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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Burnt Knob

Payette NF pole tower with an L-4 cab, built 1933 and destroyed in 1960; the record's coordinates match a different Burnt Knob.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in 1960

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?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as hike-in; no source describes the site today

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Type unknownL-4 cab on a pole towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1933
Height
15 ft (4.6 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Payette National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.70270, −114.99180
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-burnt-knob-3

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 3.9 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. 1915 StaffedElmer Purdyman, per Idaho Fire Lookouts citing the Idaho County Free Press; the page does not tie him to the 1933 towerSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1915 and 1933
  3. 1933 BuiltPole tower with L-4 cab; 15 feet per Forest Lookouts and Idaho Fire Lookouts, 10 feet per firelookout.comSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. No record between 1933 and 1960
  5. 1960 DestroyedDestroyed in 1960 per all three sourcesSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  6. 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.

The Burnt Knob lookout stood in Idaho County, in the Payette National Forest, about 7 miles north-northwest of Chamberlain Guard Station.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts gives its elevation as 7,339 feet.1,2

Sources agree that a tower with an L-4 cab went up in 1933.1,3,2 Forest Lookouts and Idaho Fire Lookouts both describe a 15-foot tower.3,2 Firelookout.com describes a 10-foot pole tower instead.1 The sources disagree on its height.1,3,2

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists one known staffer, Elmer Purdyman, for 1915, citing the Idaho County Free Press.2 The page's history starts with the 1933 tower and does not link that 1915 entry to it.2

The tower was destroyed in 1960.1,3,2

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as hike-in.2 No source describes what, if anything, remains at the site today, or whether it is open to visitors.

Two structures share the Burnt Knob name.1,4 The one on the Nez Perce/Bitterroot National Forests is a log cabin built in 1930.4 Keeping Watch gives coordinates for its Burnt Knob and links to that cabin's page, so check any map pin against the Chamberlain Guard Station description before using it.5,1

  1. Burnt Knob Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, http://www.firelookout.com/id/burntknob307.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Burnt Knob, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/burnt-knob/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Burnt Knob, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/burnt-knob1.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Burnt Knob Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, http://www.firelookout.com/id/burntknob291.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Burnt Knob, Keeping Watch, Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning, https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/keeping-watch/items/burnt-knob.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Sources

  1. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: name, location, county, design, height, status, agency, ownership, 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
  2. 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.