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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Iron Mountain Lookout

Nez Perce NF log-cabin lookout near Elk City; built 1919 or 1923 (sources disagree), abandoned 1942, listed gone; no source describes the site today.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Listed as Gone by the Forest Fire Lookout Association; sources say the cabin was abandoned in 1942 and do not describe what 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
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site drive-up; no current access rule or trail description found in the sources read

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cablog cabin with cupolaThe design: Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1919
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Nez Perce National Forest
Land
Federal land
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.96814, −115.54188
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-iron-mountain-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 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. 1907 StaffedAdolph Weholt, per Idaho Fire Lookouts; earlier than every build date in these sourcesSource: idahofirelookouts.com
  2. 1919 BuiltLog cabin with cupola, per the Nez Perce NF lookout list and fact sheetSources: fs.usda.gov, fs.usda.gov
  3. 1923 EventLog cabin dated 1923 by firelookout.com, Idaho Fire Lookouts and Kresek (via the Forest Lookouts page)Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1924 StaffedMr. & Mrs. M.W. McLaughlin, per Idaho Fire Lookouts citing the Caldwell Tribune of 09/12/1924Source: idahofirelookouts.com
  5. No record between 1924 and 1942
  6. 1942 AbandonedAbandoned 1942 per firelookout.com, Idaho Fire Lookouts and Kresek (via the Forest Lookouts page)Sources: firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com, idaholookouts.weebly.com
  7. 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.

Iron Mountain once held a fire lookout about 11 miles north-northwest of Elk City, in Idaho County on the Nez Perce National Forest.1,2 The site sits at 6,815 feet.1,3

The Forest Service dates the mountain's cupola-topped log cabin to 1919.4 Other sources date the cabin to 1923, so the build year is disputed.1,3,5

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists two staff entries.3 Adolph Weholt is named for 1907, which comes before every build date in these sources.3,4 Mr. and Mrs. M.W. McLaughlin are named for 1924, drawn from a Caldwell Tribune item.3

The cabin was abandoned in 1942.1,3,5 The Forest Fire Lookout Association now lists the site as gone.6

No source found describes what, if anything, remains on the mountain today. Idaho Fire Lookouts labels the site drive-up.3 Ask the Nez Perce National Forest about current access before you plan a trip.

  1. Iron Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/ironmtn293.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Nez Perce National Forest Lookouts, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259204 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Iron Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/iron-mountain-lookout-2/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Nez Perce National Forest Lookout Facts, USDA Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/259200 (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Iron Mountain, Forest Lookouts, idaholookouts.weebly.com, https://idaholookouts.weebly.com/iron-mountain1.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  6. Idaho Lookouts, Forest Fire Lookout Association, https://firelookout.org/lookouts/us/id (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. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: agency, ownership, 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
  5. 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.