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Fire lookout · Stevens County, Washington

Flagstaff Lookout (now at Northport)

Also known as Northport

Flagstaff Mountain lookout built 1935; its 1971 DNR tower was dismantled in 2013 for cell towers, and the cab went to a Northport town park.

Original site: Flagstaff Lookout

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Displayed in a Northport town park; no source I read gives visiting hours or climbing rules

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

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot wooden tower with a 14 x 14-foot DNR flattop cab and catwalk, constructed 1971
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1935
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Washington Dept. of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Stevens County, Washington
Coordinates
48.92143, −117.77320
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-flagstaff-at-northport

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 4.2 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. 1935 BuiltFirst used for fire detection by the U.S. Forest Service; a 40-foot L-4 tower was builtSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  2. No record between 1935 and 1952
  3. 1952 Replaced by a new structure40-foot pole L-4 tower per register and firelookout.com; the Forest Lookouts page gives a 50-foot tower with a 14x14 cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1957 StaffedKnown lookout personnel in 1957: Frank Kjolseth and Leon Hammer; 1958: Monita EngvallSource: firelookout.com
  5. 1971 Built40-foot wooden DNR tower with 14x14 cab and catwalk constructedSources: nhlr.org, firetower.org, firelookout.com
  6. No record between 1971 and 1999
  7. 1999 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register, November 21, 1999Source: nhlr.org
  8. 2011 AbandonedAbandoned for the sake of additional cell towers; Northport working to move it to the park in townSource: firelookout.org
  9. 2013 MovedCab moved to the town of Northport and, per the 2013 report, now in a town parkSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 2013 RemovedTower dismantled; the Forest Lookouts page gives August 2013 and a communication siteSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 2020 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, April 16, 2020Source: firetower.org
  12. Date unknown MovedMoved from Flagstaff to Northport.Source: FFLA
  13. 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 Flagstaff lookout stood on Flagstaff Mountain in Stevens County, west of Northport.1,2,3 Sources put it four or five miles from town: firelookout.com says four, and the Forest Lookouts page says five.2,3

Fire detection began on the summit in 1935, when the U.S. Forest Service put up a 40-foot L-4 tower.1,4,2 The site passed to the state's Department of Natural Resources in the late 1940s.1 A 40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab replaced the first one in 1952, according to the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register and firelookout.com.4,2 The Forest Lookouts page gives a 50-foot tower with a 14-by-14 cab for that year.3

In 1971 a 40-foot wooden tower with a 14-by-14 cab and catwalk went up, and the National Historic Lookout Register calls it the present tower.1,3 Firelookout.com says it was manned on summer shifts into the 2000s.2 The National Historic Lookout Register calls the lookout one of the last active DNR lookouts in the state and gives a registration date of November 21, 1999.1 Known staff include Frank Kjolseth and Leon Hammer in 1957, and Monita Engvall in 1958.2

Cell towers drove the lookout's removal.5,6 A 2011 Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter report says the lookout was dropped in favor of additional cell towers, and that Northport was working to move it to the park in town.5 A 2013 report says it was taken down for the same reason, and that Northport took it on, so it now sits in a town park.6

The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register says the tower came down and the cab was taken to Northport in 2013.4 The Forest Lookouts page gives the removal as August 2013 and ties it to a communication site.3

The sources disagree on what went to Northport.4,7 The Former Fire Lookout Sites Register and firelookout.com describe the cab moving,4,2 while the Association's Washington list shows a standing tower there.7 The elevation is also disputed: 4,187 feet in the National Historic Lookout Register and 4,255 feet in the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register.1,4

Today the lookout is listed as standing at Northport, in a town park.7,6 None of the pages checked gives visiting hours or says whether the tower can be climbed, so check with the town before going.1,4,2,3,7,5,6

  1. Flagstaff Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/flagstaff-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Flagstaff Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/flagstaff.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Flagstaff, FOREST LOOKOUTS, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/flagstaff.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Flagstaff Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/flagstaff-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter report, 2011, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-ewa-2011.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter report, 2013, https://firelookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cr-ewa-2013.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  7. Washington Lookouts, 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, 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.