FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Shoshone County, Idaho

Gospel Hill Lookout Site

Gospel Hill Lookout, a 30-foot pole L-4 tower built 1934 in Shoshone County, Idaho; probably removed in the 1950s; no staffing record found.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removal year not fixed: probably late 1950s (firetower.org, firelookout.com) or the 1950s (Idaho Fire Lookouts). No source describes standing 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?
Unknown

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower30-foot pole L-4 towerThe design: L-4
Built of
Wood
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
6,457 ft (1,968 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Shoshone County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.96910, −115.20460
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-gospel-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 a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.1 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. 1934 BuiltBuilt as a 30-foot pole L-4 towerSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1950
  3. 1950 RemovedDecade only (1950s): probably removed in the late 1950s per firetower.org and firelookout.com; Idaho Fire Lookouts gives 1950sSources: firetower.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. No record between 1950 and 2011
  5. 2011 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered January 20, 2011; nominated by Harold CoffmanSource: firetower.org
  6. 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.

Gospel Hill's lookout was built in 1934. It was a 30-foot pole tower of the L-4 type that stood at the Gospel Hill site in the Clearwater National Forest in Shoshone County, Idaho, at an elevation of 6,457 feet (1,968 meters).1,2

The U.S. Forest Service administers the site.1 It joined the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on January 20, 2011, on the nomination of Harold Coffman.1

The tower's end date is uncertain.1,2,3 The register says it was probably removed in the late 1950s.1 Firelookout.com gives the same guess but puts a question mark on its heading.2 Idaho Fire Lookouts gives only the 1950s and marks the tower removed.3 All three treat it as gone, and none pins down the year.

No source we read describes what, if anything, remains at the site today. None says whether the public may visit it.1,2,3

  1. Gospel Hill Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites register, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/gospel-hill-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Gospel Hill Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/gospelhill.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Gospel Hill Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/gospel-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Gospel Hill Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · 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.

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, status, agency, 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.