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Fire lookout · Clearwater County, Idaho

Elk Butte Lookout

An 80-foot steel tower erected 1948 with a 1933 live-in cab at 30 feet, run by the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association and on emergency status.

Visit & stay

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

Access

Access unknown

We do not know the access rules. Check with the land manager before you go.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Unknown
Staffing
Staffed only in emergencies

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower80-ft WWII surplus steel tower with metal 7x7 ft cab; 1933 wooden live-in cab kept at 30 ft
Built of
Steel sources disagree
Height
80 ft (24.4 m)
Elevation
5,725 ft (1,745 m)
Agency
Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association
Land
Unknown
Location
Clearwater County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.84053, −116.11640
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-elk-butte

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 3.9 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. 1912 EventFirst used as a camp lookoutSource: firelookout.com
  2. 1918 BuiltPlatform tower and log cabinSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1926 RebuiltReplacement cabin; the earlier cabin had been burned by huntersSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1933 Built30-foot wooden tower with live-in cabSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. No record between 1933 and 1948
  6. 1948 Built80-foot army-surplus steel tower erected; the 1933 live-in cab was kept at 30 ft. A 1949 annual report entry gives a different yearSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  7. No record between 1948 and 1997
  8. 1997 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered June 1, 1997 as US 216, ID 16Source: nhlr.org
  9. 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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

The Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association operates Elk Butte today.1 Its own history says two associations formed separately in 1905 and merged in 1966.2 The register listed the lookout in June 1997.1

The lookout site dates to 1912, when it was first used as a camp lookout.3,4 A 1914 annual report of the Potlatch association called Elk Butte its principal lookout.5 A platform tower and log cabin went up in 1918.3,4 Hunters burned that cabin, and it was replaced in 1926.3,4 A 30-foot wooden tower with a live-in cab followed in 1933.3,4

The steel tower that stands now is 80 feet tall.1,3 The register and the lookout-history sites describe it as army or WWII surplus, erected in 1948, with the 1933 live-in cab set at the 30-foot level.1,3,4 The register gives a metal cab of 7 by 7 feet, but a 1958 fire warden's report describes a 14-by-14 cabin built into the tower midway up.1,5

The dates do not all match. A 1949 entry in the association's annual report, quoted on the Forest Lookouts site, says a steel tower bought from War Assets in 1946 went up that year.5 A 1958 fire warden's report says the tower was converted and meant for the U.S. Air Forces, which differs from the army-surplus account given elsewhere.5

The site was staffed into the 1990s, and firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts both say it is now on emergency status.3,4 The register says the association still runs just two active lookouts, this one among them, and notes that the other "lookout within a lookout" tower is Elk Neck in Maryland.1

I found no source that says whether visitors may climb it. It is an active fire lookout on emergency status, so ask the association before planning a visit.

  1. Elk Butte Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/elk-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association, About Us, https://www.cptpa.com/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Elk Butte Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/elkbutteid.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Elk Butte Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/elk-butte-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Elk Butte, Forest Lookouts, idaholookouts.weebly.com, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/elk-butte1.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Elk Butte Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 2014
July 2014 (2014)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 2014
July 2014 (2014)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
July 2014
July 2014 (2014)Photo: Luke Channer, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Elk Butte L.O.
Elk Butte L.OPhoto: Gary Weber and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Elk Butte in 2014
Elk Butte in 2014 (2014)Photo: Gary Weber and Luke Channer, via firelookout.com · source
Elk Butte Lookout
Elk Butte 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.

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: 1948
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1918

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

  • Sources disagree on what it is built of.

    • NHLR: Steel
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: Wood

    Sources name different materials. Often one describes an earlier structure.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, 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: 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: height, 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 LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: 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
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, agency, staffing, 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.