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Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Kings Mountain Lookout Site

Burned 50-foot pole L-4 lookout site in Pend Oreille County, WA, built 1936; sources date the fire to 1960 or 1965. Willhite's 2019 photos show a footing and a stairway.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Burned; sources date the fire to 1960 or 1965. Willhite's 2019 photos show a lookout footing and a stairway.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Willhite gives directions from Usk up Kings Lake Road and says most cars should be able to get up. No source found says the road is closed.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Willhite labels the site drive-up. No tower stands to climb; the site has a footing and a stairway.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower50-foot pole tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1936
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
4,394 ft (1,339 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.38493, −117.18971
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-kings-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 4.0 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. 1936 BuiltBuilt as a 50-foot pole tower with an L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1943 StaffedMrs. Earl Hupp, in a 1943 Colville Examiner item (Willhite captions spell it Hump)Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1951 StaffedNadine Barrett listed as lookout for 1951-1952Source: firelookout.com
  4. 1956 Condition assessmentOctober 18, 1956 inspection found heart rot in two legs and rot in the second and third bentsSource: willhiteweb.com
  5. 1956 StaffedThomas Jenkins listed as lookoutSource: firelookout.com
  6. 1957 Condition assessmentJanuary 22, 1957 cost estimate of $687.50 for leg splice, landing replacement, roof repair and repaintingSource: willhiteweb.com
  7. 1960 BurnedFirelookout.com dates the fiery demise to 1960Source: firelookout.com
  8. 1962 EventBurn footage appears in the film A Fire Called Jeremiah, released 1962 (per Willhite)Source: willhiteweb.com
  9. 1965 BurnedFiretower.org and the Forest Lookouts site date the fiery demise to 1965; Willhite thinks a replacement tower's burn would likely be this dateSources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  10. 1973 EventFootage reused in the film Fire On Kelly Mountain (per Willhite)Source: willhiteweb.com
  11. No record between 1973 and 2012
  12. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 16, 2012, nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  13. 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.

Kings Mountain sits about six miles northeast of Usk in Pend Oreille County, Washington, and the U.S. Forest Service administered its lookout.1,2 The site lies within the Kaniksu and Colville national forests.1 The tower was built in 1936 as a 50-foot pole structure with an L-4 cab.1,3

Few lookouts are named in the sources. A 1943 Colville Examiner item, quoted by two of the sites, says Mrs. Earl Hupp was stationed there.4,3 Willhite's photo captions spell the name Hump, so the spelling is unsettled.3 Firelookout.com lists Nadine Barrett for 1951 and 1952, and Thomas Jenkins for 1956.2

An October 1956 inspection found rot in two legs and in the second and third bents. A January 1957 estimate put the repairs at $687.50.3

Willhite reports that Disney sought a tower to burn for a film, and that Kings Mountain was offered because of its poor condition.3 The burn appears in "A Fire Called Jeremiah," released in 1962, and the footage was used again in "Fire On Kelly Mountain" in 1973.3

Sources disagree on the year the tower burned. Firelookout.com gives 1960, while Firetower.org and the Forest Lookouts site give 1965.1,2,4 Willhite's local source said Disney was required to replace the tower with a new one, and that the new tower also burned. Willhite thinks that second fire would likely be the 1965 date.3

The tower is gone.2 Willhite's 2019 photos show a lookout footing and a stairway he labels "Stairs to nowhere," and his captions note that more views are obstructed.3

Willhite gives directions from Usk up Kings Lake Road and says most cars should be able to make the climb.3 He labels the site drive-up. We found no source that says the road is closed.

  1. Kings Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/kings-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Kings Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/kingsmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Kings Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/kings_mountain/lookout_site_249.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Kings Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/kings-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Kings Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Kings Mountain Lookout site
Kings Mountain Lookout sitePhoto: Eric Willhite, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Kings Mountain Lookout site
Kings Mountain Lookout sitePhoto: Eric Willhite, via 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, 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: height, 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, 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

Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.