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Fire lookout · Spokane County, Washington

Mount Spokane

Mount Spokane summit tower: a 40-ft DNR live-in tower built 1979, last staffed 1994, scrapped 2001; its cab was set on a new tower on Quartz Mountain in 2004.

The lookout that stood here was moved. Now at Quartz Mountain

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. The 1979 summit tower was scrapped in June 2001; its cab was set on a new 10-foot tower on Quartz Mountain in 2004.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. The Quartz Mountain cab is rented through Washington State Parks by reservation, summer only, with a two-night minimum. The summit tower is gone.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Hike-in or bike-in only: a 2.7-mile trail from parking at Selkirk Lodge to the Quartz Mountain cab.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Moved sources disagree
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot timber DNR live-in tower (1979); firelookout.com ties an L-4 cab to the 1950 45-foot pole towerThe designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
5,883 ft (1,793 m)
Agency
Washington Dept. of Natural Resources; Mt. Spokane State Park
Land
State land
Location
Spokane County, Washington
Coordinates
47.92125, −117.11421
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-mount-spokane

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at its recorded height.

Downloads about 4.3 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. 1932 EventThe Forest Service offered a lookout building, on condition that a man be placed in charge during fire season.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 BuiltSecond-floor dormer of the stone Vista House, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, served as the first lookout.Source: firelookout.com
  3. 1937 FireA forest service lookout on the mountain telephoned in the location of four fires during a lightning storm.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1948 BuiltAn 85-foot wood tower was built and collapsed in its first winter under heavy snow.Sources: trailchick.com, firelookout.com
  5. 1950 BuiltA 45-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab was built.Sources: firelookout.com, trailchick.com
  6. 1963 Replaced by a new structureThe 1950 tower was replaced by a 40-foot timber DNR live-in tower.Sources: firelookout.com, trailchick.com
  7. No record between 1963 and 1979
  8. 1979 BuiltThe Washington DNR built a 40-foot timber live-in tower on the summit of Mount Spokane.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1979 and 1994
  10. 1994 ClosedThe 1979 tower was last staffed and was permanently decommissioned.Sources: firelookout.com, nhlr.org
  11. 2001 RemovedIn June 2001 crews scrapped the tower; the 9,000-pound cab was lifted by crane and moved by truck to a ranger's residence.Sources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com
  12. 2004 MovedIn late August 2004 the cab was set atop a new 10-foot tower on Quartz Mountain.Source: nhlr.org
  13. 2005 Opened as a rentalThe Quartz Mountain lookout joined a rental program.Source: nhlr.org
  14. No record between 2005 and 2022
  15. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterThe Quartz Mountain lookout was registered April 13, 2022, as US 1558, WA 85.Source: nhlr.org
  16. Date unknown MovedThe lookout was moved to Quartz Mountain.Source: FFLA
  17. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from.

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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Mount Spokane has had a fire lookout on its summit since the 1930s, long before the tower that now sits on Quartz Mountain.1,2 In 1932 the federal Forest Service offered a lookout building, on condition that someone be put in charge during fire season.2 Firelookout.com names the upper-floor dormer of the stone Vista House, a Civilian Conservation Corps project from 1934, as the first lookout.1

Later towers followed. An 85-foot wood tower went up in 1948 and collapsed in its first winter under heavy snow.3,1 A 45-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab replaced it in 1950.1,3 The Washington Department of Natural Resources swapped that for a 40-foot timber tower in 1963, and built the 40-foot tower that stood on the summit from 1979.1,4

Firelookout.com lists named lookouts from 1945 to 1968, among them Adelia Blake, who is listed for 1945 to 1955.1 The 1979 tower was used for fire spotting until it was permanently decommissioned in 1994.4 TrailChick says that over its 60 years of service the Mount Spokane lookout held the record for reported wildfires, ahead of any of the other 657 fire lookouts in Washington.3 In 1937 a forest service lookout on the mountain phoned in the location of four fires during a lightning storm.2

Facing ongoing repair costs, the DNR was ready to demolish the tower until park staff and an advisory committee asked for it to go to the park instead.4 In June 2001 crews scrapped the tower.4,3 The 9,000-pound cab was lifted by crane and carried by truck to a ranger's residence, where it waited while permits were processed.4,3 In late August 2004 a parks crew made the old road passable for heavy trucks, poured four concrete pillars, and set the cab on a new 10-foot tower on Quartz Mountain.4 Firelookout.com says part of the old tower was rebuilt there as well, a detail the NHLR does not mention.1

The Quartz cab has been a rental since 2005, reservable from June through September for about $100 a night, according to the register.4 Washington State Parks describes it as a summer-only wooden lookout, 14 by 14 feet, that sleeps four and requires a two-night minimum stay.5 Reservations open up to nine months ahead.5 The only way in is on foot or by bike, along a 2.7-mile trail from parking at Selkirk Lodge.5

On the summit itself, firelookout.org lists the 1979 tower as gone and the Vista House as still standing.6 We found no source describing what, if anything, remains of the 1979 tower on the summit today.

  1. Mt. Spokane Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/mtspok.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Mount Spokane, Washington Lookouts (Forest Lookouts), washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/mount-spokane.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Quartz Mountain, TrailChick, https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/quartz-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Quartz Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/quartz-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Mount Spokane Quartz Mountain Fire Lookout, Washington State Parks, https://parks.wa.gov/find-parks/state-parks/mount-spokane-state-park/mount-spokane-quartz-mountain-fire-lookout (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  6. Washington lookouts index, firelookout.org, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wa/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Mt. Spokane Vista House
Mt. Spokane Vista HousePhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, Dave Bula collection, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Spokane in 1955
Mt. Spokane in 1955 (1955)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Dave Bula collection, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Spokane in 1992
Mt. Spokane in 1992 (1992)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Dave Bula collection, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Mt. Spokane in 2000
Mt. Spokane in 2000 (2000)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Dave Bula collection, and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on whether it still stands.

    • FFLA: Gone
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Standing

Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: elevation, design, height, agency, ownership, dates, 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
  3. 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
  4. 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.