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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Indian Grave Lookout

Idaho County lookout: 1934 pole tower, a 50-ft L-4 tower moved to Horseshoe Lake in 1962, gone there by 1983-85; sources conflict on the move.

Moved: The structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from. Moved to Horseshoe Lake in 1962. That tower was gone from there by 1983 or 1985. Hartig's 1981 account says it was condemned and burned instead. No source describes the original site today.

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?
Unknown
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the entry 'Drive-Up Moved'. The tag does not say which site it refers to.
Staffing
Unknown

Facts

Status
Moved
Type
Cab on a tower40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab (1934); 50-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 cab (listed for 1953)The design: L-4
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1934
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Clearwater National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.50043, −115.14813
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-indian-grave

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.

The structure was moved. This view is from the position Firefinder shows for this record, at a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 3.7 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 Built40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cabSources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1934 and 1953
  3. 1953 Replaced by a new structure50-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 cab, listed for 1953. Hartig gives 1955 and says it replaced an earlier structure.Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1956 StaffedPhilip W. Zieg listed as known staff, per Idaho Fire Lookouts, citing a former lookout registrySource: idahofirelookouts.com
  5. 1962 MovedTower moved to Horseshoe Lake L.O.Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1963 BurnedHartig (1981) says the tower was condemned and burned near this time. This conflicts with the 1962 move.Source: idaholookouts.weebly.com
  7. No record between 1963 and 1983
  8. 1983 DestroyedAt Horseshoe Lake, not Indian Grave. Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts give 1983. The register gives 1985.Sources: firelookout.com, firetower.org, idahofirelookouts.com
  9. 1985 BurnedAt Horseshoe Lake, not Indian Grave. The register says the moved tower burned in a 1985 forest fire.Source: firetower.org
  10. TodayMovedThe structure was moved. The map shows where it stands now; the timeline says where it came from.

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.

The Indian Grave lookout stood in Idaho County, Idaho, about 21 miles west of the Powell Ranger Station, at an elevation of 6,446 feet.1,2 The sources disagree on the forest. Firelookout.com places it in the Clearwater National Forest, while Idaho Fire Lookouts says St. Joe National Forest.1,2

The first tower is dated 1934 and was a 40-foot pole tower with an L-4 cab.1,2 A 50-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 cab is listed for 1953.1,2 A 1981 account by Louis Hartig, quoted on a Forest Lookouts page, puts a 50-foot L-4 cabin on a tower in 1955 and says it replaced an earlier structure built before 1939.3

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists Philip W. Zieg as known staff for 1956, citing a former lookout registry.2

Firelookout.com and Idaho Fire Lookouts both say the tower was moved to Horseshoe Lake in 1962.1,2 A Forest Lookouts page on Horseshoe Lake records the same move.4 Hartig's account instead places the condemnation and burning of the tower near 1963, and it does not mention the Horseshoe Lake move.3

At Horseshoe Lake the tower's end is dated more than one way. Firelookout.com says it stayed on site until 1983.5 The Former Fire Lookout Sites register says it burned in a 1985 forest fire.6 Idaho Fire Lookouts gives 1983 for its destruction.7 The register says only concrete foundation piers remain at the Horseshoe Lake site, so no tower stands there now.6

No source we found describes what, if anything, remains at the original Indian Grave site today, or whether that site is open to visitors. Idaho Fire Lookouts tags the Indian Grave entry "Drive-Up Moved," but the tag does not say which site it refers to.2

  1. Indian Grave Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/indiangrave.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Indian Grave Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/indian-grave-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Idaho County (A-L), Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/idaho-county-a-l.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Horseshoe Lake, Forest Lookouts, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/horseshoe-lake.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Horseshoe Lake Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/horseshoelake.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  6. Horseshoe Lake Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/id/horseshoe-lake-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  7. Horseshoe Lake Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/st-joe-clearwater-region/horseshoe-lake-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

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: 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, 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.