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Fire lookout · Ferry County, Washington

Sheep Mountain Lookout Site

Ferry County, WA 45-ft pole lookout built on Sheep Mountain in 1933-34, removed or destroyed in 1964; FFLOS-registered 2012; no current site description found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed in 1964; no source describes what remains on the site

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 tower45-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab and a 14 x 14-foot house on topThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
45 ft (13.7 m)
Elevation
3,919 ft (1,195 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Ferry County, Washington
Coordinates
48.54348, −118.81865
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-sheep-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 3.8 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 EventConstruction began: knocked-down station unloaded July 1933; tower raised by October 1933Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. 1934 BuiltRegister and Firelookout date the lookout to 1934; crew of four under Glen Campbell completed the station in June 1934Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1964
  4. 1964 RemovedRegister and Forest Lookouts say removed; Firelookout and WillhiteWeb say destroyedSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1964 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered November 19, 2012 as US 1464, WA 364; nominated by Ray KresekSource: firetower.org
  7. 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.

Sheep Mountain sits in the Colville National Forest, about eight miles south-southwest of Republic in Ferry County.1,2

In July 1933 a disassembled lookout station was unloaded from cars for erection on the mountain.3 By October the tower had been raised, and work was under way on a 14-by-14-foot house on top of it.3 The register dates the lookout to 1934.1 In June 1934, a four-man crew led by Glen Campbell was finishing the station and fitting lightning protection.4,3

The lookout was a pole tower 45 feet tall, topped by an L-4 cab.1,2,3 It came down in 1964.1,2,3 Sources disagree on how.1,2,4,3 The register says it was removed, and the Forest Lookouts page also lists it as removed, while the Firelookout and WillhiteWeb pages say it was destroyed.1,2,4,3

The site was entered in the Former Fire Lookout Sites Register on November 19, 2012, as US 1464, WA 364, with Ray Kresek as nominator.1

None of the sources I read describes what, if anything, is left on the mountain today, and none says whether visitors can reach it. The register still lists the U.S. Forest Service as administrator and gives the elevation as 3,919 feet (1,195 m).1

  1. Sheep Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/sheep-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Sheep Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/sheepmtn.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Sheep Mountain Fire Lookout Site, WillhiteWeb.com, http://www.willhiteweb.com/washington_fire_lookouts/sheep_mountain/lookout_096.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Sheep Mountain, Forest Lookouts (washingtonlookouts.weebly.com), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/sheep-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Sheep Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-17-1934 (N)
Sheep Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-17-1934 (N) (1934)Photo: Eric Willhite collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sheep Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-17-1934 (SE)
Sheep Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-17-1934 (SE) (1934)Photo: Eric Willhite collection, via Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Sheep Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-17-1934 (SW)
Sheep Mountain Lookout panoramic 8-17-1934 (SW) (1934)Photo: Eric Willhite collection, via 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: 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, 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.