Fire lookout · Ferry County, Washington
Johnny George Mountain Lookout
Also known as Johnny George
CCC-built 1938 steel Aermotor tower on Colville Reservation land in Ferry County; gated, and non-tribal visitors need a permit.
- Standing
- Permission required
- Verified
Permission required
You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. On Colville Reservation land and gated. Non-tribal visitors need a Colville Confederated Tribes recreation permit (trail guide: $80 a year).
Visit & stay
Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.
Access
Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.
- Can you climb it?
- Unknown
- Road to the top?
- Yes, you can drive up
- Trail
- Long drive on reservation back roads, then a gate that prevents access. The 2019 trail guide describes views from the base of the tower.
- Staffing
- Unknown
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a towerSteel Aermotor tower with a steel shelter on topThe design: Aermotor
- Built of
- Steel
- Built
- 1938
- Height
- 120 ft (36.6 m)
- Elevation
- 4,090 ft (1,247 m)
- Agency
- US Forest Service - Colville National Forest
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Ferry County, Washington
- Coordinates
- 47.91115, −118.44373
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-wa-johnny-george-mountain
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 4.1 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
- 1937 EventNewspaper report of a planned 110-foot steel tower at George mountain that fallSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1938 BuiltBuilt by the Civilian Conservation Corps; the only tower on the site. Register and two guides give 100 ft; a 1960 inspection gives 110 ft.Sources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- 1943 StaffedTeachers staffed summer lookouts, including Mr. and Mrs. Walter Peterson of Malott on Johnny GeorgeSources: nhlr.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1943 and 1960
- 1960 Condition assessmentInspection: living quarters a 20 x 15 ft Quonset hut in fair to poor condition; tower and shelter generally in good condition; dwelling cabin outlived its usefulnessSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
- No record between 1960 and 2019
- 2019 FireWilliams Flats fire (45,000 acres, started in August by lightning) threatened the lookout; the lookout was protectedSource: trailchick.com
- 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 12, 2022 as NHLR US 1547Source: nhlr.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Johnny George Mountain rises to about 4,090 feet in Ferry County, Washington.1,2 The Civilian Conservation Corps built the lookout in 1938.1,3 It is a steel Aermotor tower, and the register calls it the only tower the site has ever had.1 The register names the Forest Service's Colville National Forest as administrator, but the trail guide and the fire lookout page place the land on the Colville Indian Reservation.1,3,2
A 1937 newspaper item announced a 110-foot steel tower for George mountain that fall.4 The register and two other pages give the finished tower as 100 feet.1,3,2 A 1960 inspection described it as 110 feet, so the height is still an open question.4
The register describes summer staffing at the tower as sporadic.1 In 1943 the Colville Examiner reported that many teachers were working as lookouts across the Colville National Forest, including a couple from Malott who staffed Johnny George.1,4 One name tied to the site is Ramona Peone, who spent more than 40 years as a lookout here and at nearby Keller Butte, where a plaque honors her.1
A 1960 inspection called the living quarters a 20-by-15-foot Quonset hut in fair to poor condition.4 It found the tower and its shelter generally in good condition, and said the dwelling cabin had outlived its usefulness.4
In 2019 the Williams Flats fire, a 45,000-acre blaze that started in August from lightning, threatened the lookout. The lookout was protected.3 A visitor that year was struck by the tower and said the views from its base were still lovely.3 The register recorded the lookout on April 12, 2022, as US 1547.1
Today the lookout sits on Colville Reservation land, reached by a long drive on back roads, and it is gated to prevent access.3 Non-tribal visitors must buy a recreation permit, which the trail guide gave as $80 a year.3
- Johnny George Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/johnny-george-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Johnny George Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/jgeorge.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Johnny George Mountain, TrailChick, https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/johnny-george-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
- Johnny George - Forest Lookouts, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/johnny-george.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
Photos
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Sources
- National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) Gave us: design, photos, 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
- FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) (opens another site) Gave us: height 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
- TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts (opens another site) Gave us: photos TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
- WillhiteWeb.com: Washington Fire Lookouts (opens another site) 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
- Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, 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
- NHLR register entry US 1547 (nhlr.org) (opens another site)
- FFLA Washington lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Johnny George Mountain Lookout - TrailChick (opens another site)
- Johnny George Mountain Lookout - Forest Lookouts Page (opens another site)
- Johnny George on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Johnny George on WillhiteWeb.com Washington Fire Lookouts (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.