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Fire lookout · Valley County, Idaho

Cold Mountain Lookout (now at Payette Lake – Holm)

Also known as Cold Mountain Lookout, Payette Lake – Holm

Payette NF tower built 1935 on Cold Mountain, moved in 1994 to private land at Payette Lake near McCall, Idaho; only its top 20 feet were restored.

Private land

No public access. Please do not trespass; view it only from public land. On private property at Payette Lake, owned by Richard Holm, Jr. Do not visit without the owner's permission.

Original site: Cold Mountain Lookout

Visit & stay

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

Access

Private land. See the warning at the top of this page.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower72-foot Aermotor tower with 7x7 metal cab (MC-39 type cab per Keeping Watch)The design: Aermotor MC-39
Built of
SteelGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1935
Height
72 ft (21.9 m)
Elevation
5,106 ft (1,556 m)
Agency
Richard Holm, Jr. (administers the tower, per NHLR)
Land
Unknown
Location
Valley County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.95250, −116.04583
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-cold-mountain-at-payette-lake-holm

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. 1934 EventPrivy built in 1934 at the original site (HABS); Idaho Fire Lookouts and Keeping Watch give 1934 for the lookoutSources: tile.loc.gov, idahofirelookouts.com, cdil.lib.uidaho.edu
  2. 1935 BuiltTower built in 1935 at the original Cold Mountain site, Payette National Forest, Krassel DistrictSources: nhlr.org, tile.loc.gov
  3. 1936 BuiltLog cabin built 1936-37 (HABS); NHLR says a cabin was constructed in 1936Sources: nhlr.org, tile.loc.gov
  4. 1937 StaffedNHLR says a young Norman Borlaug staffed the tower the year after the cabin was builtSource: nhlr.org
  5. 1939 StaffedKnown staff Leonard Rowland, per Idaho Fire LookoutsSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  6. No record between 1939 and 1994
  7. 1994 MovedTower disassembled and removed from the Cold Mountain site under a contract commencing August 1, 1994 (HABS); moved to private property near McCall (Idaho Fire Lookouts)Sources: nhlr.org, tile.loc.gov, idahofirelookouts.com
  8. 1996 Condition assessmentHABS documentation (dated 1996) recorded the privy and log cabin as extant at the original siteSource: tile.loc.gov
  9. 2000 BurnedLog cabin burned by a wildfire in 2000, per NHLRSource: nhlr.org
  10. 2007 RestoredA private party restored the top 20 feet of the tower near the shore of Payette Lake, per NHLRSource: nhlr.org
  11. 2008 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered January 2, 2008 as US 714, ID 47; nominated by Richard Holm, Jr. and Lawrence KingsburySource: nhlr.org
  12. 2008 EventKeeping Watch dates removal and acquisition by a private party to 2008 (NHLR says restoration in 2007)Source: cdil.lib.uidaho.edu
  13. Date unknown MovedMoved from Cold Mountain to Payette Lake – Holm.Source: FFLA
  14. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Cold Mountain Lookout first stood on Cold Mountain in the Krassel District of the Payette National Forest.1 The Historic American Buildings Survey report, dated 1996, says the station went up in stages: a privy in 1934, the tower in 1935, and a log cabin in 1936 and 1937.1 HABS says pack animals brought the prefabricated tower to the site.1 According to the register, it was a 72-foot Aermotor with a metal cab 7 feet square.2

According to the register, Norman Borlaug, who later won a Nobel Prize, staffed the tower the year after the cabin was built.2 Using the register's 1936 cabin date, that places him there in 1937.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists a 1939 staffer, Leonard Rowland.3 Idaho Fire Lookouts and Keeping Watch both give 1934 for the lookout, while HABS dates the tower to 1935. The 1934 date may refer to the privy, which HABS dates to that year.3,4,1

The tower came down in 1994.2,1 HABS records that the tower was taken off the site under a contract that began August 1, 1994.1 The register agrees that it was removed that year.2 The HABS report found the privy and log cabin still standing in 1996, and the register says the cabin burned in a wildfire in 2000.1,2 The register says a private party restored the tower's top 20 feet near Payette Lake in 2007.2 Keeping Watch dates the acquisition to 2008.2,4

Today the tower stands on private property near McCall, Idaho, at Payette Lake.3,2 The register names Richard Holm, Jr. as owner.2 It recorded the lookout on January 2, 2008, after nomination by Holm and Lawrence Kingsbury.2 Because it is on private land, please do not visit or climb it without the owner's permission.

  1. Cold Mountain Lookout Tower, Historic American Buildings Survey report, Library of Congress, https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/id/id0200/id0270/data/id0270data.pdf (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Cold Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/cold-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Cold Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/cold-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Cold Mountain Lookout, Keeping Watch, University of Idaho Library, https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/keeping-watch/items/cold-mountain-lookout.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Cold Mountain Lookout (now at Payette Lake – Holm)
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, 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: name, type, status, register numbers, dates, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, 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.