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Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Mill Creek Point Lookout Site

Kaniksu NF summit in Pend Oreille County: a 1937 crow's nest, then a 1940 50-ft L-4 pole tower, phased out by 1950; a few footings and anchors remain per a 2023 visit.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower phased out by 1950; Willhite's 2023 visit found a few footings and bolts and anchors on the summit

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
Trail
Half a mile each way with about 300 feet of gain, per Willhite; a spur road to the summit was blocked by fallen trees in 2023. No source says whether the site is open to visitors.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower50-foot cable-braced pole tower with L-4 cab (1940), preceded by a crow's nest (1937)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1937
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
4,938 ft (1,505 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.48312, −117.13148
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-mill-creek-point

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 4.2 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. 1937 BuiltCrow's nest, the first lookout structure on the site (Firetower.org and Willhite)Sources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1940 Built50-foot cable-braced pole tower with L-4 cab constructed (all three sources)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1950 AbandonedPhased out by 1950 (Firetower.org and Willhite); the sources do not say whether the tower was taken downSources: firetower.org, willhiteweb.com
  4. No record between 1950 and 2012
  5. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 16, 2012 as US 1510, WA 410; 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 Mill Creek Point lookout stood on a 4,938-foot summit in the Kaniksu National Forest, in Pend Oreille County, about 13 miles northeast of Usk.1,2

A crow's nest, dated to 1937, was the earliest structure on the summit.1,3 In 1940 a 50-foot pole tower, braced with cables, carried an L-4 cab.1,2,3 Galena Point, roughly a mile southeast, held a patrol crow's nest that was part of the lookout.1,3

By 1950 the tower had been phased out.1,3 FireLookout.com's header runs the site's life from 1940 into the 1950s.2 Forest Lookouts marks the site as removed, without a date.4

Willhite visited in 2023 and found the spur road to the summit blocked by fallen trees.3 Remnants on the summit include some footings, plus bolts and anchors.3 He lists the hike at half a mile each way with 300 feet of gain, and says a vehicle with some clearance is best.3 No source says whether the site is open to visitors.

  1. Mill Creek Point Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/mill-creek-point-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Mill Creek Point Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/millcreekpt.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Mill Creek Point and Galena Point Lookout Locations, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/mill_creek_point/galena_point_176.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Mill Creek Point, Forest Lookouts (Washington), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/mill-creek-point.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Mill Creek Point Lookout Site
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, 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: 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, 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.