FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Coolwater Lookout

One of the oldest Lochsa-Selway lookout sites (1915 origin), now a 1953 L-4 cab tower staffed continuously into the 2020s.

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. Active, staffed Forest Service lookout; rough high-clearance/4WD road or ~2 mile hike from first saddle, per idahofirelookouts.com visit report; not a public rental

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Reachable by rough road (high-clearance/4WD recommended) or by hiking ~2 miles from the first saddle
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2025)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower10 ft treated-timber tower, hip-roof L-4 cab with catwalk (built 1953)The design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
6,929 ft (2,112 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Nez Perce National Forest, Moose Creek Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.15444, −115.45694
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-coolwater

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 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. 1915 BuiltOriginal 12x12 ft frame cabin built on the summitSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com
  2. 1916 First staffedStaffed by G.A. Burrows (idahofirelookouts.com dates the cabin's construction to 1916, one year later than NHLR/firelookout.com)Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  3. No record between 1916 and 1931
  4. 1931 Replaced by a new structureFrame cabin replaced by 14x14 ft log cabin (dated 1926 by idahofirelookouts.com vs 1931 by NHLR); idahofirelookouts.com and firelookout.com also date the L-4 cab's construction to 1931, though NHLR gives 1936 for the L-4 and firelookout.com describes the L-4 as replacing the frame cabin directly rather than the log cabinSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  5. No record between 1931 and 1953
  6. 1953 BuiltCurrent 10 ft treated-timber tower with hip-roof L-4 cab and catwalk constructedSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  7. 1953 Moved1931 L-4 cab moved ~100 ft down the mountain to make room for the present towerSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  8. No record between 1953 and 2009
  9. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on NHLR April 6, 2009, nominated by Gary WeberSource: nhlr.org
  10. No record between 2009 and 2025
  11. 2025 StaffedTom Vandewater staffing recorded as continuing through 2025 per idahofirelookouts.com staff listSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  12. 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.

Coolwater Lookout is one of the oldest fire-watch sites in the Lochsa-Selway country, with origins going back to 1915, when a 12-by-12-foot frame cabin went up on the summit.1,2,3 Sources differ on the exact year the first cabin went up—1915 or 1916.1,2,3 Idaho Fire Lookouts records G.A. Burrows as the earliest known observer, staffing it starting that year.2 In its earliest years, one of the lookout's jobs was relaying heliograph messages from other lookouts that didn't have telephone lines.3

The frame cabin was replaced by a larger 14-by-14-foot log cabin, which different sources date to either 1926 or 1931.1,2 An L-4 cab then replaced the log cabin as the active lookout structure—Idaho Fire Lookouts and firelookout.com both date this to 1931, while the National Historic Lookout Register instead gives 1936; firelookout.com's own account skips the log cabin and describes the L-4 as replacing the frame cabin directly.1,2,3 In 1953, that L-4 cab was moved about 100 feet down the mountain, and the Forest Service built the current structure in its place: a 10-foot treated-timber tower with a hip-roof L-4 cab and catwalk.1,2,3 The relocated older cab is still there today, in rough shape, and one former lookout recalled it having served as his kids' playhouse in the 1980s.2

Known staff stretch across decades: Burrows in the mid-1910s, Ernie "Tarzan" Bohn in 1929, Bob and Kris Anderson through much of the late 1970s and 1980s, Bill Harlow from 1995 to 2002, and Tom Vandewater, who staffed the tower from 2010 into at least 2025.2

Coolwater was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on April 6, 2009, nominated by Gary Weber.1 It remains an active, staffed Forest Service lookout on the Nez Perce National Forest, about 24 miles east of Kooskia, at roughly 6,929 feet elevation.1,3 Visitors have reached it by a rough road requiring high-clearance or four-wheel drive, or by hiking up from a saddle a couple of miles out; because it's a working lookout and someone's seasonal home, visitors should expect it to be occupied and should be respectful if they stop by.2

  1. Coolwater Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/coolwater-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Coolwater Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/coolwater-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Coolwater Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/coolwater.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Coolwater Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Coolwater Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Coolwater Lookout
Coolwater LookoutPhoto: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Coolwater Lookout
Coolwater LookoutPhoto: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Coolwater Lookout outbuilding
Coolwater Lookout outbuildingPhoto: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
View from Coolwater Lookout
View from Coolwater LookoutPhoto: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Coolwater in 1916
Coolwater in 1916 (1916)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and the Nez Perce N.F, via firelookout.com · source
Coolwater in 1923
Coolwater in 1923 (1923)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and the Nez Perce N.F, via firelookout.com · source
Coolwater in 1989
Coolwater in 1989 (1989)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and the Nez Perce N.F, 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: 1953
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1915

    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, 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: design, staffing, 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. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: height, 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
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.