Fire lookout · Clearwater County, Idaho
Gorman Hill Lookout Site
Clearwater County site of a 40-foot pole L-4 tower built in 1933, abandoned in 1955 and now gone.
- Gone
- Access unknown
- Verified
Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Abandoned 1955; FFLOS says now gone; no source describes remains
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?
- Yes, you can drive up
Facts
- Status
- Type
- Cab on a tower40-foot pole L-4 towerThe design: L-4
- Built of
- Wood
- Built
- 1933
- Height
- 40 ft (12.2 m)
- Elevation
- 5,348 ft (1,630 m)
- Agency
- U.S. Forest Service
- Land
- Federal land
- Location
- Clearwater County, Idaho
- Coordinates
- 46.70410, −115.05710
- Registers
- This entry
- VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
- Firefinder id
us-id-gorman-hill
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 4.3 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
- 1933 Built40-foot pole L-4 towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov
- No record between 1933 and 1955
- 1955 AbandonedAbandoned; FFLOS says now goneSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov
- No record between 1955 and 2011
- 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered January 20, 2011; nominated by Harold CoffmanSource: firetower.org
- 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 (opens another site) (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).
Story
Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.
Gorman Hill is a former lookout site in Clearwater County, Idaho, within the Clearwater National Forest.1,2 A 40-foot pole L-4 tower was built there in 1933.1,2,3,4 The L-4 was a 14-by-14-foot frame cab that could be set atop a tall tower.5
Harold Coffman nominated the site, and the Former Fire Lookout Sites register listed it on January 20, 2011.1 The register gives its elevation as 5,348 feet (1,630 meters).1
The tower was abandoned in 1955.1,2,3,4 The Forest Service list places the site in section 22, township 39 North.3
Firelookout.com places the site about 10 miles east of the Kelly Creek ranger station.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts labels it drive-up.4
The register says the tower is now gone. No source we read describes what, if anything, is left on the peak today.1
- Gorman Hill Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/gorman-hill-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Gorman Hill Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/gormanhill.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Clearwater National Forest Lookouts, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259184 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Gorman Hill Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/gorman-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
- Definitions, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/definitions/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
Sources
- Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) (opens another site) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, what it is built of, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
- Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists (opens another site) 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
- firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page (opens another site) 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
- Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) (opens another site) Gave us: dates, 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
- 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
- FFLOS register entry US 824 (firetower.org) (opens another site)
- Clearwater National Forest Lookouts (USDA Forest Service) (opens another site)
- Definitions (National Historic Lookout Register) (opens another site)
- FFLA Idaho lookout list (firelookout.org) (opens another site)
- Gorman Hill on firelookout.com (Rex Kamstra) (opens another site)
- Gorman Hill Lookout on idahofirelookouts.com (opens another site)
Firefinder takes facts (places, dates, numbers) from these sources and writes its own words. See all sources and licences.