FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Pend Oreille County, Washington

Snyder Hill Lookout Site

Colville NF lookout on Snyder Hill: a 10-ft pole L-4 tower from about 1937, destroyed or removed in 1958; footings, stovepipe and anchors remain on the ridge.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in 1958 (firelookout.com, Willhite Web) or removed (Former Fire Lookout Sites). Willhite Web's recent photos show four footings, part of a stove, a stovepipe and many anchors on the east ridge.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Snyder Hill Road (FR 050) has two gates with seasonal closures; Willhite Web advises July to August 14, when both gates are open. The site is on Colville National Forest land.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Cross the Ione Bridge, take Sullivan Lake Road 1.4 miles to FR 050, drive 8.7 miles of gravel to a ridge junction, then walk the final mile, which is overgrowing in places (Willhite Web).

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower10-ft pole tower with an L-4 cab; platform patrol tower half a mile west on the west ridgeThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1937
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
5,426 ft (1,654 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Colville National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Pend Oreille County, Washington
Coordinates
48.77669, −117.32057
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-snyder-hill

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 4.5 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. 1937 BuiltAround 1937: 10-ft pole tower with an L-4 cab on the east ridge near the summit, plus a platform patrol tower half a mile west (Former Fire Lookout Sites, firelookout.com, Willhite Web)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  2. No record between 1937 and 1955
  3. 1955 EventAerial pictures from 1955 still show the cab (Willhite Web)Source: willhiteweb.com
  4. 1958 DestroyedLookout came down in 1958. firelookout.com and Willhite Web say destroyed; Former Fire Lookout Sites says removed; Rex's page marks it Removed.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, willhiteweb.com
  5. No record between 1958 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 17, 2012Source: 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.

The lookout stood on Snyder Hill's east ridge, close to the summit, in Colville National Forest.1,2 The site lies about five miles northeast of Ione, in Pend Oreille County.1,3

From about 1937 the site held a 10-foot pole lookout with an L-4 cabin.1,3,2 A platform patrol tower stood half a mile west, on a knob of the west ridge.1,2 Aerial pictures from 1955 still show the cab.2

The lookout came down in 1958. firelookout.com and Willhite Web say it was destroyed that year, while Former Fire Lookout Sites says it was removed.1,3,2 Rex's Fire Lookout Page also marks it as removed.4

Willhite Web's recent photos show four footings, part of a stove, a stovepipe still standing, and many anchors around the site.2 No source describes anything else standing on the ridge. A phone line once ran south from the lookout toward Molybdenite Mountain.2 A longtime owner of valley property told Willhite Web the line survives on his land.2

The summit is wooded and offers no views, Willhite Web says, while the former lookout sites around it have partial views in two directions.2

To get there, drive over the Ione bridge spanning the Pend Oreille River, then go 1.4 miles on Sullivan Lake Road to Snyder Hill Road, FR 050.2 The gravel road runs 8.7 miles before reaching a ridge junction, and the final mile, overgrown in places, is walked.2 Two gates on the road are subject to seasonal closure.2 Willhite Web suggests going between July and August 14, when both gates are open.2

  1. Snyder Hill Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/wa/snyder-hill-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Snyder Hill Lookout Site and Patrol Point, WillhiteWeb.com, https://willhiteweb.com/fire_lookouts/snyder_hill_lookout/tower_219.htm (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Snyder Hill Fire Lookout Tower, Fire Lookout (firelookout.com), https://www.firelookout.com/wa/snyderhill.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Snyder Hill - Forest Lookouts, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/snyder-hill.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Snyder Hill 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, 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. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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.