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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Butts Creek Point Lookout

Remote 1930s L-4 lookout in the Frank Church Wilderness, reachable only by river crossing and a steep six-mile hike, now maintained by a volunteer steward.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Restricted access

Access is seasonal, gated or needs a permit. Check before you go. Requires a boat crossing of the Salmon River and a 6-mile hike with over 5,000 feet of elevation gain; rarely visited.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
No, you have to hike
Trail
Boat crossing of the Salmon River then a 6-mile hike gaining over 5,000 feet.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingL-4 cab, 14x14 feet, on log-cribbing foundationThe design: L-4
Built of
Logs
Built
1933
Height
7,840 ft (2389.6 m)
Elevation
7,840 ft (2,390 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Salmon-Challis National Forest, North Fork Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.36165, −114.73740
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-butts-creek-point

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 3.7 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. 1933 BuiltWikipedia gives 1933, built by the USDA Forest ServiceSource: en.wikipedia.org
  2. 1934 BuiltNHLR and Idaho Fire Lookouts both give 1934Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. No record between 1934 and 1973
  4. 1973 StaffedGary Gadwa staffed the lookout 1973-1974 per Idaho Fire Lookouts; NHLR photo captions independently date Gadwa-credited photos to 1973 but do not state staffing yearsSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 1982 Last staffedWikipedia states the tower was in service from 1933 to 1982Source: en.wikipedia.org
  6. No record between 1982 and 2014
  7. 2014 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register September 2, 2014, nominated by Luke ChannerSource: nhlr.org
  8. 2018 Listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesListed on the National Register of Historic Places (NPS weekly list dated Feb 8, 2019 covers the Dec 28, 2018 listing)Source: en.wikipedia.org
  9. 2021 RestoredLog base was improved after bear damage.Source: firelookout.org
  10. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Butts Creek Point Lookout sits at about 7,840 feet on a prominent knob in what is now the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, roughly 40 miles northeast of Salmon, Idaho.1,2 The Forest Service built it as an L-4 cab resting on a log-cribbing foundation; the parts were packed to the site by a string of ten mules.1,2 Sources differ slightly on the year: the National Historic Lookout Register and Idaho Fire Lookouts both give 1934, while Wikipedia gives 1933.1,3,2 The 14-by-14-foot cab is enclosed in glass on every side, and the Forest Service says the outlook from inside reaches the Clearwater Mountains, the Bitterroot Mountains, the Bighorn Crags, and the Salmon River Mountains.2

Wikipedia reports the tower was in service from 1933 to 1982.2 The lookout register describes the staffing record as thin and believes it was staffed mainly during the 1960s and 1970s; the one specific name on record is Gary Gadwa, who staffed it in 1973–1974.3 No source consulted records any fire the lookout was specifically used to spot.

The lookout's remoteness has preserved it rather than led to abandonment. Reaching it means crossing the Salmon River by boat and then hiking six miles with more than 5,000 feet of elevation gain, so it is rarely visited.1,3 A former lookout, Dr. Phillip Krueger of Boise, now serves as steward, visiting twice a year to open and close the building for the season.1,3 The structure was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on September 2, 2014, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.1,2

The lookout register lists the tower as available for rental, though given the difficulty of the approach, anyone interested should confirm current arrangements with the Salmon-Challis National Forest before planning a trip.1

  1. Butts Creek Point Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/butts-creek-point-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Butts Creek Point Fire Lookout, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butts_Creek_Point_Fire_Lookout (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Butts Creek Point Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/butts-creek-point-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Butts Creek Point Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Exterior view
Exterior viewPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Exterior view
Exterior viewPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Interior view
Interior viewPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Exterior decking
Exterior deckingPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Foundation
FoundationPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Butts Point Lookout - 1973
Butts Point Lookout - 1973 (1973)Photo: Gary Gadwa, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Butts Point Lookout - 1973
Butts Point Lookout - 1973 (1973)Photo: Gary Gadwa, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Butts Creek Point in 2014
Butts Creek Point in 2014 (2014)Photo: Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Butts Creek Point in 2014
Butts Creek Point in 2014 (2014)Photo: Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Butts Creek Point Lookout
Butts Creek Point LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.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.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, 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: 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. 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
  5. Forest Fire Lookout Association chapter reports Gave us: dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association, chapter and restoration-grant reports (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts only (dates, names, the kind of work done). Every note is our own wording and every event links to the FFLA report it comes from. Positions are copied from the NHLR, FFLOS and FFLA records. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Wikidata -- US fire lookout towers (Q748998 and subclasses) Gave us: register numbers, links Wikidata · CC0 1.0 (Wikidata). Images keep their own Commons licence/credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  7. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: design, 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
  8. 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

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