Washington State Fire Lookouts and
William Edward Boeing
WillhiteWeb.com
Fire lookouts began to be established from 1900 to 1920s, then really ramping up in the 1930s. The use of airplanes for spotting was one of the major reasons that structures on mountains began to decline in the 1950s and 1960s. But as early as 1916, local legend William Edward Boeing was suggesting we use airplanes for spotting smokes.
Boeing dropped out of Yale University in 1903 to go into the lumber business. Boeing moved to Hoquiam where he purchased extensive timberland around Grays Harbor and bought into lumber operations. While president of Greenwood Timber Company, Boeing traveled to Seattle to the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909 where he saw a manned flying machine for the first time and became fascinated with aircraft.
Below was in an issue of Timberman magazine.
