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Fire lookout · Stevens County, Washington

Rogers Mountain Lookout Site

Stevens County, WA lookout: a 45-foot L-6 pole tower built 1933 or 1934, staffed into the early 1950s, fell in 1959; ruins reported on the ground.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. The tower fell (WillhiteWeb says blew down) in 1959; the Former Fire Lookout Sites register says it was removed in the 1950s. A local history page says ruins remain on the ground.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. A trail from the official Mt. Rogers trailhead, reached by Kolle Creek Road (FR 500), climbs to the highest point. No tower remains to visit.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Drive Aladdin Road to Kolle Creek Road (FR 500) to the Mt. Rogers trailhead, where the road now ends, then walk the trail to the highest point.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower45-foot pole tower with an L-6 cabThe design: L-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
45 ft (13.7 m)
Elevation
5,777 ft (1,761 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Colville National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Stevens County, Washington
Coordinates
48.74041, −117.74195
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-rogers-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 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. 1933 EventA USGS survey party noted Forest Service road work and found no structure during its visitSource: willhiteweb.com
  2. 1934 BuiltA May 1934 Colville Examiner item reports a lookout being established; WillhiteWeb gives 1934 for the 45-foot pole tower. The register and FireLookout.com give 1933.Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  3. 1945 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Hazen Walston listed as lookoutsSource: firelookout.com
  4. 1950 StaffedA couple is listed each year from 1950 to 1954; a 1959 newspaper item says the lookout was discontinued about 1950Sources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1954 Last staffedLast named lookouts in the sources: Mr. and Mrs. Robert DeweySources: willhiteweb.com, firelookout.com
  6. 1959 DestroyedThe tower fell or blew down on a Sunday night in October 1959 per the Statesman Examiner; FireLookout.com and WillhiteWeb also date the fall to 1959Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1959 and 2012
  8. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 17, 2012 as US 1521, WA 421Source: firetower.org
  9. 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.

Rogers Mountain sits in Stevens County, Washington, inside the Colville National Forest.1 The Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps built a lookout on its summit, a 45-foot pole tower with an L-6 cab.2,3 The sources disagree on the year. Two of them give 1933, but a 1933 survey party found no structure during its visit, and a May 1934 Colville Examiner item says a lookout was only then being established, so 1934 looks more likely.3,4,2,1

Mr. and Mrs. Hazen Walston are listed as lookouts for 1945.4 WillhiteWeb names a couple for each year from 1950 through 1954, the last being Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dewey.2 A 1959 newspaper item, quoted by a local history page, says the lookout was discontinued about 1950, which does not match those later names.1

The tower came down in 1959.4,2 A Statesman Examiner item from October 1959 says it fell on a Sunday night.1 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register is the one source that says it was removed in the 1950s instead.3

No source describes a standing structure today. A local history page says ruins remain on the ground, and WillhiteWeb's photo captions mention footings at the summit.1,2 There is no tower left to climb. Today the road ends at the official Mt. Rogers trailhead, reached from Aladdin Road and Kolle Creek Road (FR 500), and a trail climbs from there to the highest point.2

  1. Rogers Mountain - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/rogers-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Rogers Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/rogers_mountain_lookout/tower_210.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Rogers Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/rogers-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Rogers Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/rogersmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Rogers Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

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, access, staffing, 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.