FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Ferry County, Washington

Whitestone Ridge Lookout

Colville tower site: a 1922 lookout camp, then 1935 CCC cabin and 1964 tower; the present 53 ft steel tower dates to 1985 and is staffed each summer.

Tribal land: permission required

This site is on tribal land. Ask the tribe for permission before visiting, and follow its rules. On Colville Confederated Tribal land. Non-tribal visitors must buy an annual recreation permit, which TrailChick lists at $80.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Tribal land: permission required. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
TrailChick's 2019 route used a BIA road up the north ridge from Sand Creek Road or Ninemile-Hellgate Road; it warns that the 2019 fires may have changed conditions.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower53 ft steel tower with live-in cab (1985); the 1964 tower had an R-6 cabThe designs: R-6, L-4
Built of
Steel
Height
53 ft (16.2 m)
Elevation
4,582 ft (1,397 m)
Agency
Colville Indian Reservation
Land
Tribal land
Location
Ferry County, Washington
Coordinates
48.02172, −118.50912
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-whitestone-ridge

View from the cab

What you see from the 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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1922 EventFirst used as a fire lookout campSources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com
  2. 1932 EventDisputed: firelookout.com says the first structure was a frame cabin in 1932; the register and Forest Lookouts date the first L-4 cabin to 1935Source: firelookout.com
  3. 1935 BuiltL-4 ground house built by the Civilian Conservation Corps for about $900Sources: nhlr.org, washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1935 and 1960
  5. 1960 Condition assessmentInspection report found the L-4 cabin in very poor condition, with slippage of the rock cliff under itSource: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1964 Replaced by a new structureA 20 ft tower with an R-6 cab replaced the L-4Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1964 and 1985
  8. 1985 BuiltPresent 53 ft steel tower with live-in cab built on the summitSources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com, firelookout.com
  9. No record between 1985 and 2019
  10. 2019 FireThe 2019 Williams Flats fire burned the summit and surrounding area; the lookout survived, but the outhouse was lostSource: trailchick.com
  11. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 13, 2022 as US 1564, WA 91Source: nhlr.org
  12. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Whitestone Ridge Lookout sits on the Colville Indian Reservation in Ferry County, Washington.1,2 The summit was first used as a fire lookout camp in 1922.1,2

Sources disagree about the first cabin. The register and a Forest Lookouts page say the Civilian Conservation Corps built an L-4 ground house there in 1935 for about $900.1,3 Firelookout.com instead says the first structure was a frame cabin in 1932.4 By 1960 an inspection report found the cabin in very poor condition, and parts of the rock cliff under it had slipped.3 A 20-foot tower with an R-6 cab replaced the old cabin in 1964.1,4

The present structure went up in 1985: a 53-foot steel tower with a live-in cab.1,2 The register and firelookout.com both say it is staffed every summer.1,4

The 2019 Williams Flats fire burned the summit and the land around it. The lookout survived, although its outhouse was lost.2

The land is Colville tribal land, and TrailChick reports that non-tribal visitors must buy an annual recreation permit, which it lists at $80.2 Its 2019 route used a BIA road up the north ridge, and it warns that conditions may have changed after the fires.2

The register recorded the lookout on April 13, 2022, as US 1564.1

  1. Whitestone Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/whitestone-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Whitestone Ridge, TrailChick, https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/whitestone-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Whitestone Ridge - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/whitestone-ridge.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Whitestone Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/wa/whitestonelo.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Whitestone Ridge Lookout - 2019
Whitestone Ridge Lookout - 2019 (2019)Photo: Christine Estrada, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Whitestone Ridge Lookout - L-4 Ground Cabin - 1960
Whitestone Ridge Lookout - L-4 Ground Cabin - 1960 (1960)Photo: National Archive, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Whitestone Ridge in 1979
Whitestone Ridge in 1979 (1979)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Whitestone Ridge in 1993
Whitestone Ridge in 1993 (1993)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Rex Kamstra, via firelookout.com · source
Photo of Whitestone Ridge Lookout
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · source

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Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1985
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1964
    • TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts: 1985

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, access, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.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: design, staffing, photos, 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 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. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: photos TrailChick (trailchick.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, coordinates, elevation, lookout type, years built). The guide's text is not reproduced; its card photos are listed with credit to TrailChick, for the project's photo mirroring. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, 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.