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Fire lookout · Valley County, Idaho

Gold Fork Lookout (now at the Crawford Work Center)

Also known as Gold Fork Lookout, Crawford Work Center

Gold Fork cabin: a 1918-20 rock-ledge platform, a 1933 L-4 cabin, moved in 1988 to the Crawford Work Center near Cascade, Idaho; sources disagree on the destination and elevation.

Original site: Gold Fork Lookout

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
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Ground-level cabR1/L-4 cabin on a 10 ft 20x20 concrete baseThe design: L-4
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1918
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,889 ft (1,490 m)
Agency
US Forest Service - Boise National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Valley County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.52928, −115.98220
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-gold-fork-at-crawford-work-center

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 3.3 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. 1918 BuiltOriginal open platform on a precarious rock ledge with a long staircase; the register says it began operation circa 1918-20Sources: nhlr.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1918 and 1933
  3. 1933 BuiltNew L-4 cabin on a 10 ft 20x20 concrete base, built 2 miles from the original locationSources: nhlr.org, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1935 StaffedNewspaper item, as quoted by Forest Lookouts: a couple spent the summer at the stationSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  5. 1945 StaffedNewspaper item, as quoted by Forest Lookouts: a Boise woman served at the lookout, working out of CascadeSource: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. No record between 1945 and 1988
  7. 1988 MovedCabin moved to the Crawford Forest Work Center northeast of Cascade per the register; firelookout.com says two miles east of Cascade for private use; Forest Lookouts says the Crawford Ranger StationSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  8. No record between 1988 and 2020
  9. 2020 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered October 2, 2020Source: nhlr.org
  10. Date unknown MovedMoved from Gold Fork to the Crawford Work Center.Source: FFLA
  11. 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.

The Gold Fork lookout began as an open platform on a rock ledge, reached by a long staircase, around 1918 to 1920.1,2 In 1933 an L-4 cabin on a concrete base went up about two miles from that first site.1,3

The Forest Lookouts page quotes two old newspaper notes about the station. One from 1935 says a couple spent the summer there, and one from 1945 names a Boise woman who served there out of Cascade.3 I could not find a full staffing list, a date for the last year it was staffed,2 or any notable fires.

According to the register, the lookout eventually stopped operating, and in 1988 the cabin went to the Crawford Forest Work Center northeast of Cascade.1 The sources do not agree on the destination. Firelookout.com says it was moved to two miles east of Cascade "for private use",4 and the Forest Lookouts page says it went to the Crawford Ranger Station.3 The register's photo caption, dated 2012, places the cabin at the Crawford Forest Work Center.1

Today a statewide list marks the relocated Gold Fork entry as standing.5 The register added the lookout on October 2, 2020.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the relocated cabin as drive-up.2 The sources give two elevations, 4,889 feet on the register and 7,790 feet on the other two pages, and I could not reconcile them.1,4,2

The register says the Boise National Forest administers the lookout.1 None of the sources I reached say whether the public may visit the work center, so anyone interested should ask the forest before going.

  1. Gold Fork Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/gold-fork-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Gold Fork Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/west-central/gold-fork-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Gold Fork, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/gold-fork.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Gold Fork Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://firelookout.com/id/goldfork.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  5. Idaho lookouts list, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Gold Fork Lookout - 1955
Gold Fork Lookout - 1955 (1955)Photo: National Archive, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
2012 - Relocated to the Crawford Forest Work Center, Cascade ID
2012 - Relocated to the Crawford Forest Work Center, Cascade ID (2012)Photo: Ron Kemnow, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
1955
1955 (1955)Photo: National Archive, via National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Original Gold Fork Location - Prior to 1933
Original Gold Fork Location - Prior to 1933 (1933)Photo: Boise National Forest, via 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, 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: 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, 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.