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Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Pass Creek Ridge Lookout Site

Colville NF lookout site in Pend Oreille County: 40-ft pole L-4 tower built 1934, removed or destroyed in the 1950s; no source describes the site since.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Tower removed or destroyed in the 1950s; sources differ on which, and none describes what remains

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 tower40-ft pole tower with L-4 cabThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
6,054 ft (1,845 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.82071, −117.16657
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-pass-creek-ridge

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. 1934 Built40-foot pole tower with L-4 cabSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 2012
  3. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 17, 2012 as US 1520, WA 420; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  4. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. When it came down is not recorded.

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.

Pass Creek Ridge sits in the Colville National Forest, about ten miles east of Metaline Falls in Pend Oreille County.1,2 The sources give its elevation as about 6,054 feet.1,2,3 The U.S. Forest Service administers the site.1

Built in 1934, the tower here was a 40-foot pole structure with an L-4 cab.1,2,3

The tower came down in the 1950s, but the sources differ on how. The register says it was removed, Firelookout.com says it was destroyed, and WillhiteWeb says removed or destroyed.1,2,3

No source we read describes what, if anything, is left at the site.1,2,3 WillhiteWeb's page says its author had not yet visited the site.3 A 1967 USGS map, updated in 1971, marks a trail ending at the lookout point, according to WillhiteWeb.3

The register added the site on December 17, 2012, with Ray Kresek as nominator.1

  1. Pass Creek Ridge Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/pass-creek-ridge-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Pass Creek Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/passcreekridge.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Pass Creek Ridge Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb Washington Fire Lookouts, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/pass_creek_ridge/lookout_221.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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, height, 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.