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Fire lookout · Idaho County, Idaho

Jersey Mountain Lookout

Nez Perce National Forest lookout: a 1931 log cupola cabin and a 1953 L-4 tower, both burned in a 1992 forest fire.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Both structures burned in a 1992 forest fire. No source describes what remains at 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
Trail
Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as drive-up. No source describes what remains there today.

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Cab on a tower41-foot treated timber tower with L-4 cab (1953); earlier log cupola cabin (1931)The designs: L-4, Cupola house
Built of
Not recorded
Built
1931
Height
Unknown
Elevation
Unknown
Agency
Nez Perce National Forest
Land
Unknown
Location
Idaho County, Idaho
Coordinates
45.48666, −115.57051
Registers
Not on a lookout register
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 10 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-jersey-mountain

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. 1930 StaffedPhoto captions name A.W. (Red) Foskett as lookout and Hugh Eminger as smokechaserSources: lib.uidaho.edu, lib.uidaho.edu
  2. 1931 BuiltLog cupola cabinSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  3. 1933 EventPhoto captioned Everett Haney seated on front porchSource: lib.uidaho.edu
  4. No record between 1933 and 1953
  5. 1953 Built41-foot treated timber tower with L-4 cabSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  6. 1953 AlteredCupola removed from the cabin and roofed overSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  7. No record between 1953 and 1992
  8. 1992 BurnedBoth structures burned in a forest fireSources: idahofirelookouts.com, firelookout.com
  9. 1992 DestroyedSource: Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com)
  10. 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.

Jersey Mountain sits in the Nez Perce National Forest, about 24 miles south-southwest of Elk City.1,2,3 A 1930 University of Idaho photo record identifies Foskett as the lookout, with Hugh Eminger serving as smokechaser.3 Another 1930 photo record shows a tent at the site that was home to A.W. (Red) Foskett, the lookout.4 A 1933 photo in the same collection shows Everett Haney sitting on a front porch.5

A log cupola cabin went up in 1931, and in 1953 a 41-foot treated timber tower with an L-4 cab was built.1,2 Soon after the 1953 tower was built, the cupola was taken off the cabin and its place roofed over.1,2 The two pages describe the L-4 differently. Idaho Fire Lookouts describes an L-4 cab on the tower,1 while firelookout.com calls the whole 41-foot structure an L-4 tower.2 Both give the same height and material.1,2

Emergency use of the lookout continued into the 1990s.2 A forest fire in 1992 burned both structures.1,2

Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as drive-up, but no source describes what remains there today or whether the area is open to visitors.1

  1. Jersey Mountain Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts, https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/selway-region/jersey-mountain-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  2. Jersey Mtn. Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/jerseymtn.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  3. Jersey Mountain Lookout. Located 24 miles south by southwest of Elk City, Idaho., Idaho Cities and Towns Collection, University of Idaho Library, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/cities/items/cities1022.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  4. Jersey Mountain Lookout tent. Located 24 miles south by southwest of Elk City, Idaho., Idaho Cities and Towns Collection, University of Idaho Library, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/cities/items/cities1024.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩
  5. Jersey Mountain Lookout. Located 24 miles south by southwest of Elk City, Idaho., Idaho Cities and Towns Collection, University of Idaho Library, https://lib.uidaho.edu/digital/cities/items/cities1020.html (accessed 2026-10-10). ↩

Photos

Jersey Mountain Lookout
Jersey Mountain 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, 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.