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Fire lookout · Stevens County, Washington

Churchill Mountain Lookout Site

Stevens County, WA tower built 1923-1927 near Orient; replaced 1938, moved to Quartz Mountain 1955, burned there 1997; no source describes the original site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower moved to Quartz Mountain in 1955 and destroyed by arson there in 1997; no source describes the original site today

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot pole tower with 7'x7' cab (1927); replaced in 1938 by a 53-foot timber tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1923
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,806 ft (1,465 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Stevens County, Washington
Coordinates
48.96698, −118.03612
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-churchill-mountain

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its 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.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.2 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. 1922 EventSite established as a camp, per firelookout.comSource: firelookout.com
  2. 1923 BuiltFirst tower built June 1923 (WillhiteWeb); a September 1923 item says completed by the first of JulySources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1927 Altered7-by-7-foot cab added to the 40-foot pole tower (WillhiteWeb); register and firelookout.com date the 40-foot pole tower with this cab to 1927Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1928 StaffedMorris Ewell named as lookout (WillhiteWeb); a 1928 newspaper item calls him a nephew stationed at the lookout; firelookout.com dates him to 1929Sources: firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. 1933 StaffedClarence Rhode named as lookout; a 1934 newspaper item refers to the previous seasonSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. 1938 Replaced by a new structure53-foot timber tower with L-4 cab replaced the 40-foot pole towerSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  7. 1945 StaffedPatricia Langdon named as lookout in 1945Sources: firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  8. 1955 MovedTower moved to Quartz Mountain, near RepublicSources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  9. 1959 AlteredAt Quartz Mountain: L-4 cab removed, tower trimmed to 30 feet, R-6 flat cab addedSource: firetower.org
  10. No record between 1959 and 1997
  11. 1997 BurnedAt Quartz Mountain: arson destroyed the tower in October 1997Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  12. No record between 1997 and 2012
  13. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 23, 2012 as FFLOS US 1489; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  14. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

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 Churchill Mountain lookout stood in Stevens County, Washington, on the Colville National Forest.1 firelookout.com places it 12 miles west-northwest of Northport.2

The sources do not agree on the first tower. WillhiteWeb says a tower went up in June 1923,3 and a September 1923 item quoted by Forest Lookouts says it was completed by the first of July.4 firelookout.com says the site was a camp in 1922 and dates a 40-foot pole tower and log cabin to 1927.2 The register also dates the 40-foot pole tower to 1927.1 WillhiteWeb says a 7-by-7-foot cab was added to the 40-foot pole tower that year,3 and a February 1928 item quoted by Forest Lookouts says a glass-enclosed cage was built on the tower the fall before.4

The names come from newspapers, WillhiteWeb and firelookout.com. Morris Ewell was the lookout in 1928 according to WillhiteWeb,3 and a 1928 newspaper item calls him a nephew stationed at the lookout.4 firelookout.com puts him there in 1929.2 A May 1934 item says Clarence Rhode had been at Churchill the season before,4 and WillhiteWeb names him as the lookout in 1933.3 Patricia Langdon was the lookout in 1945.2,4,3 We found no fire record for this lookout in the sources we read.

In 1938 a 53-foot timber tower with an L-4 cab replaced the 40-foot pole tower.1,3 In 1955 that tower was moved to Quartz Mountain, near Republic.1,4,3 At Quartz the L-4 cab came off in 1959, the tower was trimmed to 30 feet, and a flat cab was put on top.5 After the tower was abandoned in the 1970s, vandals damaged it, and arson destroyed it in October 1997.5,6 Quartz Mountain is six miles southeast of Republic.6

The tower no longer stands.5,6 No source we read describes the original Churchill site today. WillhiteWeb includes a photo captioned "Churchill Footings," but its text says nothing about what it shows.3 A National Geodetic Survey entry uses the name "Churchill Lookout Tower" for a survey mark, which does not show whether anything stands on the summit.4 We found no information about public access to the site, so this story does not suggest a visit.

  1. Churchill Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/churchill-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Churchill Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/churchill.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Churchill Mountain Fire Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/churchill_mountain/lookout_084.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Churchill Mountain, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/churchill-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Quartz Mountain Lookout Site (Colville NF), Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://www.firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/quartz-mountain-lookout-site-colville-nf/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. Quartz Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, http://www.firelookout.com/wa/quartz.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Churchill Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1927
1927 (1927)Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts Gave us: links WillhiteWeb.com · No licence stated; names and page links only (the site's photos and text are not reproduced). · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, 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.