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Fire lookout · Ferry County, Washington

Quartz Mountain Lookout Site (Colville NF)

Also known as Quartz Mountain

Colville NF tower near Republic, Ferry County WA: built 1933, L-4 moved in from Churchill Mtn 1955, cut to 30 ft 1959, burned by arson Oct 1997.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The cabin and 30-foot tower burned to the ground in October 1997; the cause was arson

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-foot pole L-4 built 1933 per the register; a 53-foot L-4 moved in from Churchill Mountain in 1955; cut to 30 feet and given a flat R-6 cab in 1959The designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
4,799 ft (1,463 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Colville National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Ferry County, Washington
Coordinates
48.56960, −118.67012
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-quartz-mountain-colville-nf

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 4.1 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. 1933 BuiltRegister says a 40-foot pole L-4 was built in 1933. Republic items from September 1932 and July 1933 describe raising and completing a tower.Sources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 EventRoad to the lookout completed; garage and storehouse built at its end for the fire-season lookoutSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1942 EventListed as activated May 9, 1942 and deactivated July 1, 1943, under the Seattle Filter Center; no further detail givenSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1945 StaffedKnown lookout personnel listed from 1945 through 1959, including Alwilda Webb (1945) and Tom Windsor (1959)Source: firelookout.com
  5. 1955 Moved53-foot L-4 tower moved to Quartz from Churchill MountainSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  6. 1959 AlteredL-4 cab removed, tower trimmed to 30 feet, flat R-6 cab affixed to the topSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1959 and 1977
  8. 1977 Last staffedLast season the lookout was used for fire detection; register says it was abandoned in the 1970s and then vandalizedSources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, firetower.org
  9. No record between 1977 and 1997
  10. 1997 BurnedCabin and 30-foot tower burned to the ground on October 7, 1997; Colville National Forest officials said arsonSources: firetower.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. No record between 1997 and 2012
  12. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 18, 2012 as US 1460, WA 360, 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.

Quartz Mountain rises about six miles southeast of Republic, in Ferry County, Washington, on the Colville National Forest.1,2 The register puts the site at 4,799 feet, or 1,463 meters.1

The first tower went up in 1932 or 1933. A Republic newspaper item from September 1932 mentions a ranger raising a lookout tower there,3 and the register dates the build to 1933.1 Two later newspaper items disagree on the height: a July 1933 item calls the tower about 50 feet high, while a 1935 item says the station was 40 feet high.3

The road to the site was completed in 1934, and a garage and storehouse went up at its end for use during fire season.3

In 1955 a 53-foot L-4 tower was brought over from Churchill Mountain. In 1959 its L-4 cab was taken off, the tower was cut down to 30 feet, and a flat R-6 cab was set on top.1,2

Known lookout staff are listed from 1945 through 1959, including Alwilda Webb in 1945 and Tom Windsor in 1959.2 The Washington Lookouts page says the lookout was still used for fire detection in 1977, its last season.3 The register says it was abandoned in the 1970s and then suffered vandalism.1 The same page also lists the lookout as activated on May 9, 1942, and deactivated on July 1, 1943, under the Seattle Filter Center, without further explanation.3

On October 7, 1997, the cabin and its 30-foot tower burned to the ground. The register says an act of arson destroyed the tower that October, and a Spokesman-Review item quoted on the Washington Lookouts page says Colville National Forest officials blamed arson.1,3

The Forest Fire Lookout Association's list marks the tower as gone.4 We found no source that describes what remains at the summit today, or whether the site is open to visitors.

  1. Quartz Mountain Lookout Site (Colville NF), Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/quartz-mountain-lookout-site-colville-nf/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Quartz Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/wa/quartz.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Quartz Mountain, Washington Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/quartz-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Lookouts in Washington, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/wa/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Quartz Mountain Lookout Site (Colville NF)
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, 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. 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.