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Fire lookout · Boundary County, Idaho

Bald Eagle Lookout Site

40-foot L-4 lookout built about 1934 in Boundary County; 1954 staff Ronald W. Moore; removed or destroyed about 1962; sources conflict on last use.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed or destroyed about 1962; the register says removed and the other sources say destroyed. No source describes a standing structure.

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. On Kaniksu National Forest land. No source says the site is closed. None describes the site today.

Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site hike-in. No source gives a route.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a towerL-4The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
40 ft (12.2 m)
Elevation
6,098 ft (1,859 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Boundary County, Idaho
Coordinates
48.51181, −116.25102
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-bald-eagle

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 4.0 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 Built40-foot pole L-4 tower built about 1934 (register, firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts).Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1939 EventBurglary of the lookout reported in a Northern Idaho News item dated September 29, 1939. The item says groceries were taken on September 14.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. No record between 1939 and 1954
  4. 1954 StaffedRonald W. Moore stationed at the lookout in July 1954, when Kaniksu lookouts at Roman Nose and Bald Eagle were activated for the season (Sandpoint News-Bulletin).Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1962 DestroyedFirelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts say destroyed about 1962. Register says removed about 1962. A June 21, 1962 report says the towers were being toppled and burned.Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  6. No record between 1962 and 2013
  7. 2013 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered February 20, 2013 as US 1541, ID 14.Source: firetower.org
  8. 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 Bald Eagle lookout stood on Kaniksu National Forest land in Boundary County, about 12 miles south-southeast of Bonners Ferry.1,2 The tower was built about 1934 and was a 40-foot pole with an L-4 cab.1,2,3

A 1962 newspaper report, quoted on the Idaho Forest Lookouts page, named six abandoned Forest Service lookouts, Bald Eagle among them, and said the Civilian Conservation Corps had built them in the 1930s.4

Staffing records are thin. A July 1954 Sandpoint News-Bulletin item said the Kaniksu lookouts at Roman Nose and Bald Eagle had been activated since July 4, with Ronald W. Moore stationed at Bald Eagle.3,4 A September 1939 Northern Idaho News item reported that two men had been charged with burglarizing the lookout and had admitted taking groceries from it.4

Accounts of the end differ. The register says the tower was removed about 1962.1 Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts both say it was destroyed about 1962.2,3 A June 21, 1962 report quoted on the Weebly page said the abandoned towers were being toppled and burned, and that they had sat unused and without upkeep since 1950.4 The 1950 date does not square with the 1954 activation, so the record leaves the last year of use open.4

The register lists the site as registered on February 20, 2013, as US 1541, ID 14.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the site as a hike-in where the tower was destroyed.3 None of the four sources describes what, if anything, is left at the site today, or whether visitors can reach it.1,2,3,4

  1. Bald Eagle Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/bald-eagle-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Bald Eagle Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/baldeagle.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Bald Eagle Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/northern-idaho/bald-eagle-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Bald Eagle - Forest Lookouts, idaholookouts.weebly.com, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/bald-eagle.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Bald Eagle Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Bald Eagle Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source
Bald Eagle Lookout
Bald Eagle LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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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. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: dates, 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. 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
  6. 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.