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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Beaver Ridge Lookout

A 1963 R-6 flat cab on a 12-foot base in the Clearwater National Forest, on a site with a 1919 camp and an early 1919 wireless fire report.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Open to the public. Listed as drive-up. The pages read do not state visiting rules.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6 flat cab with catwalk on a 12-foot baseThe designs: R-6, Cupola house
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Height
12 ft (3.7 m)
Elevation
7,370 ft (2,246 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.56306, −114.44222
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-beaver-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.

Downloads about 3.6 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. 1919 FireA wireless telephone at the site was used to report a blaze to the forest ranger at Lolo Hot Springs; a Nevada State Journal item dated August 15, 1919 said it was reportedly the first such report in historySource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1919 EventCamp located at the siteSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1922 BuiltLog cabin with cupola built by the Forest Service; the register calls it the first lookout at the siteSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  4. No record between 1922 and 1963
  5. 1963 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  6. 1963 Replaced by a new structureCurrent R-6 flat cab on a 12-foot base replaced the 1922 cabin; sources disagree on concrete versus cinder block baseSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1977 StaffedEarliest staff year listed by Idaho Fire LookoutsSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. No record between 1977 and 2009
  9. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered April 24, 2009Source: nhlr.org
  10. 2022 StaffedMost recent staff years listed as 2022 to 2024Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Beaver Ridge Lookout stands on the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho County, at about 7,370 feet, within the Powell Ranger District.1

The site's history starts with a camp in 1919.2,3 In 1922 the Forest Service built a log cabin with a cupola there, and the National Historic Lookout Register counts it as the first lookout at the site.1 The current tower, an R-6 flat cab with a catwalk on a 12-foot base, went up in 1963 and replaced that cabin.1,2 The sources agree on 1963 for the current cab but not on its base material.1,2,4 The register and Idaho Fire Lookouts describe concrete, while another history page describes cinder block.1,3,4

In August 1919, a wireless telephone at Beaver Ridge was used to alert the forest ranger stationed at Lolo Hot Springs to a blaze.4 A Nevada newspaper said at the time that it was reportedly the first such report in history.4

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists known staff for 1977, 1979 to 1981, 1990 to 1998 and 2022 to 2024, and says the lookout is manned in each fire season.3

The register added the lookout on April 24, 2009.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts describes it as drive-up and staffed.3 No rental listing turned up in our search, and the pages we read do not say whether visitors may go up into the cab. Anyone planning a visit should check current Forest Service guidance for the Powell Ranger District first.

  1. Beaver Ridge Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/beaver-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Beaver Ridge Fire Lookout Tower, Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout, https://www.firelookout.com/id/beaverridge.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Beaver Ridge Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/beaver-ridge-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Beaver Ridge - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts (Idaho), https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/beaver-ridge1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Beaver Ridge Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Beaver Ridge in 1926
Beaver Ridge in 1926 (1926)Photo: the Montana Memory Project and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Beaver Ridge in 1952
Beaver Ridge in 1952 (1952)Photo: the Montana Memory Project and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Beaver Ridge in 1953
Beaver Ridge in 1953 (1953)Photo: the Montana Memory Project and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Beaver Ridge in 1963
Beaver Ridge in 1963 (1963)Photo: the Montana Memory Project and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Beaver Ridge L.O.
Beaver Ridge L.OPhoto: the Montana Memory Project and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source

Photos keep their own rights and are shown with credit. Is one of these yours? You can ask for a different credit or for removal.

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: 1963
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1919

    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, 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: what it is built of, design, height, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · 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, 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.