Stevens Pass - Skylight Ridge LO

Located just above Stevens Pass is a tower that the current site manager says was a lookout. Final documentation is still being perused but everything is pointing to a confirmation of this as a lookout used for fire.

The date of construction of the tower is unknown but on August 15, 1934, at or near the current tower, photo Survey panoramas were taken. At just 3 feet above the ground, no structure existed where the photos were taken, but the hillside was a prime target for some kind of observation, and being considered. Just 10 years before in 1924, the first automobiles had crossed over the pass. The Forest Service contributed $90,000 to the road as a means of providing better access to recreation and fire suppression on forest lands. With no other lookout towers covering this large valley now accessible by the masses, some kind of lookout would have been warranted.

Since Dec. 7, 1939, the landowner was Phillip W. Bailey. The earliest proof I have of the tower is a aerial photo taken in 1958 that shows the road and structure in place. Then, 10 years later in 1968, the tower was utilized by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WADOT). The WADOT got an easement from Phillip W. Bailey for access up the ridge (including utilities) and for the transmitter site (location of the tower).

The WADOT has used the height of the tower to attach all kinds of communication equipment. Power and other cables drop down to a newer structure below used to house the larger parts of the communication site. Unfortunately, the easement makes no mention of the tower, just the land use. We still don’t know if the tower was owned by Phillip W. Bailey or the Forest Service. USGS maps from the 1967 to today label the site as Radio Tower, which is in line with the WADOT easement which states the use was for a State Wide Radio Communications System. Today, the land is no longer owned by Phillip W Bailey but owned by the Forest Service.

Based on some measurements at the base, we think the height of the steel tower is 25 feet and the outside width of the cab to be about 8 feet 6 inches, making it unlikely the cab was used for living quarters. There is a former floor hatch into the cab when a ladder went directly from the ground up to the floor of the cab. Since then, obvious improvements to the structure have been made with a newer ladder system and new entrance and door design making access easier and safer. The window framework has been replaced with studs so that walls could be added, allowing insulation boards to protect the equipment inside. The entire roof/attic area could also have been rebuilt. The outer wood walls have been covered with sheets of metal, possibly so the communication equipment could easier bolt to the outside (see images). Numerous other changes can be found to make the structure modifiable as a communications tower.

The ridge is often called Skyline Ridge, probably because of Skyline Lake. All the USGS maps from 1965 to today show the lake called Skyline Lake. Yet, the 1953 mountaineers article calls it Skylight Ridge as well as Joanne Roe in her book about Stevens Pass history.

More to come as we find it.....

Elevation: 4,918 feet
Hiking Distance: One mile
Elevation Gain: 800 feet
Road Access: Paved

Looking North - 1935

View from the hole in the roof of the lookout tower in 2020

Important to note, although the author mentions the book, "Lookouts: Firewatchers of the Cascades and Olympics", with most of the locations in her book from the master list in the Lookouts book, Skylight Ridge is not mentioned in Lookouts: Firewatchers of the Cascades and Olympics.

Combine this with a winter ski or snowshoe hike that passes over the lookout location.

UPDATE: I contacted Joann Roe and she graciously checked her box of sources and sent me a 1914 article from the Leavenworth Newspaper. Unfortunately, it said nothing about Skyline Ridge (she may have just sent the wrong one).

Looking Southwest - 1935

Looking Southeast - 1935

Same 1958 aerial (zoomed in) showing lookout

Photo by Ralph Owen, November 2019 (hatch on the roof is now open)

Photo by Ralph Owen, November 2019

Steel powerline towers can be seen in the panoramics, 2 steel towers go over Skyline Ridge, one in the Southwest view and one in the Southeast view. The other visible pole towers are wood.

Before Highway 2, it was called Highway 15. Here you can see Hwy. 15 go over a bridge, hairpin turn and go over another bridge. Years later, Highway 2 would come in at the hairpin turn. Note the steel powerline tower on bottom left.

Highway 15 is along the bottom of the valley, coming up the valley going out of view, then climbing steeply with a switchback on the left side of image before hitting the Stevens Pass. The old abandoned railroad grade comes up the valley on the other side, traversing the hillside (now the location of Hwy 2).

Taken from a 1953 mountaineers journal, uses the name Skylight Lake.

1967 USGS showing the powerlines going up, over and down Skyline Ridge

This 1959 Metsker map shows Phillip W. Bailey as the landowner, he is the person who granted the easement to WADOT.

This 1965/1967 USGS map is the first I have found to show RADIO TOWER at the lookout location. The WADOT easment was for 1968.

This image is a 1958 aerial showing the road and lookout site with a structure in the exact location of the tower. The yellow box to the left is the boundary of the map above.

I also checked the history of the railroad benchmark at the top of his property but it said nothing about the tower.

Looking north in 2020 from the roof

Looking Southeast - 2020 from the roof of lookout