Meadow Butte Lookout Tree

The origins of the Meadow Butte lookout tree are a bit unclear. We know the lookout was first used by J. Neal Lumber Company who needed to watch for fire over its railroad logging sites. In 1941, panoramics were taken from the tree top at 85 feet plus another 10 feet. You can see one guy line in the pictures so the tree was stabilized and photos were taken atop the 10 foot cab. Then we find a reference in the 1944 annual report of the Division of Forestry saying a new lookout house was built at Meadow Butte

It seems to me that the 1944 report was talking about the cabin built at the base for sleeping and cooking. Prior to this there was likely just a tent camp. Once the Division of Forestry took ownership in 1944, it was then equipped with a fire finder, radio, and other equipment, according to Richard Smith, a DNR employee who remembers that it was a real pain using ropes to get the equipment up and down each year. The task of hoisting the materials 86 feet above the ground, through the branches was difficult. The ladder was built three feet out from the trunk so many would climb the ladder on the side next to the tree to give some sense of security. You entered the lookout through a trapdoor in the floor. The last lookout was said to have left her post with her hands bandaged from having gripped the rings of the ladder so tightly. The lookout was abandoned in 1958.

Four men with the Department of Forestry possibly constructed the lookout including Dewey Schmid, Phil Dean, and Fred Steinbach.

The lookout made it into a issue of the July 1946 National Geographic Magazine.

From Richard Smith, the DNR employee who helped equip lookout each year:
At the time it was decommissioned, it was in the most beautiful spot of any lookout I had ever visited, not because of the view, but because of the site itself. It was a park-like setting with a beautiful one-room cabin on the ground. We moved the cabin to the DNR compound in Glenwood and used it for storm shelter.

Story from Ralph Owen visit a few years ago:
While on the logging roads near the starting point, Ralph ran into a Klickitat Sheriff’s Posse enforcement officer. They talked for a while and the officer said he had visited Meadow Butte a number of times. He said that his father knew the girl that had served as the lookout there for several years. He said that his dads friend was a marathon racer and had run out to the lookout a number of evenings to visit the girl. His dad’s friend and the girl eventually got married.

News clippings found by Ron Kemnow:
July 23, 1948: "Delores Coate, the Meadow Butte lookout, had a large number of callers Sunday." (Mt. Adams Sun)

August 19, 1948: "Miss Dolores Coate spent the weekend with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rodger Coate. Dolores is stationed at the State Lookout on Meadow Butte for the summer." (The Goldendale Sentinel)

November 18, 1948: "A feminine member of the clan, comely Nancy Pearson, drew nation-wide attention four years ago when she manned the Meadow Butte lookout in the top of a Ponderosa Pine tree near Glenwood in the course of her duties she navigated an 80-foot vertical ladder, up and down, five times a day, seven days a week." (The Goldendale Sentinel)

September 23, 1954: "Johnny Ekstrum of Portland had the misfortune of accidentally shooting himself Sunday in the leg above the knee while doing some target practice. He was visiting his wife who is on the Meadow Butte Lookout Station. He was taken to Skyline hospital and is reported getting along very well. Mrs. Ekstrum was formerly Barbara Schmid." (Mt. Adams Sun)

June 9, 1955: "Juanita Ward will be going on the Lookout at Meadow Butte the first of next week." (Mt. Adams Sun)

July 5, 1956: "Dorothy Lewis and Kathleen Ladiges are staying at the Meadow Butte Lookout while Sylvia Anrig is away." (Mt. Adams Sun)

From Trout Lake, take Sunnyside Road heading East toward Glenwood. At about 8.5 miles turn left (north) onto S-1400. If you get to Laurel Road you’ve gone about a mile too far. Follow S-1400 for about a mile to a 5 way junction. Cross over the junction taking S-4210 which goes a short distance to a Y (go left), then a another junction (go right). Follow to end of road at a berm and parking for a few vehicles.

Walk over the berm and follow an old overgrowing road going north. Soon the road improves in a logged off area. Use the map provided. You can see the lookout tree at several points along the way. At the final ridge, just before reaching the top, you can go through the brush to get to the tree or drop down a small hill and find the access road to the top.