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Fire lookout · Okanogan County, Washington

Whitmore Mountain

Colville Reservation lookout: a 1934 L-4 ground cab stands beside the staffed 1960s steel tower; the cab is in very poor shape and a reservation use pass is required.

Tribal land: permission required

This site is on tribal land. Ask the tribe for permission before visiting, and follow its rules. Colville Reservation land. Visitors need a reservation use pass. SummitPost warns that access for non-tribal members can change at any time. The steel tower is locked.

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
Road conditions on the Colville can vary dramatically year to year; TrailChick advises a high-clearance 4x4. The cab site is just northeast of the summit and takes some hunting to find.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Type unknown1934 L-4 ground cab, about a quarter mile northeast of a 53-foot all-steel live-in tower built in the 1960sThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
3,880 ft (1,183 m)
Agency
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (register: Colville Indian Reservation)
Land
Tribal land
Location
Okanogan County, Washington
Coordinates
48.18014, −119.24763
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-wa-whitmore-mountain-2

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.

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. 1934 BuiltL-4 ground cab, about a quarter mile northeast of the current steel lookout. Register and TrailChick date it 1934.Sources: nhlr.org, trailchick.com
  2. 1934 EventIndian department working on the mountain in June 1934: a camp, lumber hauled up, poles being cut and a trail being built.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1935 BuiltThree-legged 60-foot wooden tower with 7x7 cab, built by the CCC for a reported $1,046 with the cab. Fire Lookout and SummitPost date the tower to 1938.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, summitpost.org
  4. 1943 StaffedTeachers hired as summer fire lookouts in the Colville National Forest; a 1943 newspaper names one on Whitmore Mountain.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  5. No record between 1943 and 1960
  6. 1960 Condition assessmentInspection report calls the wooden tower unsafe and proposes a 50-foot steel tower with quarters on top. The steel tower that followed was built in the 1960s.Sources: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com, nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  7. 1962 EventLetter suggests moving the new tower about a quarter mile southwest, onto privately owned land.Source: washingtonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. No record between 1962 and 2021
  9. 2021 FireLightning started the Whitmore fire on August 3, 2021. Crews dug a hand line around the historic L-4 cab and wrapped it; both lookouts survived.Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2022 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 13, 2022 as US 1565, WA 92.Source: nhlr.org
  11. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Whitmore Mountain has two lookout sites on the Colville Reservation.1 The older one is a ground-level cab about a quarter mile northeast of the current steel tower.1,2 The Indian department was working on the mountain in June 1934.3 Its crews had a camp there and had hauled up some lumber. They were also cutting poles and putting in a trail.3 The Civilian Conservation Corps built the cab and a three-legged wooden tower for a reported $1,046.1,2 The register dates the cab to 1934 and the tower to 1935.1 Fire Lookout dates both structures to 1938,4 and SummitPost dates the tower to 1938.5 The 1960 inspection report gives 1935 for the structures.3 The sources disagree, so we keep the register's dates here and flag the rest.

The wooden tower stood 60 feet high on three legs, with a 7-by-7-foot cab on top.4,3 The cab on the ground served as living quarters.4,3 In 1943 the Colville National Forest hired teachers as summer fire lookouts.3 A newspaper that summer named one of them on Whitmore Mountain.3

By 1960 an inspection report called the wooden tower unsafe. It proposed a 50-foot steel tower with quarters on top, about 1,200 feet south of the wooden tower's site.3 A 1962 letter suggested moving the new tower a quarter mile southwest, onto private land.3 The steel lookout that stands today went up in the 1960s on land a private owner allowed.1,4 Most sources give its height as 53 feet, but SummitPost says 67 feet.2,4,6,5

Lightning ignited the Whitmore fire on August 3, 2021.1 Crews cut a hand line around the historic cab and wrapped it to protect it. The fire spared both lookouts.1

The register says the cab remains on site, but its condition is very poor.1 The steel lookout is staffed every summer.1,6 It is locked.1

The mountain is on tribal land.1,2 The tribes require a reservation use pass for visitors.7 Their purchase sheet, which appears to date from April 2024, lists an annual pass at $80.7 TrailChick advises a high-clearance 4x4, because road conditions on the Colville can vary dramatically from year to year.2 SummitPost warns that access for non-tribal visitors can change at any time, so ask the tribes before you go.5 Keep off the historic cab, given its very poor condition.1

  1. Whitmore Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/wa/whitmore-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Whitmore Mountain L-4 Cab, TrailChick, https://www.trailchick.com/wa-state-fire-lookouts/whitmore-mountain-l-4-cab-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Whitmore Mountain, Washington Lookouts (Rex's Fire Lookout Page), https://washingtonlookouts.weebly.com/whitmore-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Whitmore Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, Fire Lookout, http://www.firelookout.com/wa/whitmore.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Whitmore Mountain, SummitPost, https://www.summitpost.org/whitmore-mountain/917363 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  6. Whitmore Mountain, Okanogan Country, https://okanogancountry.com/poi/whitmore-mountain (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  7. Purchase Reservation Permits and Passes, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56a24f7f841aba12ab7ecfa9/t/66155f0c96ca4f505568d729/1712676621039/04-Purchase+Reservation+Permits-Passes.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Whitmore Mountain
Photo: TrailChick Washington lookout guide (trailchick.com) · source

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Sources

  1. TrailChick: Washington State Fire Lookouts Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, design, status, agency, ownership, access, dates, photos, links 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
  2. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, 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

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