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Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Jackson Mountain Lookout Site

Pend Oreille County, WA: a 14x14 ft cabin (1929) was replaced by a 40 ft L-4 tower (1934); the tower was removed in the 1960s and no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed in the 1960s per FFLOS, Willhite and Forest Lookouts; FireLookout says destroyed; no source describes what 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 tower14 x 14 ft log and frame cabin (1929), replaced in 1934 by a 40 ft L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1929
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
5,499 ft (1,676 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.83500, −117.04278
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-jackson-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 4.5 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. 1925 EventLamb Fire on the Kaniksu National Forest; Forest Service crew members John Gleason and Ole Jackson were later found where a crown fire had trapped them; the mountain is said to be named for one of themSource: willhiteweb.com
  2. 1929 BuiltLog and frame cabin, 14 x 14 ftSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1934 Replaced by a new structureCabin replaced by a 40 ft L-4 towerSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 1960
  5. 1960 DestroyedFireLookout says the tower was destroyed in the 1960sSource: firelookout.com
  6. 1960 RemovedTower removed in the 1960s; exact year not givenSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1960 and 2012
  8. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 16, 2012 as US 1506, WA 406; 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.

Jackson Mountain rises to 5,499 feet in Pend Oreille County, within the Kaniksu and Colville National Forests.1,2

Built in 1929, the log and frame cabin measured 14 feet by 14 feet.1,3 In 1934 a 40-foot L-4 tower replaced the cabin.1,3

A Willhite page tells of Herman Walker and Larry Hawk, who called the Jackson Mountain cabin home and planned pranks for Civilian Conservation Corps recruits.3 One day while the two were away, a bear cub broke into the cabin and ripped into two sleeping bags, along with a week's worth of food.3

Willhite also tells the story of the 1925 Lamb Fire on the Kaniksu National Forest.3 John Gleason and Ole Jackson were on a Forest Service crew fighting it.3 When the overhead pulled the crew out for safety, Jackson and Gleason took a different route and refused to follow.3 The two men's bodies turned up later at a spot where a crown fire had caught them.3 Willhite says the mountain was named in honor of one of the two men. The page does not say which one, though Ole Jackson shares the mountain's surname.3

The register and Willhite say the tower was removed in the 1960s, and the Forest Lookouts list marks the site as removed.1,3,4 FireLookout, however, says it was destroyed in that decade, so the accounts differ on how it ended.2

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains at the site, or whether the public may visit it. The register gives the site as US 1506, WA 406 and says it was registered on December 16, 2012, nominated by Ray Kresek.1

  1. Jackson Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/jackson-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Jackson Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/jacksonmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Jackson Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/jackson_mountain/lookout_189.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Jackson Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/jackson-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Jackson Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
1933
1933 (1933)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, 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.