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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Frisco Peak (Blacktail) Lookout Site

Also known as Blacktail (Frisco Peak)

Blacktail (Frisco Peak) site in Idaho County: 1926 log cabin, 1941 30-foot L-4 tower, last staffed 1954, destroyed 1957.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Destroyed in 1957 per most sources; FFLOS says burned by the Forest Service in 1956 with remnants buried

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 labels the site hike-in

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot pole L-4 tower with a 14 by 14 foot cab, built on Frisco PeakThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1926
Height
30 ft (9.1 m)
Elevation
6,806 ft (2,075 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.20829, −115.10781
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-frisco-peak-blacktail

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 3.8 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. 1926 BuiltLog cabin atop Blacktail ButteSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1930 BuiltPlatform towers; FFLOS and firelookout.com say three, Idaho Fire Lookouts, Forest Lookouts and the FS list say twoSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1941 Built30-foot pole L-4 tower on Frisco Peak; direction from the cabin site disputed (west per FFLOS and firelookout.com, east per Idaho Fire Lookouts and Forest Lookouts)Sources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1954 Last staffedDale Gaskill named as last stafferSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 1956 BurnedFFLOS says burned by the Forest Service in 1956 with remnants buried; other sources say 1957Source: firetower.org
  6. 1957 DestroyedDestroyed, per firelookout.com, Forest Lookouts and the Forest Service listSources: firelookout.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com, fs.usda.gov
  7. No record between 1957 and 2011
  8. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered December 11, 2011; nominated by Dale GaskillSource: firetower.org
  9. 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 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Frisco Peak, also called Blacktail, was a fire lookout site in Idaho County, in the Nez Perce National Forest.1 A log cabin went up in 1926 on top of Blacktail Butte, the site's first lookout.1,2

Platform towers went up in 1930. The sources disagree on how many: the register and firelookout.com say three, while the Idaho Fire Lookouts page, the Forest Lookouts page and a Forest Service list say two.1,2,3,4,5

In 1941 a 30-foot pole L-4 tower went up on Frisco Peak.1,4 The sources also disagree on where it stood relative to the cabin site. The register and firelookout.com say one mile west, while the Idaho Fire Lookouts page and the Forest Lookouts page say one mile east.1,2,3,4

Dale Gaskill nominated the site to the register and is named as its last staffer, in 1954.1,3 Staffing ended that year, according to firelookout.com and the Forest Lookouts page.2,4

The register says the Forest Service burned the tower in 1956 because of its remote location, and that its remnants were buried.1 Other sources date the destruction to 1957.2,4,5 No source we read describes anything visible at the site now.

Firelookout.com places the site about 10 miles northwest of the Moose Creek ranger station.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts labels it a hike-in site.3

  1. Frisco Peak (Blacktail) Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/frisco-peak-blacktail-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Blacktail (Frisco Peak) Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/blacktailfrisco.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Blacktail (Frisco Peak) Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/blacktail-frisco-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Blacktail (Frisco) - FOREST LOOKOUTS, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/blacktail-frisco.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Nez Perce National Forest Lookouts, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259204 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Frisco Peak (Blacktail) Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.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: 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: 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. 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.