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Fire lookout · Stevens County, Washington

Leadpoint Mountain Lookout Site

Also known as Leadpoint Mountain (Red Top Mountain)

Stevens Co., WA L-4 tower built 1938 on Colville NF; removed in the 1950s; FFLOS-registered 2012. Exact site uncertain; no source describes what remains.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in the 1950s (firelookout.com says destroyed). WillhiteWeb says the exact location is unknown; no source describes what remains at the site.

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 towerL-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1938
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,620 ft (1,408 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Colville National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Stevens County, Washington
Coordinates
48.96106, −117.55701
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-leadpoint-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. 1938 BuiltL-4 tower built in 1938Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1939 EventApril 1939 newspaper item: a 35-mile telephone section was being built to the lookoutSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1950 RemovedYear given only as the 1950s; firelookout.com says destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1950 and 2012
  5. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 16, 2012 as US 1508, WA 408; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  6. 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.

The Leadpoint Mountain lookout was an L-4 tower built in 1938 on the Colville National Forest in Stevens County, Washington.1,2 Firelookout.com places it about 10 miles northwest of Metaline Falls.3

In April 1939, a Colville Examiner item quoted on the Forest Lookouts page reported that crews were working on telephone line to link lookout stations, and that a 35-mile section was being built to the Leadpoint lookout.4

The tower came down in the 1950s. The Former Fire Lookout Sites register, WillhiteWeb and Forest Lookouts say it was removed, while firelookout.com says it was destroyed.1,3,2,4 We found no source that names anyone who staffed it or any fire it watched.

The exact spot is uncertain. WillhiteWeb says the Metsker map shows the Leadpoint name at the north end of Red Top Mountain, and that the Kresek inventory places the lookout on that summit.2 Ray Kresek nominated the site for the Former Fire Lookout Sites register, which listed it on December 16, 2012.1

No source describes what remains at the site today, or whether it is open to visitors.

  1. Leadpoint Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/leadpoint-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Leadpoint Mountain Lookout Site on Red Top Mountain, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/leadpoint_mountain/lookout_191.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Leadpoint Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/leadpointmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Leadpoint Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/leadpoint-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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, 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.