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Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Hall Mountain Lookout Site

Colville National Forest summit in Pend Oreille County, WA: a 1930 10-ft L-4 cab tower, out of use by the 1950s, fallen by 1960; remains reported on the summit, access unstated.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower gone: the cab was removed or destroyed in the 1950s (sources differ), the tower had fallen by 1960, and the house was razed by 1964; the register says remains can still be found on the summit

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. Colville National Forest land per FFLOS; no source states current public access to the summit

Road to the top?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower10-foot tower with an L-4 cab (1930)The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1930
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,222 ft (1,897 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (administered by, per FFLOS); Colville National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.80657, −117.25699
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-hall-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. 1930 Built10-foot tower with an L-4 cab; FFLOS and Firelookout.com give 1930, WillhiteWeb agreesSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1931 EventLightning strike injures a Kaniksu National Forest carpenter while he works on the lookout station (Spokane Daily Chronicle, as quoted on Rex's page)Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1933 EventUSGS benchmark on the summit described beside a new Forest Service lookout tower; sources do not say whether it replaced the 1930 towerSource: willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1933 and 1960
  5. 1960 EventLookout tower had fallen down; a tall post was left guyed over the benchmarkSource: willhiteweb.com
  6. 1964 RemovedSurveyors reported the lookout house razed and ruins of an old lookout towerSource: willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1964 and 2012
  8. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 16, 2012 as FFLOS US 1503, WA 403; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  9. 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.

Hall Mountain stands at 6,222 feet in Pend Oreille County, Washington, on Colville National Forest land east of Sullivan Lake.1,2,3

The register and Firelookout.com date the lookout to 1930, when a 10-foot tower carrying an L-4 cab was built.1,4,3 A June 1931 Spokane Daily Chronicle item, quoted on Rex's Fire Lookout Page, says a bolt of lightning struck a Kaniksu National Forest carpenter while he was building a lookout station on the mountain.2 The 1930 date and the 1931 report do not line up neatly, and the sources do not reconcile them.1,4,2

WillhiteWeb notes that in 1933 the USGS described its summit benchmark as sitting next to a new Forest Service lookout tower. It does not say whether that was the 1930 tower.3

WillhiteWeb says the lookout stopped being used in the 1950s, and that the reason is not yet clear.3 The register says the cab was removed in the 1950s, while Firelookout.com says it was destroyed then.1,4 By 1960 the tower had fallen down, and in 1964 surveyors reported that the house had been torn down and that ruins of an older tower were there.3

The register says remains can still be found on the summit.1 Firelookout.com repeats that.4 No source describes those remains in detail.1,4,2,3 None says whether the summit is open to visitors today.1,4,2,3 The register added the site in December 2012.1

  1. Hall Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/hall-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Hall Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/hall-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Hall Mountain Lookout Site (above Sullivan Lake), WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/hall_mountain/lookout_376.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Hall Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/hallmtn208.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

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