FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Stevens County, Washington

Chewelah Peak Lookout Site (now at Scranton)

Also known as Scranton

Chewelah Peak's 1963 timber tower was sold in 1985 and moved to Frank Scranton's farm north of Chewelah; the registers and the association list it standing.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. On a private farm beside Highway 395 north of Chewelah; the relocated list says private property

Original site: Chewelah Peak Lookout Site

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower41-ft treated timber tower with R-6 flattop cab (1963 replacement of the 1938 pole tower)The design: R-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1938
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (original tower)
Land
Unknown
Location
Stevens County, Washington
Coordinates
48.28965, −117.73141
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-chewelah-peak-lookout-site-at-scranton

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

Downloads about 4.4 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

  1. 1938 Built50-foot pole tower with L-4 cab, the first tower on the peakSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1938 and 1963
  3. 1963 Replaced by a new structure41-foot treated timber tower with R-6 flattop cab replaced the pole towerSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1963 and 1985
  5. 1985 MovedSold to Frank Scranton and moved to his farm alongside Highway 395, just north of ChewelahSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. Date unknown AbandonedWashington DNR staffed the lookout for a couple of seasons in the early 1980s, then the post was abandonedSource: willhiteweb.com
  7. Date unknown MovedMoved from Chewelah Peak to Scranton.Source: FFLA
  8. Date unknown Last staffedForest Service staffed the lookout into the 1970sSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  9. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Chewelah Peak lookout began in 1938 as a 50-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, on a peak six miles east of Chewelah.1,2,3 The pole tower gave way in 1963 to a 41-foot treated timber tower with an R-6 cab.1,3

The Forest Service kept the lookout staffed into the 1970s. Washington's Department of Natural Resources manned it for a couple of seasons in the early 1980s, and the post was then abandoned.1,3

In 1985 Frank Scranton acquired the tower, which was moved to his farm beside Highway 395, north of Chewelah.1,2 A relocated-lookouts list places it on private property in Chewelah.4 The Forest Fire Lookout Association lists the Scranton tower as standing, and marks the original summit site as gone.5

The register says the tower still stands on the farm.1 Since it is private property, the sources describe no public access.4

  1. Chewelah Peak Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/chewelah-peak-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Chewelah Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra), https://www.firelookout.com/wa/chewelahpk.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Chewelah Peak Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/chewelah_peak/lookout_168.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Relocated Lookouts - Washington State, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/relocated/locations_462.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Washington lookout list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wa/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.