FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Dollarwatch Mountain Lookout Site

1930 L-4 cab on Dollar Watch Mountain in the Pasayten, removed or destroyed in 1954; only remnants reported, reached by a 14-mile wilderness route.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1954 (FFLOS says removed; firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say destroyed). WillhiteWeb reports remnants but nothing large.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Wilderness route from Billy Goat Trailhead, 14 miles on foot. Sources describe the trail to the old lookout as likely unsigned.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Gravel road to Billy Goat Trailhead on Eightmile Creek Road, then about 14 miles on the trail through the Pasayten Wilderness.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cabL-4 cab built in 1930 (FFLOS, firelookout.com); WillhiteWeb calls the 1930 building a cupola lookout houseThe designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1930
Height
Unknown
Elevation
7,679 ft (2,341 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.89553, −120.40725
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-dollarwatch-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 4.3 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. 1923 EventA lookout's diary records a reported fire that was checked and found to be no fire.Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1929 StaffedFirelookout.com lists Cliff Burgett as known lookout personnel.Source: firelookout.com
  3. 1930 BuiltL-4 cab (FFLOS, firelookout.com) or cupola lookout house (WillhiteWeb), with materials packed in over 15 miles.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1930 and 1954
  5. 1954 RemovedFFLOS says removed; firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say destroyed.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. No record between 1954 and 2012
  7. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterDate registered per FFLOS detail page: November 11, 2012Source: FFLOS register entry
  8. 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.

Dollar Watch Mountain sits in the central Pasayten, on the Okanogan National Forest.1,2 The site was used as a tent camp during the 1920s.2 A lookout's diary from 1923, quoted on WillhiteWeb, records a fire report that was checked and found to be nothing.2

A lookout house was built in 1930, and its materials were carried in across more than 15 miles.2,3 The FFLOS register and firelookout.com call it an L-4 cab built that year,1,4 WillhiteWeb calls it a cupola lookout house,2 and the Washington Lookouts page names it an "Aladdin" lookout house.3 Firelookout.com lists Cliff Burgett as known lookout personnel in 1929, a year before its build date.4

The cab came down in 1954.1,4,2 The FFLOS register says it was removed, while firelookout.com and WillhiteWeb say it was destroyed.1,4,2

Today the site lies in the Pasayten Wilderness, roughly 14 miles on foot from Billy Goat Trailhead.2 According to WillhiteWeb, an ordinary car can handle the gravel road to the trailhead, but the trail to the old lookout probably has no signs.2 A WillhiteWeb photo caption notes remains of the lookout, though no large pieces were found.2

  1. Dollarwatch Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/dollarwatch-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Dollar Watch Mountain Lookout, Pasayten Wilderness, WillhiteWeb, http://www.willhiteweb.com/pasayten_wilderness/dollar_watch_mountain/fire_lookout_068.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Dollar Watch Mountain, Washington Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/dollar-watch-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Dollarwatch Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/dollarwatchmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Dollarwatch Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1945
1945 (1945)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, access, visiting details, 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.