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Fire lookout · Clearwater County, Idaho

Brown Creek #1 Lookout

Clearwater County, ID tower: a 1910 crow's nest, a 100-foot steel tower from 1934, torn down in 1999; sources disagree on staffing after the 1970s.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Torn down in 1999 per two listings; Forest Lookouts says only that it was removed, with no date

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
Labeled Drive-Up by Idaho Fire Lookouts; the tower is gone and no source says whether the site is open now

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower100-foot steel tower (listed as an Aermotor, or as an MC-39 model)The design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1910
Height
100 ft (30.5 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Clearwater-Potlatch TPA (Idaho Fire Lookouts, firelookout.com); Clearwater Timber Protective Association (Forest Lookouts)
Land
Unknown
Location
Clearwater County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.33466, −115.82524
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-brown-creek-1

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. 1910 BuiltDeveloped with a crow's nestSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. No record between 1910 and 1934
  3. 1934 Built100-foot steel tower at the north end of the ridgeSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. No record between 1934 and 1960
  5. 1960 EventPower line about four miles long built to the lookout, per an annual report quoted by Forest LookoutsSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1960 and 1981
  7. 1981 StaffedMr. & Mrs. Kirkpatrick listed as staff; does not fit the 1970s end date given by two listingsSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. No record between 1981 and 1999
  9. 1999 RemovedTorn downSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  10. 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.

A crow's nest went up at Brown Creek #1 Lookout in 1910.1,2 A 100-foot steel tower followed in 1934, at the north end of the ridge.1,2,3 Idaho Fire Lookouts calls the tower an Aermotor, while Forest Lookouts gives its model as an MC-39.1,3

The listings also disagree on the name of the agency that ran the site. Two call it the Clearwater-Potlatch TPA, and one calls it the Clearwater Timber Protective Association.1,2,3 Forest Lookouts quotes an annual report that records a power line about four miles long built to the lookout in 1960.3

Both firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts say the tower stayed in service into the 1970s.1,2 Idaho Fire Lookouts also names Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick as staff in 1981, a date that does not match that account, and the sources do not explain the gap.1

The tower came down in 1999.1,2 Forest Lookouts lists it only as removed, with no date.3

No source describes what remains at the site now.1,2,3 Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site drive-up but does not say whether it is open today.1 The Fire Lookout index still marks the tower as gone, at about 46.33466, -115.82524.4

  1. Brown Creek #1 Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/brown-creek-1-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Brown Creek #1 Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/browncreek1.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Brown's Creek #1, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/browns-creek-1.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Idaho lookouts index, firelookout.org, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Brown Creek #1 Lookout
Brown Creek #1 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: 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: 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

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