FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Hanlon Mountain Lookout Site

Pend Oreille County 30-ft L-4 pole lookout, built 1936, staffed through at least 1946; removed or destroyed in the 1960s; footings reported.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in the 1960s; sources disagree on which; a WillhiteWeb photo caption reports footings on site

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. WillhiteWeb, as of 2023, lists access as any vehicle but notes a year-long wildlife closure on the road and shows a gate; whether foot travel is allowed is not stated

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Hiking distance 2.6 miles one way per WillhiteWeb; no tower to climb; only the last quarter mile of road was starting to grow over (as of 2023)

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot pole tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1936
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,143 ft (1,263 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Colville National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.62408, −117.26779
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-hanlon-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. 1935 EventForest Service began work on a lookout station in early June; Newport Miner reported on June 13, 1935 that the lookout had begun work at Hanlon Peak stationSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1936 Built30-foot pole tower with L-4 cab finishedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1940 StaffedMr. Waggoner of Chatteroy stationed on Hanlon Lookout (Newport Miner, May 30, 1940)Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1946 StaffedDon Jones spent the summer on Hanlon lookout (Sandpoint News-Bulletin, September 12, 1946)Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1946 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 16, 2012; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  7. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Hanlon Mountain is in the Colville National Forest, in Pend Oreille County, Washington.1,2 The register puts the lookout site at 4,143 feet, or 1,263 meters, while WillhiteWeb gives 4,120 feet.1,3

In early June 1935 the Forest Service started work on a lookout station there.3 The Newport Miner reported on June 13, 1935 that its lookout had begun work at Hanlon Peak station the week before.4 The tower, a 30-foot pole structure with an L-4 cab, was completed in 1936.3,1

The lookout was staffed in the years that followed. In May 1940 the Newport Miner reported that a Mr. Waggoner of Chatteroy had been stationed on the lookout.3,4 In 1946 the Sandpoint News-Bulletin reported that Don Jones had spent the summer on it.3,4

Three sources date the tower's end to the 1960s, though they differ on how it ended.1,2,3 The register says it was removed in that decade.1 Firelookout.com says it was destroyed.2 WillhiteWeb says it was removed or destroyed.3 Forest Lookouts lists it as removed, with no date.4

No source describes a standing tower today. A photo caption on WillhiteWeb reads "Footings looking south," so some footings appear to remain at the site.3 Another caption says somebody set up a display there, but the page does not say what it shows.3

WillhiteWeb's notes, as of 2023, list the access as any vehicle, but they also mention a year-long wildlife closure on the road and show a gate.3 At that time only the last quarter mile of road was starting to grow over.3 The hike is listed at 2.6 miles one way.3 The sources do not say whether foot travel is allowed past the gate, so check with the Colville National Forest before you go.

  1. Hanlon Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/hanlon-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Hanlon Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/hanlonmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Hanlon Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/hanlon_mountain/lookout_185.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Hanlon Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/hanlon-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, 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.