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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Washington Butte Lookout Site

40-foot pole tower with L-4 cab built 1936 on Washington Butte near Pateros; removed in 1952. A 2020 visit found the old summit road now a trail.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in 1952; a June 2020 visit found no tower, only the old summit road, now a trail

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. On Wenatchee National Forest land; Forest roads reach the area and usually open in spring after the snow melts. The last part is a walk.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Old road from the saddle to the summit is now a trail: about a quarter mile with roughly 200 feet of climb, per Willhite's 2020 visit

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot pole tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,390 ft (1,338 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
47.97638, −120.03329
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-washington-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 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. 1936 Built40-foot pole tower with L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1936 and 1952
  3. 1952 RemovedTower removed; both the register and Willhite give 1952Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1952 and 2012
  5. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: November 23, 2012Source: FFLOS register entry
  6. 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.

Washington Butte's lookout was a 40-foot pole tower topped by an L-4 cab, built in 1936 in Okanogan County, Washington.1,2,3 The site sits about eight miles southwest of Pateros, in the Wenatchee National Forest.1,3

Willhite's 1938 photographs were shot from a roof 52 feet up. That figure does not match the 40-foot height in the register, and the sources do not explain the difference.1,2

The tower was removed in 1952.1,2

A June 2020 visit found that the old summit road, reached from the saddle, has become a footpath.2 Willhite calls the walk easy and open, about a quarter mile with roughly 200 feet of climb.2 One photo from that visit is captioned "Remaining relic," and a second caption line guesses "Maybe a metal jug."2

Forest roads reach the area from the Chelan-Manson Highway.2 Willhite says any vehicle can use them, and they typically open in spring as the snow melts.2 With no tower standing, there is nothing to climb.1

  1. Washington Butte Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/washington-butte-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Washington Butte Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/washington_butte_lookout/chelan_102.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Washington Butte Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/washingtonbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Washington 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, 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.