FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Sweetgrass Butte Lookout Site

30-foot pole L-4 tower on Sweetgrass Butte in Okanogan County, built 1933 with a 1932 staffed lookout before it; sold for removal in 1967. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Sold to a local resident for removal in 1967; the cab smashed to the ground during removal

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. No source read says whether the public may visit the site. A 1936 article describes a road route to it; a 1973 article says it still served as an emergency lookout

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
No tower remains to climb according to the sources read; none describes what remains at the site today

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot pole tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1933
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,104 ft (1,861 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.66896, −120.30446
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-sweetgrass-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 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. 1932 First staffedGeorge Storms began observing in mid-July 1932; Willhite says the site was still a camp at the time, before the tower was builtSource: willhiteweb.com
  2. 1933 BuiltRegister, firelookout.com and Willhite give 1933 for the 30-foot pole tower with L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1942 EventAircraft Warning Service used the lookout to watch for enemy aircraft; the service built sleeping quarters and reconditioned it. Active March 16, 1942 to July 1, 1943Source: willhiteweb.com
  4. 1952 StaffedDan Noble listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  5. 1954 StaffedMike Lynch listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  6. 1958 StaffedKeith Casey listed as known lookout personnelSource: firelookout.com
  7. 1962 StaffedWard Shafer, lookout guard, reported 240 visitors that summerSource: willhiteweb.com
  8. 1965 AbandonedHerald-Reporter (1973, quoted by Willhite) says permanent use was discontinued in the mid-1960s; 1965 stands for the mid-1960sSource: willhiteweb.com
  9. 1967 RemovedTower sold to a local resident for removal; the cab smashed to the ground when it was being removed by craneSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  10. 1973 EventHerald-Reporter says the site still served as an emergency lookout during lightning storms and high fire danger weatherSource: willhiteweb.com
  11. No record between 1973 and 2012
  12. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on November 23, 2012Source: firetower.org
  13. 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 register and firelookout.com both date the Sweetgrass Butte tower to 1933.1,2 Willhite's history describes a 30-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab built that year.3 It also names George Storms as the lookout in 1932. He did not start observing until mid-July, and Willhite says the site was still a camp at the time.3 The sources do not fully agree on when the station began.

In 1942 the Aircraft Warning Service used the lookout to watch for enemy aircraft.3 The service added sleeping quarters and refurbished the lookout.3 The site was active from March 16, 1942 until July 1, 1943.3

Firelookout.com lists the known lookout staff as Dan Noble in 1952, Mike Lynch in 1954 and Keith Casey in 1958.2 Willhite's page names Ward Shafer as the lookout guard in 1962 and reports 240 visitors to his station that summer.3

In 1936 the Brewster Herald suggested a drive to the lookout: go first to Winthrop, then up the Chewack River to the Cub Creek road.3

In 1967 a local resident bought the tower for removal.1,3 During the crane removal, a cable snapped and the cab crashed down.1

A 1973 Herald-Reporter item, as quoted by Willhite, said permanent use had been discontinued in the mid-1960s. It also said the site still served as an emergency lookout during lightning storms and high fire danger weather.3 The sources do not say what filled that role once the tower was gone.

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether visitors may go there.

  1. Sweetgrass Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/sweetgrass-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Sweetgrass Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/sweetgrassbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Sweetgrass Butte Lookout Site, willhiteweb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/sweetgrass_butte_lookout/winthrop_112.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Sweetgrass Butte Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1965
1965 (1965)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, 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.