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Fire lookout · Asotin County, Washington

Smoothing Iron

Umatilla NF emergency cabin on Smoothing Iron Ridge, built 1933 or 1935; moved in 1950 and 2003 and now standing on private land in Whitman County.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. The relocated cabin is on private property in Whitman County; Ralph and Peggy Owen visited it in 2021 with special permission. The original ridge is National Forest ground.

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. The ridge cabin moved in 1950 and again in 2003; it stands on private land in Whitman County. The register lists the ridge site as gone.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Willhite Web: from Pomeroy take 15th Street south, then FR-44 to Round Prairie; 500 to 1000 feet of easy walking to the original ridge site
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Moved
Type
Type unknownL-5 cabinThe design: L-5
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Umatilla National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Asotin County, Washington
Coordinates
46.19190, −117.40940
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-smoothing-iron

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.6 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. 1933 BuiltWillhite Web: during a 1933 CCC camp in the Asotin District, one project was the emergency lookout house; other sources give 1935Source: willhiteweb.com
  2. 1935 BuiltDated 1935 by the register, firelookout.com and Rex's page; register panoramas dated August 7, 1935Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1935 and 1950
  4. 1950 MovedMoved off the ridge to a farm 4.5 miles (firelookout.com) or 5 miles (Willhite Web) northeastSources: firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1950 and 2003
  6. 2003 MovedFarm sold to WDFW and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation; cabin moved to family property on another ranch in Whitman CountySources: firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 17, 2012Source: firetower.org
  8. Date unknown EventUsed for emergencies in the 1940s; no exact start year givenSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  9. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. 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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Smoothing Iron Ridge, in the Umatilla National Forest in Asotin County, Washington, once held an emergency lookout cabin.1,2 One source calls it an L-5 cabin.3 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register dates the cabin to 1935, and it dates archive panoramas of the site to August 7 of that year.1 The Forest Lookouts page, which carries the name Rex's Fire Lookout Page, also gives 1935.2

Willhite Web gives an earlier date, 1933. A Civilian Conservation Corps camp was in the Asotin District that year, and one of its projects was building the emergency lookout house.4 The sources disagree by two years.1,3,4,2

During the 1940s the cabin was used in emergencies.1,3

In 1950 the cabin was moved off the ridge to a farm to the northeast. firelookout.com gives the distance as 4.5 miles and Willhite Web as 5.3,4 In 2003 the farm was sold to the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.4 During the sale, the Schlee family moved the cabin to family property on a different ranch, which is now in Whitman County.4 firelookout.com likewise says it went to a private farm in Whitman County in 2003.3

The register, which covers the ridge site, says the cabin "is now gone."1 The Forest Fire Lookout Association's Washington list shows the relocated cabin as standing on private land in Whitman County.5 Willhite Web's 2021 account describes it in good condition in a safe location in Whitman County.4

The cabin is on private property.4,5 Willhite Web reports that Ralph and Peggy Owen visited the cabin at its current site in 2021, with special permission.4

The original ridge is National Forest ground.1,4 Willhite Web gives directions from Pomeroy: take 15th Street south, then FR-44 to Round Prairie, where you park and walk. The walk is 500 to 1,000 feet of easy going.4 The foundation has been hard to find, and no source describes a structure on the ridge now.4

  1. Smoothing Iron Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/smoothing-iron-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Smoothing Iron, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/smoothing-iron.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Smoothing Iron Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, http://www.firelookout.com/wa/smoothingiron.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Smoothing Iron Ridge Lookout Site - Round Prairie, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/smoothing_iron_ridge/round_prairie_050.htm (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Washington lookout list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wa/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: name, location, county, status, agency, ownership, 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
  2. 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.