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Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Saddle Mountain Lookout Site

Pend Oreille County DNR lookout: 30-ft L-4 tower built 1945, 40-ft DNR cab 1962, destroyed 1986; footings in photo captions; old access road crosses private land.

Permission required

You need permission from the tribe or landowner before visiting. The DNR owns the very top of the mountain, but the old access road is on private property, per the Willhite page

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in 1986 (the Weebly page says toppled). Willhite photo captions mention footings and a benchmark; none of those captions is dated.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent.

Access

Permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
Willhite gives a hike of 1.3 miles with 800 feet of elevation gain; nothing stands to climb now.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1945); 40-foot wooden DNR live-in cab (1962)The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1945
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
3,479 ft (1,060 m)
Agency
Washington Dept. of Natural Resources
Land
Unknown
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.20136, −117.12539
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-saddle-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 4.3 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. 1944 EventShort-wave radio installed at the lookout site in June 1944; structure then unknownSources: willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1944 First staffedCharles Heppe, a veteran firefighter, was the lookoutSource: willhiteweb.com
  3. 1945 Built30-foot pole tower with L-4 cab; Spokane newspaper reported it complete in August 1945 with Heppe in chargeSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  4. 1957 StaffedLaura Belle Johnson listed as lookout 1957-1962Source: firelookout.com
  5. 1962 Replaced by a new structureFirst tower replaced by a 40-foot wooden DNR live-in cab, built by the Department's own carpentry crew at around $8,000Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  6. 1965 StaffedSharon Borgford was the lookoutSource: willhiteweb.com
  7. No record between 1965 and 1986
  8. 1986 DestroyedDestroyed per FireLookout.com and Willhite; Weebly says toppledSources: firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. No record between 1986 and 2012
  10. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 17, 2012 as US 1523, WA 423; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  11. 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.

Saddle Mountain sits in Pend Oreille County, about four miles northwest of Newport. The Washington Department of Natural Resources administers the site.1,2

Radio came first. A short-wave radio went in at the lookout site in June 1944, but the Willhite page does not identify the structure that stood there then.3 A 1944 newspaper item, quoted on a Washington lookouts site, lists the mountain among the stations linked by the new radio sets.4 Charles Heppe, a veteran firefighter, was the lookout that year.3

A 30-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab went up in 1945.1,2,3 A Spokane newspaper reported that August that the new lookout was complete, with Heppe in charge.4

Staffing went on into the 1960s.2,3 FireLookout.com lists Laura Belle Johnson for 1957 to 1962, and the Willhite page names Sharon Borgford as the lookout in 1965.2,3

In 1962 the Department replaced the first tower with a 40-foot wooden cab.1,2,3,4 Its own carpentry crew built it for about $8,000.3

The tower was destroyed in 1986.2,3 The Weebly page says it was toppled that year.4 The register's photo caption shows the final moments of the lookout.1

Captions on the Willhite photos mention footings and a benchmark, but none of those captions gives a date.3

The state agency holds the summit itself, but the old access road is on private land.3 The Willhite page gives a hike of 1.3 miles with 800 feet of climbing.3 Visitors should check with the landowner first.

  1. Saddle Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites (Forest Fire Lookout Association), http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/saddle-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Saddle Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, FireLookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/saddlemtn209.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Saddle Mountain Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/saddle_mountain/lookout_366.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Saddle Mountain - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/saddle-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Saddle Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Saddle Mountain Lookout 1952
Saddle Mountain Lookout 1952 (1952)Photo: Rex Kamstra collection, via 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, 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. 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.