cupola cabin, an L-4 cab from 1935, and summit remnants recorded in 2021.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. No standing structure reported; summit remnants (hook anchor, stovepipe, phone-line pegs, shed pad, privy and garbage pit) recorded on WillhiteWeb in 2021; removal date not recorded, probably 1960s per Oregon Hikers

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. Reached on foot by a hike of about 2 miles with 1,500 ft of gain; sources describe a hiking route and name no closure or permit. Level inferred from hiking guides, not from a Forest Service notice

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 2 miles and 1,500 ft of gain; the short trail to the lookout is not signed; some access roads need high clearance because of berms

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabCupola cabin of the 1920s, replaced in 1935 by an L-4 cabThe designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1921
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,169 ft (1,271 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Gifford Pinchot National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lewis County, Washington
Coordinates
45.99240, −122.13069
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-siouxon-peak

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 4.0 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. 1921 BuiltCupola cabin probably finished in summer 1921 per WillhiteWeb; FFLOS and Oregon Hikers say the 1920sSources: willhiteweb.com, firetower.org, oregonhikers.org
  2. 1927 AbandonedCrews pulled out of the Siouxon fire district in August 1927; a newspaper expected the stations to burn and reported instruments removed and houses abandonedSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1935 Replaced by a new structureL-4 cab replaced the cupolaSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1937 EventPanorama photographs taken July 31, 1937 show a phone line, flagpole, stovepipe, weather station and shedSource: willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1937 and 1964
  6. 1964 EventLast dated image in the WillhiteWeb record; the date the cab was destroyed is not knownSource: willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1964 and 2012
  8. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered July 17, 2012 as FFLOS US 1341 (WA 241), nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  9. 2021 EventWillhiteWeb visit photos dated November 20, 2021 record summit remnantsSource: willhiteweb.com
  10. 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.

Siouxon Peak is in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington, where a fire lookout once stood.1 The first lookout here was a cupola cabin, probably finished in the summer of 1921.2 An October 1921 newspaper item, quoted by WillhiteWeb, said the Columbia National Forest in Washington was the most thoroughly equipped with lookouts of any forest in its district. With the Siouxon Peak lookout finished, it had nine stations, and another house was being built that winter.2 Other pages only date the cabin to the 1920s.1,3 A heading on firelookout.com gives the years as 1931 to the 1960s, which does not match the 1921 item.4

Panorama photographs taken on July 31, 1937 show a phone line, a flagpole, a stovepipe, a weather station and a shed.2

In August 1927, crews were pulled out of the Siouxon fire district ahead of the flames.2 A newspaper report that month expected the Siouxon, Gumboot and Lookout Mountain stations to burn. It also said the instruments had been removed and the houses abandoned.2,5

In 1935 an L-4 cab replaced the cupola.1,4,2 The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register cannot say when the L-4 was destroyed.1 WillhiteWeb's last image of the site is from 1964, and it does not know when the cab came down.2 Oregon Hikers thinks the tower was most likely torn down in the 1960s.3

Today only remains are reported on the summit.2,3 WillhiteWeb's visit notes, with photos dated November 20, 2021, mention a hook anchor, an old stovepipe tossed down the hillside, phone-line pegs still in the trees, a flat spot cut for the shed, and an old privy and garbage pit reached by a short spur trail.2

Reaching the summit is a hike of about 2 miles with 1,500 feet of gain, and the short trail to the lookout has no signage.2 Some access roads need high clearance because of berms.2

  1. Siouxon Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/siouxon-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Siouxon Peak Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/siouxon_peak_lookout/forest_service_024.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Siouxon Peak, Oregon Hikers field guide, https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Siouxon_Peak (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Siouxon Peak Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/siouxon.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Siouxon Peak, Forest Lookouts (Washington), washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/siouxon-peak.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Siouxon Peak 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, 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, 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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