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Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Gleason Mountain Lookout Site

Pend Oreille County, WA: a 15-foot pole L-4 lookout built in 1934 on the Kaniksu National Forest, removed or destroyed in the 1960s; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in the 1960s; no source describes what, if anything, remains

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 tower15' pole tower with L-4 cab; a 60' pole tower 1/4 mile to the northeast was also part of the siteThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
15 ft (4.6 m)
Elevation
5,416 ft (1,651 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Kaniksu National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.57600, −117.09910
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-gleason-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 its recorded height.

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. 1934 Built15-foot pole tower with L-4 cab; a 60-foot pole tower 1/4 mile northeast was also part of the siteSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1960
  3. 1960 RemovedOnly the decade is given (the 1960s). Sources differ: removed (firetower.org), destroyed (firelookout.com), removed or destroyed (WillhiteWeb). Forest Lookouts lists only Removed with no date.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1960 and 2012
  5. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 14, 2012 as US 1498, WA 398; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  6. 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 Gleason Mountain lookout site is in Pend Oreille County, Washington, within the Kaniksu National Forest.1 The peak takes its name from one of two men, John Gleason and Ole Jackson, who were on a Forest Service crew fighting the Lamb Fire in July 1925.2 Later, the men's bodies were found at the spot where a crown fire had caught them while they tried to reach the ridge top.2

A 15-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab was built on the peak in 1934.1,3,4,2 A 60-foot pole tower stood about a quarter mile to the northeast and was part of the same site.1,2

Three sources date the end of the tower to the 1960s, and they describe it differently. One says the tower was removed, one says it was destroyed, and the WillhiteWeb history says it was removed or destroyed.1,3,2 The Forest Lookouts listing gives only the word "Removed," with no date.4

We found no source that describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether the public can visit it.

  1. Gleason Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/gleason-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Gleason Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb (NE WA Lookouts), https://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/gleason_mountain/lookout_181.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Gleason Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/gleason.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Gleason Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/gleason-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

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

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

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: design, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.