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Fire lookout · Kittitas County, Washington

Teanaway Butte Lookout Site

Forest Service L-4 cab on a 10-foot tower on Teanaway Butte, built 1940; transferred to the state 1944; destroyed 1968; a tree platform is reported still there.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in 1968; the FFLOS entry says a tree platform is still there

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. Willhite describes a walk up the Middle Fork route; a gate past the first bend bars motor vehicles, and the peak is a popular winter snowshoe

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Park where Road 230 turns off; about two miles of road to a ridge, then a switchback hiking trail for the final few hundred feet

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower10-foot tower with a wooden L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1940
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
4,769 ft (1,454 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (built 1940); transferred to the State in 1944
Land
Federal land
Location
Kittitas County, Washington
Coordinates
47.33172, −120.93735
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-teanaway-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 3.9 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. 1933 StaffedR.A. Spence listed as known lookout personnel; the listing does not say which structureSource: firelookout.com
  2. 1935 EventSummit photographed with many trees cut while a lookout was being plannedSource: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1940 BuiltBuilt by the U.S. Forest Service: 10-foot tower with a wooden L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1944 EventTower transferred to the State for fire dutiesSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1955 AbandonedReported abandoned in the mid-1950s; the year is approximateSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  6. 1968 DestroyedDestroyed in 1968; a Willhite photo caption calls one 1968 picture a burningSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1968 and 2012
  8. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: October 28, 2012Source: FFLOS register entry
  9. 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 Forest Service built a lookout on the summit of Teanaway Butte in 1940: a wooden L-4 cab on a 10-foot tower.1,2 Willhite's 1935 pictures show many trees cut from the summit while a lookout was being planned, and the same page suggests a fire finder was already there, perhaps with a crow's nest tree.2 The only lookout person named in these sources is R.A. Spence, listed for 1933, years before the cab went up.3

The state took over the tower in 1944 for fire duties.1,2 By the mid-1950s it was reported abandoned, and in 1968 it was destroyed.1,2 A Willhite photo caption calls one 1968 picture a burning.2

The tower itself is gone.1,2 The FFLOS entry says a tree platform is still there.1 Willhite's photo list includes one captioned "Lookout Footings."2

Today the route is a walk.2 Willhite says to park where Road 230 turns off the Middle Fork Teanaway road. A gate past the first bend bars motor vehicles.2 The road runs about two miles to a ridge, and the last few hundred feet are a switchback hiking trail.2 The page adds that snowshoeing there is usually a winter activity.2

  1. Teanaway Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/teanaway-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Middle Teanaway & Teanaway Butte Lookout Sites, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington/fire_lookouts/teanaway_butte/map_261.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Teanaway Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/teanawaybutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Teanaway Butte Lookout Site
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, 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, height, 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.