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Fire lookout · Clearwater County, Idaho

Beaver Butte Lookout

Clearwater County, ID site developed 1921 with towers from 1934; the west-point tower was gone by 1957 and the east-point tower by 1962. No source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. East-point tower destroyed or removed in 1962; west-point tower destroyed or removed in 1957

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site Drive-Up, listed as destroyed; no source says whether the public can reach it today

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower50-foot pole tower with L-4 cab on the east point (1934); sources disagree on the west-point towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1921
Height
50 ft (15.2 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Clearwater Timber Protective Association
Land
Unknown
Location
Clearwater County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.82195, −115.68655
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-beaver-butte

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 4.1 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. 1921 BuiltSite developed with a twin tree platform on the east point and a crow's nest on the west pointSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1923 AlteredLog cabin added on the east point; platform towers on both pointsSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1934 Built50-foot pole L-4 tower on the east point. Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts also give a 100-foot pole L-6 tower on the west point in 1934; the Forest Lookouts timeline also lists 100' pole L-6 W under 1934Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1944 EventJune 1944 note on gathering 100-foot poles for a 110-foot tower, which Forest Lookouts says was erected on the west point. Erection date not givenSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1957 DestroyedWest-point tower. Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts say destroyed; Forest Lookouts quotes the TPA annual report as saying the 110-foot tower was removedSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1962 AbandonedSource: Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com)
  7. 1962 RemovedEast-point 50-foot tower. Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts say destroyed. The TPA annual report quoted by Forest Lookouts (combined 1961-62) says a tower was removed in the fall after going unstaffed in the fire season and being in poor condition. That report does not name the pointSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Beaver Butte is in Clearwater County, Idaho, about five miles west-southwest of the Canyon Ranger Station, at 5,040 feet.1 The Clearwater Timber Protective Association is listed as the agency for the site.2

The site was set up in 1921, with a twin tree platform on the east point and a crow's nest on the west point.1,2 In 1923 the east point gained a log cabin, and both points got platform towers.1,3

In 1934 a 50-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab was built on the east point.1,3,2 The west point is less clear.1,3,2 Firelookout.com and the Idaho Fire Lookouts page both describe a 100-foot pole L-6 tower built there in 1934.1,3 The Forest Lookouts page also lists a 1934 L-6 tower, but adds a June 1944 note about gathering poles for a 110-foot tower, which it says was erected on the west point.2 The sources disagree on that tower's height and on when it was built.1,3,2

The Forest Lookouts page quotes the Clearwater TPA's combined 1961-62 annual report. As quoted there, a tower went unstaffed through the fire season, was in poor condition, and was removed that fall.2

The west-point tower came down in 1957. Firelookout.com and the Idaho Fire Lookouts page say it was destroyed that year, while the Forest Lookouts page says the 110-foot tower was removed.1,3,2

Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts say the east-point tower was destroyed in 1962.1,3 The Forest Lookouts page also puts a removal in 1962, but does not say which point that tower stood on.2

Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site drive-up.3 None of the three sources describes what, if anything, remains there today, or whether the public can reach it.1,3,2

  1. Beaver Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/beaverbutte.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Beaver Butte - Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/beaver-butte.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Beaver Butte Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/beaver-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Beaver Butte Lookout
Beaver Butte LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: design, height, agency, 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, 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.