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Fire lookout · Bonner County, Idaho

Gisborne Mountain Lookout

A 1932 pole lookout on Looking Glass Mountain was succeeded by a 1958 41-foot timber tower with R-6 cab, now staffed in summer; registered on NHLR 1995.

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?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts describes it as drive-up and staffed in summer; staffing is seasonal and visitors may find the lookout off duty
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a tower41-foot wooden or treated timber tower with R-6 cab and 15 by 15 ft live-in flattop cab and catwalk (1958); first lookout a 40-foot pole tower with L-4 cab (1932)The designs: L-4, R-6
Built of
Wood
Built
1932
Height
41 ft (12.5 m)
Elevation
5,550 ft (1,692 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Idaho Panhandle National Forests (Priest Lake Ranger District); older sources say Kaniksu National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Bonner County, Idaho
Coordinates
48.34930, −116.75638
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-gisborne-mountain

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.

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Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1932 BuiltFirst lookout on the summit (then Looking Glass Mountain): 40-foot pole tower with L-4 cabSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1934 StaffedKenneth Osborn named as lookout at the Looking Glass station (July 1934 newspaper item)Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1936 StaffedC.A. Stoner transferred away from Looking Glass lookout (October 1936 newspaper item)Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1949 EventSummit renamed Gisborne Mountain for Harry T. Gisborne (Idaho Fire Lookouts gives 1949; a July 1950 newspaper item reports the national board approving the name)Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1958 BuiltPresent 41-foot timber tower with R-6 cab built; NHLR gives a 15 by 15 ft live-in cab and catwalk; July 1958 newspaper item notes Fulton Messmore erecting a lookoutSources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1958 and 1995
  7. 1995 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered August 1, 1995 as NHLR US 128, ID 6Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  8. No record between 1995 and 2022
  9. 2022 StaffedIdaho Fire Lookouts post (dated January 1, 2022) says the lookout is staffed in summer; visitors found it off duty during smokeSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  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 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Gisborne Mountain Lookout stands on a summit about 10 miles northwest of Sandpoint, in Bonner County, Idaho.1,2 The summit was first known as Looking Glass Mountain.2 The first lookout there was a 40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab, built in 1932.2,3,4 A September 1933 Forest Service bulletin reported humidity readings taken at Looking Glass Lookout near the Priest River Experiment Station.4

Newspaper items reprinted on a local history site name a few of the people who worked the lookout.4 Kenneth Osborn was the lookout at the Looking Glass station in 1934, and C.A. Stoner was transferred away from it in 1936.4 The Idaho Fire Lookouts site lists staff through 1984, including several couples.3

The summit was renamed Gisborne Mountain to honor Harry T. Gisborne, who did fire research on the surrounding Priest River Experimental Forest.2,3 The Idaho site gives 1949 for the rename.3 A July 1950 newspaper item says the national board of geographic names had just approved the new name, and that it honored Gisborne, who had died the previous November.4 The two dates do not line up, so both are reported here.3,4

The tower standing today went up in 1958.2,1 The local history page calls it a treated-timber tower, 41 feet tall, with an R-6 cab, and the Idaho site dates the R-6 cab to 1958.3,4 The National Historic Lookout Register describes a wooden tower, 41 feet tall, with a 15-by-15-foot flat-topped cab designed for living in, plus a catwalk.2 A July 1958 Sandpoint newspaper item places Fulton Messmore on the mountain, building a lookout for the Forest Service.4

The National Historic Lookout Register added the lookout on August 1, 1995.2,3 The Priest River Experimental Forest's facilities page also says the Gisborne lookout is on the register.5 About half a mile east-southeast, a patrol point once had a 30-foot pole platform.4,3 When the Idaho site's writers walked out to it, they found only the remains.3

The Idaho Fire Lookouts site describes Gisborne Mountain as drive-up and staffed in summer.3,1 Staffing is seasonal, so a visit can miss the lookout.3 When the site's writers came by, smoke from Pacific Northwest fires made visibility very poor, the lookout had taken some time off, and they left a note at the base of the stairs.3 The register lists the Priest Lake Ranger District for the lookout, so a visitor planning a trip could check current access with that office.2

  1. Gisborne Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/gisborne.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Gisborne Mountain Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/gisborne-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Gisborne Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/northern-idaho/gisborne-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Gisborne Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/gisborne-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Facilities, Priest River Experimental Forest, Moscow Forestry Sciences Lab, https://forest.moscowfsl.wsu.edu/ef/pref/pref_facilities.php (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Gisborne Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Gisborne Mountain Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Gisborne (Looking Glass) in 1938
Gisborne (Looking Glass) in 1938 (1938)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Montana Memory Project, and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Gisborne (Looking Glass) in 1941
Gisborne (Looking Glass) in 1941 (1941)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Montana Memory Project, and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Gisborne (Looking Glass) in 1941
Gisborne (Looking Glass) in 1941 (1941)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Montana Memory Project, and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Gisborne (Looking Glass) 1932-1958
Gisborne (Looking Glass) 1932-1958 (1932)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Montana Memory Project, and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Gisborne Mtn. in 1955
Gisborne Mtn. in 1955 (1955)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Montana Memory Project, and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Gisborne Mtn. plaque
Gisborne Mtn. plaquePhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum, Montana Memory Project, and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Gisborne Mtn. in 1999
Gisborne Mtn. in 1999 (1999)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum, Montana Memory Project, and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Gisborne Mountain Lookout
Gisborne Mountain LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, 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: what it is built of, design, height, dates, 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: 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, 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.