FirefinderFire lookouts of the US

Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Indian Hill Lookout

Nez Perce National Forest lookout staffed since 1920, rebuilt as an L-4 cab in 1951, damaged in a 2015 fire, and restaffed by 2022.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. Drive-up access; staffed Forest Service lookout.

Can you climb it?
No
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Staffing
Staffed during fire season (as of 2024)

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Cab on a towerL-4The designs: L-4, L-6
Built of
Wood
Height
7 ft (2.1 m)
Elevation
6,810 ft (2,076 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
46.00028, −115.24472 sources disagree
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-indian-hill

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 3.7 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. 1920 First staffedTent camp with observation points along the ridge.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1928 BuiltCabin and 50-foot pole tower with 7x7 cab built; cabin still used for storage.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  3. 1937 StaffedThomas Morris staffed through 1941.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  4. 1951 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  5. 1951 Replaced by a new structureCurrent L-4 cab on 41-foot treated timber tower built, replacing the pole tower.Sources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  6. No record between 1951 and 1976
  7. 1976 StaffedJohn Crawford staffed the lookout from 1976 to 2008.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  8. No record between 1976 and 2003
  9. 2003 FireSlims Fire threatened the tower.Source: firelookout.com
  10. 2009 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered on the National Historic Lookout Register April 6, 2009.Source: nhlr.org
  11. 2009 StaffedBob Zimmerman staffed the lookout from 2009 to 2010.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  12. 2011 StaffedLawrence Gilley staffed the lookout from 2011 to 2013.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  13. 2015 BurnedDamaged by the Wash Fire; lookout Kris Anderson evacuated early in the season.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  14. 2022 StaffedJohn Crawford returned and staffed the tower through 2024.Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  15. 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 4 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Indian Hill has watched over the Nez Perce National Forest since 1920, when the Forest Service kept lookout simply by posting a tent camp at several points along the ridge.1 A more permanent setup followed in 1928: a cabin, still used for storage today, along with a 50-foot pole tower carrying a small 7-by-7-foot cab.1 The structure standing now dates to 1951, when crews replaced the earlier tower with an L-4 cab on a 41-foot treated timber tower.2,3

The site has a long staffing record, though it's patchy in places. Thomas Morris held the post from 1937 to 1941, and Gail Renshaw is remembered there around 1950.1 John Crawford then held the post for more than three decades, from 1976 to 2008, followed by Bob Zimmerman in 2009-2010 and Lawrence Gilley from 2011 to 2013.1 Kris Anderson was on duty in 2014 and into 2015, and had to come down early that year when the Wash Fire bore down on the tower.1,4 The fire damaged the structure, and by one account it stayed closed for roughly five years afterward before John Crawford returned, staffing it again from 2022 through 2024.1

Indian Hill was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on April 6, 2009, recognizing it as one of the historic fire-watch structures still doing its original job.2 It had also been threatened once before, by the Slims Fire in 2003, though that blaze didn't reach the tower.3

The lookout is drive-up accessible and remains an active, staffed Forest Service lookout on the Nez Perce National Forest, sitting at about 6,810 feet elevation.1,2 Sources differ slightly on exactly when the earliest lookout presence began and on small details of the pole-tower years, which is common for sites with this long a history, but the core timeline and present use are consistent across the records.1,3

  1. Indian Hill Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/indian-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  2. Indian Hill Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register, http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/indian-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  3. Indian Hill Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/indianhill.html (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩
  4. Comment on Indian Hill Lookout page, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/indian-hill-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-04). ↩

Photos

Photo of Indian Hill Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Photo of Indian Hill Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Indian Hill 1928-1951
Indian Hill 1928-1951 (1928)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Indian Hill L.O.
Indian Hill L.OPhoto: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Indian Hill in 1998
Indian Hill in 1998 (1998)Photo: the Fire Lookout Museum and Gary Weber, via firelookout.com · source
Indian Hill Lookout
Indian Hill LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · 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.

Where sources disagree

We show disagreements between sources instead of quietly picking one. If you know which is right, please tell us.

  • Sources disagree on the location by 820 m.

    • NHLR: 46.00028, −115.24472
    • Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com): 45.99380, −115.23957

    The map uses the position from NHLR.

  • Sources disagree on the year it was built.

    • NHLR: 1951
    • firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page: 1928

    Sources give different build years. Often one counts the first lookout on the site and another the structure there now.

Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, 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: 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: design, height, staffing, photos, 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: 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
  5. OpenStreetMap -- fire lookout structures Gave us: links © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0. (c) OpenStreetMap contributors. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  6. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  7. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, height, status, agency, access, staffing, 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.