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Fire lookout · Jefferson County, Washington

Webb Mountain (lower)

Webb Mountain (lower), Jefferson County: a 1934 sidehill lookout, removed or destroyed in 1966; timbers and a foundation remain in 2015-2016 photos.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1966; timbers and one foundation remain at the sidehill site in photos dated 2015 and 2016.

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.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Willhite gives directions north of Hoodsport and a parking area at the edge of a clear-cut near the National Forest boundary; a short walk follows.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Type unknownL-4 cab on a 10-foot pole tower (firelookout.com); 2-story slant-walled cabin with garage (firetower.org); sources differ on which structure stood on the sidehillThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Washington State Division of Forestry / DNR (builder); U.S. Forest Service listed as administrator on firetower.org
Land
Unknown
Location
Jefferson County, Washington
Coordinates
47.61750, −123.01340
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-webb-mountain-lower

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 3.6 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. 1934 BuiltSidehill lookout built by the Washington Division of Forestry; cab set on a pole tower up a ramp of poles.Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1935 EventPanorama photographs taken June 11, 1935.Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1939 BuiltPer firelookout.com, a two-story slant-walled cabin was constructed on the summit by 1939.Source: firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1939 and 1966
  5. 1966 RemovedFiretower.org says removed; firelookout.com says destroyed; the index says Removed.Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

In 1934 the Washington Division of Forestry put a lookout on a sidehill on Webb Mountain, in Jefferson County.1 Sources differ on what it looked like.2,1,3 One says the cab was assembled on the ground and then placed on the tower by way of a ramp of small round poles, and that a carpenter, Ralph McClanahan, built the lookout.2 Firelookout.com describes a 10-foot pole tower on a sidehill three-quarters of a mile east of the summit, and says a two-story slant-walled cabin was built on the summit by 1939.3 Firetower.org, by contrast, ties the slant-walled cabin itself to the sidehill in 1934.1

Panorama photographs were taken there on June 11, 1935.2,4

The cabin came down in 1966.1,3 Firetower.org says it was removed, while Firelookout.com says it was destroyed.1,3

In photographs dated 2015 and 2016 on Willhite's page, two timbers from the old lookout still stand upright, and one foundation still has a post on it.4 Firelookout.com also says notable ruins could remain at the earlier sidehill site.3 Willhite's directions run north of Hoodsport to a parking area at the edge of a clear-cut on the National Forest boundary.4 Firetower.org lists the site as administered by the U.S. Forest Service.1 None of the pages we read says whether visitors may enter the site, so this account does not say.

  1. Webb Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/webb-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Webb Mountain (Lower) - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Washington Lookouts (Weebly), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/webb-mountain-lower.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Webb Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, http://www.firelookout.com/wa/webbmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Webb Mountain Lookout (Original Location), WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/olympic_mountains/webb_mountain_lookout/location_210.htm (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: name, location, county, status, agency, 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. 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
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.