Fire lookout · Jefferson County, Washington
Webb Mountain Lookout Site
Also known as Webb Mountain (upper)
Jefferson County, WA: two Webb Mountain lookouts; the summit building was destroyed in 1966, sources conflict on the build sequence, and a 1955 benchmark and outhouse remain.
- Gone
- Access unknown
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Summit lookout destroyed in 1966 per Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb; FFLOS dates the removal of its sidehill cabin to 1966. Little remains at the summit; the lower site has one foundation with a post and two vertical timbers per WillhiteWeb.
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
- Final mile of summit road has become a bushwhack; at the lower site, climb the hillside from the parking area
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Three-story buildingTwo-story enclosed cabin with garage topped by an L-4 cab (FFLOS, Firelookout.com); WashingtonLookouts describes a 16-foot round timber tower with a 14x14 R-6 plan cabThe designs: L-4, R-6
- Built of
- WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
- Built
- 1934
- Height
- 16 ft (4.9 m)
- Elevation
- 2,775 ft (846 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service per FFLOS; Washington State Division of Forestry/DNR per Firelookout.com
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Jefferson County, Washington
- Coordinates
- 47.61690, −123.02420
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-wa-webb-mountain
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 3.6 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
- 1934 BuiltSidehill building begun about 1934 (FFLOS, Firelookout.com); WashingtonLookouts dates a 16-foot round timber tower on the Hoodsport district to 1934Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1936 Condition assessmentJuly 1, 1936 document judged the lower site a poor place and recommended re-establishing the lookout further back on the ridgeSource: willhiteweb.com
- 1937 MovedSummit building built or moved there around 1937 or 1938; WillhiteWeb offers the lower-cab-moved-up idea as a working theorySource: willhiteweb.com
- 1942 EventAircraft Warning Service station activated March 16, 1942 (Olympia Filter Center); WillhiteWeb calls it a year-round AWS stationSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
- No record between 1942 and 1966
- 1966 DestroyedSummit lookout destroyed per Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb; FFLOS dates the removal of its sidehill cabin to 1966Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
- No record between 1966 and 2011
- 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 20, 2011; nominated by Irene PotterSource: firetower.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Webb Mountain, above Hood Canal in Jefferson County, had two lookouts, one on the summit and one lower on the slope.1,2,3 The sources disagree about which building was which and when each one went up.
The lower site sat on a sidehill about three-quarters of a mile east of the summit.4 FFLOS and Firelookout.com date the sidehill building to about 1934.1,4 Firelookout.com describes a 10-foot pole L-4 tower there at first.4 WashingtonLookouts, whose page covers the upper site, gives 1934 for a 16-foot round timber tower with a 14-by-14 cab on the Hoodsport district.5
A document dated July 1, 1936 judged the lower site a poor place and recommended re-establishing the lookout further back on the same ridge.2 WillhiteWeb says the summit building was built, or moved there, around 1937 or 1938. It offers the idea that the lower cab was moved up the hill as a working theory.2
During the war the site was an Aircraft Warning Service station, which WashingtonLookouts dates from March 16, 1942.5,2 WillhiteWeb says a final post-war AWS document records that the site was winterized and that no funds went to new structures.2 Its photo captions name Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Wolcott as AWS observers.2
Firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say the summit building was destroyed in 1966.4,2 FFLOS dates the removal of its sidehill cabin to the same year.1
Today little remains at the summit. WillhiteWeb mentions an old outhouse structure near the road and a survey benchmark disk, stamped Webb Mtn 1955, set in a concrete post.2 Little of the view is left, and the last mile up the road has turned into a rough bushwhack.2 At the lower site, WillhiteWeb describes one of the foundations, still holding a post, and two timbers still standing vertically, a few feet from the National Forest boundary. A recent timber harvest opened the view again.3 The summit road is gravel and described as mostly good.2 We found no source saying whether either site is open to the public.
- Webb Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/webb-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Webb Mountain Summit and Lookout Location, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/olympic_mountains/webb_mountain/lookout_map_211.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Webb Mountain Lookout (Original Location), WillhiteWeb.com, https://www.willhiteweb.com/olympic_mountains/webb_mountain_lookout/location_210.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Webb Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/webbmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Webb Mountain (Upper), Forest Lookouts (Washington), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/webb-mountain-upper.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Photos
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
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) 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
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, 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
- WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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
- FFLOS register entry US 850 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- FFLOS register entry US 850 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- Webb Mountain Lookout (Original Location) (WillhiteWeb.com) (opens another site)
- FFLA Washington lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Webb Mtn. on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Webb Mountain (upper) on Forest Lookouts, western US (Ron Kemnow) (opens another site)
- Webb Mountain (Upper) on WillhiteWeb.com Washington Fire Lookouts (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.