FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Chelan County, Washington

Three Brothers Lookout Site

Chelan Co., WA L-4 cab on the middle Three Brothers peak, 1934 to 1966; footings and an old stove reported at the summit; old trailhead blocked by private claims.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The cab was removed or destroyed in 1966. A WillhiteWeb account with 2021 photos describes footings and an old stove still at the summit.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. WillhiteWeb says private mining claims and property have blocked the old trailhead and calls the site remote. Its listing also gives a good gravel road to the Stafford Creek trailhead. Access is not clearly open to visitors.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab on the middle of three peaksThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,169 ft (2,185 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Chelan County, Washington
Coordinates
47.43084, −120.75981
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-three-brothers

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. 1934 BuiltL-4 cab constructed.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1934 EventJuly 1934 smoke report from lookouts on Three Brothers and Mission Peak; a CCC crew was called out to check it, and the smoke was judged to be sheep dust.Source: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1934 StaffedErnest E. Trub named as lookout in 1934 newspaper items quoted by WillhiteWeb.Source: willhiteweb.com
  4. 1937 EventSeveral people hiked up to spend a day with Everett Wagoner at the station (July 17, 1937 newspaper item).Source: willhiteweb.com
  5. 1941 StaffedBen Bryant was the lookout in 1941.Source: willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1941 and 1966
  7. 1966 RemovedCab removed per the register; Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say destroyed. The year agrees across sources.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. No record between 1966 and 2012
  9. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered in the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on October 28, 2012.Source: firetower.org
  10. 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 Three Brothers lookout stood on the middle of three peaks in Chelan County, Washington, at about 7,169 feet.1 Firelookout.com places it in the Wenatchee National Forest.2

An L-4 cab was constructed there in 1934.3,2,1

Newspaper items from the 1930s and 1940s, quoted by WillhiteWeb, name a few people at the station. Ernest E. Trub was on the lookout in 1934. That August, the Leavenworth Echo reported that he had watched two climbers through field glasses as they tried to ascend Mount Stuart, and he did not believe they reached the top.1

In July 1934 lookouts on Three Brothers and Mission Peak reported a small smoke near Schaser Creek. A CCC crew was called out to check it, and the smoke was judged to be sheep dust.1

That August an eagle carried off a cache of bacon that Trub had kept in a snowbank near the station.1

In 1937 several people hiked up to spend a day with Everett Wagoner at the station. In 1941 Ben Bryant was the lookout.1

The cab came down in 1966. The register says it was removed that year, while Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say it was destroyed.3,2,1

A WillhiteWeb account with 2021 photos describes footings at the site, one with burned wood still attached. It also mentions an old stove on the summit and a phone line pole still standing just below it.1

WillhiteWeb lists a good gravel road to the Stafford Creek trailhead. Its text also says the site is remote, and that private mining claims and property have blocked the old trailhead. The site is not clearly open to visitors.1

  1. Three Brothers Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/three_brothers_lookout/teanaway_049.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Three Brothers Fire Lookout Cabin, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/threebrothers.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Three Brothers Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/three-brothers-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Three Brothers 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, 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, 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.