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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Anderson Butte Lookout

Nez Perce lookout first used in 1914 as a tent camp; the current L-4 cab on a 53-foot tower dates to 1953 and is used on an emergency basis.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Emergency-use lookout reached on foot by trail from the Elk City area. The sources do not describe public entry into the cab.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Hike-in. The Anderson Butte National Recreation Trail and other trails reach the summit; ask the Elk City Ranger Station about current conditions.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4Cab: L-4; tower: Region 6 timber towers (CT, TT)
Built of
Wood
Built
1914
Height
53 ft (16.2 m)
Elevation
6,827 ft (2,081 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.88716, −115.33170
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-anderson-butte

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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History

Then and now

  1. 1914 BuiltSource: firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page
  2. 1914 EventFirst lookout was a tent camp, per NHLR, firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts.Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. No record between 1914 and 1932
  4. 1932 BuiltClimbing guide photo caption dates a log lookout cabin with cupola to 1932. NHLR gives only early 1930s for an L-4 cab on a short tower; the sources do not say whether these are one structure.Source: idahoaclimbingguide.com
  5. No record between 1932 and 1953
  6. 1953 BuiltCurrent structure: L-4 cab on a 53-foot timber tower.Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  7. 1964 StaffedJim Reid listed as known staff.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. 1978 StaffedMr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick listed as known staff.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  9. 1980 EventShift to emergency-basis use. Sources say the 1980s (Idaho Fire Lookouts) or early 1980s (firelookout.com); 1980 marks the decade start only, not a dated event.Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  10. No record between 1980 and 1997
  11. 1997 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 25, 1997 (NHLR US 232, ID 18).Source: 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.

Fire lookout use on Anderson Butte, about six miles northeast of Elk City in the Nez Perce National Forest, dates to 1914.1,2 Its earliest setup was a tent camp.1 In the early 1930s an L-4 lookout went up on a short tower, and a photo caption in the climbing guide dates a log cabin with a cupola to 1932.1,2

The tower standing now, an L-4 cab on a 53-foot timber tower, was built in 1953.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts gives the same year and describes a treated tower with an L-4 cab.3 The same site lists Jim Reid as known staff in 1964 and a Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick in 1978.3

The tower moved to emergency status in the 1980s.3 The register says it is staffed on an emergency basis, firelookout.com says it has been used that way since the early 1980s, and the climbing guide says the current lookout is used on an emergency basis.1,4,2

The register lists August 25, 1997 as the date it was registered, and calls the lookout the final one of its type on the Nez Perce National Forest.1 Firelookout.com says no other example of its type remains on the forest.4 The sources give the elevation as 6,827 feet on the register and 6,847 feet on the other two sites.1,4,3

Access is on foot.3 The climbing guide names Elk City as the main starting point, with the Anderson Butte National Recreation Trail and other trails climbing to the summit, and advises checking conditions with the Nez Perce National Forest–Elk City Ranger Station.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the tower as hike-in and on emergency status.3

  1. Anderson Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/anderson-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Anderson Butte - IDAHO: A Climbing Guide, https://www.idahoaclimbingguide.com/bookupdates/anderson-butte/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Anderson Butte Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/anderson-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Anderson Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/andersonbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Anderson Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Anderson Butte in 1996
Anderson Butte in 1996 (1996)Photo: Gary Weber and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Anderson Butte in 2018
Anderson Butte in 2018 (2018)Photo: Gary Weber and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Anderson Butte Lookout
Anderson Butte LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, 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, dates, 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. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: photos, links idahofirelookouts.com · No licence stated; facts only (coordinates, status/built/destroyed year parsed from each entry's short excerpt). Thumbnail photos mirrored with credit per the project's photo policy. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. 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
  7. 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.