North Cascades

STEWARDSHIP OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN:
GOVERNMENT IN THE NORTH CASCADES

UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE ERA

Lookouts

In addition to trail and telephone networks, lookouts became a critical tool for fire management in the national forests. A ranger in a lookout could stand as sentinel over a vast area of land, detecting fires miles away from the perch high atop a mountain ridge. Prior to the construction of lookout structures, USFS personnel lived in tents below the peak, hiking daily up to their posts. Copper Ridge, overlooking the Chilliwack River drainage; Desolation Peak; and Sourdough Mountain were all used in this fashion. [62] The first lookouts, built in the 1910s, were interesting frame structures capped with observation cupolas. None of these are extant today in the park. During the 1930s, the USFS embarked upon an ambitious lookout construction program taking advantage of New Deal funding and manpower programs such as the CCC. Forty-three lookouts were erected in the Mount Baker National Forest alone. These new lookouts were designed for easy construction and were of standard specifications (USFS blueprint # B-4205, with minor changes, 14' x 14' in dimension). The structures were compact in size and materials could easily be transported by pack horse or manpower. All of the pieces -- studs, windows, doors, etc. -- were interchangeable, making assembly simpler. [63] Standardization of the lookouts left little room for variation except in the roofline, which was either gabled or hipped. Despite this apparent uniformity, each cabin seemed to have a character of its own. Perhaps it was only the location--and the view from the lookout -- which gave this perception.

Lookouts were stocked with most of life's basic comforts. A bunk, stove, table, chairs, cupboards, lanterns, and cooking utensils comprised most of the furnishings. The Osborne firefighter stand was placed in the center of the cabin and a stool with glass insulators on the legs assured safety for the resident during electrical storms. A USFS employee serving as a lookout began the day early, usually at sunrise. Gathering and cutting wood for the stove, replenishing the cabin's water supply, housekeeping, keeping a daily log, and doing trail work did not leave a great deal of free time. [64]

The earliest lookout constructed within the confines of today's park was on Sourdough Mountain, above Diablo along the Skagit River. On July 11, 1916, Ranger Tommy Thompson and Forest Supervisor C.H. Park hiked up the steep slope ". . . to see about establishing a lookout station." [65] An experimental station, possibly a tent only, was completed that same summer on what was considered the most strategic view-point on the Skagit River watershed. [66] Sourdough commanded an excellent view directly up Thunder Creek drainage, a very good view along the upper Skagit nearly to the mouth of Lightning Creek, and a narrow view up Ruby Creek to Granite Creek. [67] A lookout structure was built the following year by Frank Davis, an early settler. Working at his mother's homestead at Cedar Bar, he hand-split cedar and packed the ready-to-assemble materials by horse up Sourdough Mountain. The finished building measured 10' x 10' and had a 6' x 6' cupola attached. Davis' father-in-law, a man named Campbell, served as the first lookout here. Sourdough lookout was retained until the 1930s when the CCC dismantled the original building, and, in 1933, constructed a new one of standard USFS design.

Other lookouts built within and on the boundary of today's park were found on Copper Ridge (1934), Easy Ridge (late 1930s), Bacon Point (a 35' tower lookout built prior to 1934), Roland Point (a tower built in the 1930s), Desolation (1932), and Hidden Lake (1931). [68]

Left: Packing in equipment for the construction of Hidden Lake Lookout, ca.1930s.
(Thompson Collection, Washtucna, Washington)
Right: First lookout built atop McGregor Mountain, n.d.
(NOCA-Sedro Woolley photo file)

On the east side of the divide there were four lookouts erected within today's park boundaries. The earliest stood atop McGregor Mountain overlooking the lower Stehekin River valley. A tent was pitched at the base of the mountain and used as a station until a 12' x 12' structure with a cupola and 23 large windows was completed in 1926 on the mountain top. [69] Nearby on Goode Ridge, a standard lookout was built in 1938 by the CCC, replacing a tent lookout. [70] Stiletto Peak had a 14' x 14' station built in 1931 and Boulder Butte, high above Stehekin Landing, had a 12' x 12' lookout built ca. 1938. [71]

The lookout system began its decline when aerial surveillance proved less expensive and more reliable than foot patrols. Although the trail system into the backcountry was extensive, fire suppression crews hiking in with heavy packs laden with tools were usually exhausted by the time they reached the flames. Smoke jumping was first introduced in the Chelan National Forest in the late 1930s and became increasingly important in the 1940s. By the following decade, many of the lookouts on the east side of the mountains were used only during periods of high fire danger, and . . . the smokejumper unit has displaced so many protection points that the Forest is manned by a more or less skeleton organization of key protection points." [72] Before the close of the 1950s, many of the abandoned stations were dismantled and removed by the USFS.

Federal legislation passed in 1965 directly affected the fate of the remaining lookouts on public lands. This act opened the way for citizen lawsuits against a federal agency for any injury suffered while on government property. Realizing the potential for hiker injury at lookouts high atop peaks, the USFS proceeded to remove all remaining lookouts no longer in use. [73] By this time, all four lookouts on the east side within today's park boundaries had been destroyed (between 1948 and 1953). On the west side of the divide only four of the seven lookouts remain today -- Desolation, Sourdough, Hidden Lake, and Copper Ridge. Bacon Point was destroyed in 1956, Roland Point in 1959, and the collapsed remnants of the Easy Ridge lookout were removed in 1970. [74] Easy Ridge and McGregor Mountain lookout sites have radio repeaters on their crests today, and Copper Ridge lookout is used by the NPS as a summer guard station. Hidden Lake lookout is on the NPS-USFS boundary and neither federal agency officially claims or maintains the structure. The lookout is, however, cared for annually by the Skagit Alpine Club by means of a summer work party. Members and other interested volunteers hike in with supplies and tools to make repairs to the lookout, and replenish fuel and water. The building is open to all and a generous cache of food is left for emergency use.

Desolation Lookout, one of four remaining lookouts inside the boundaries of NOCA.
(Photo by G. Luxenberg, NPS, 1984)