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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Idaho Point Lookout

Clearwater NF 35-foot platform tower (1930) with an L-4 cab added in 1932; both burned in the 1934 Pete King Fire and were never replaced.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Both structures burned in the 1934 Pete King Fire and were never replaced; no source describes the site today.

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
Gone
Type
Two-story building35-foot platform tower, with an L-4 cab on a log crib added in 1932 for living quartersThe design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1930
Height
35 ft (10.7 m)
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Clearwater National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.16516, −115.50596
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-idaho-point-2

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 4.1 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. 1930 Built35-foot platform towerSources: firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  2. 1932 BuiltL-4 cab on a log crib added for living quartersSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1934 BurnedBoth structures burned in the Pete King Fire and were never replacedSources: firelookout.com, fs.usda.gov, idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1934 DestroyedSource: Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com)
  5. 1934 FirePete King Fire, started by lightning early on August 11Source: lessons.wildfire.gov
  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 10 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Idaho Point sits in the Clearwater National Forest, about 22 miles east of Kooskia, at roughly 6,027 feet.1,2 A Clearwater forest history's place-name list says the name comes from the shape of the point's top, which resembles the map of Idaho.3 That entry gives no location, so linking it to this lookout is an inference.

A 35-foot platform tower went up here in 1930.1,4,5 In 1932 an L-4 cab on a log crib was installed to provide living space.1,2,5 The L-4 was a 14-by-14 cabin design, and such cabins were produced until 1952.6

On the morning of August 11, 1934, lightning started the Pete King Fire in a storm that set off many other fires in the area.7 Both were lost in the Pete King Fire, and neither was rebuilt.1,4,2

No source describes what, if anything, remains at the site today. Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as drive-up.2 No source says whether it is open to the public.

  1. Idaho Point Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/idahopoint293.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Idaho Point Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/idaho-point-lookout-2/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. The Clearwater Story, foresthistory.org, https://www.foresthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/THE-CLEARWATER-STORY.pdf (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Clearwater National Forest Lookouts, US Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259185 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Idaho County (A-L), Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/idaho-county-a-l.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  6. Cabin Architecture, Keeping Watch, University of Idaho, https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/keeping-watch/about/cabin-architecture.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  7. Pete King Fire Hit by Tree Fatalities 1934, Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, https://lessons.wildfire.gov/incident/pete-king-fire-hit-by-tree-fatalities-1934 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Idaho Point Lookout
Idaho Point LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Sources

  1. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: name, location, county, type, status, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  2. 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
  3. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: dates, 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
  4. 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.